Since 2014, stories of racial inequality and injustice have dominated recent news coverage. This summer, the names Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were added to a growing list of African-Americans killed during encounters with the police. Their deaths have immersed the public in a contentious debate between social justice activists and counter-protesters concerning the relationship between local law enforcement and the communities its officers have sworn to protect. While it is reasonable to assume most Americans desire a justice system that ensures each and every individual receives fair and impartial treatment under the law, the rhetoric used by “Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter/Blue Lives Matter” protesters largely dismisses the complexity of the matter at hand and diminishes our ability to reform our justice system.
The Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter/Blue Lives Matter debate best encapsulates the current impasse in race relations. While Black Lives Matter is a broad inclusive movement that arose in response to the failure to hold individuals accountable for the deaths of unarmed African Americans, the latter are frivolous reactionary counter-slogans mainly uttered by individuals who do not appear to fully understand the problems with which Black Lives Matter supporters take issue. This was most apparent at the Republican National Convention when thousands cheered as Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke announced Baltimore Police Lieutenant Brian Rice was acquitted on all charges related to the death of Freddie Gray. Ironically, Clarke immediately followed this announcement with remarks lamenting a loss in a communal “sense of safety,” a sentiment he is effectively perpetuating by dismissing concerns of police brutality.
At the same time, many Black Lives Matter supporters utilize divisive and inflammatory rhetoric to advance their own interests. The Black Lives Matter website accuses the government of conducting “genocide” against the black community, and Mychal Denzel Smith, a writer sympathetic to the movement, has accused the police of attempting to “violently reinforce American hierarchies.” Rhetoric without nuance and baseless accusations such as these deepen the divide between minority communities and local law enforcement, promote fanaticism and empower individuals seeking to exploit racial tensions for political gain.
Additionally, such rhetoric does not acknowledge ongoing attempts to improve policing practices. While some law enforcement organizations have intentionally exploited minority communities, others have instituted significant reforms to promote transparency and decrease police-involved shootings. The Dallas Police Department is one such organization. Following the shooting of James Harper in 2012, the Dallas Police Department was one of 53 agencies to voluntarily join the White House Police Data Initiative, a program established in 2014 to promote collaboration between law enforcement and local communities. In the years since, the number of police-involved shootings in Dallas has decreased from 20 in 2014 to 1 in 2016. Instead of using rhetoric that demonizes law enforcement, Black Lives Matter should direct its criticism toward the lack of professionalism and discipline evident in many police officers’ interactions with minority communities.
While the actions of the Dallas Police Department are a step in the right direction, it is unreasonable to expect all police departments to voluntarily follow suit. As a result, the justice system must be reformed at the state and federal level. Black Lives Matter could be a suitable vehicle to advocate in favor of reform if it centralizes its organizational structure and adopts a pragmatic charter.
At present, local Black Lives Matter branches have endorsed multiple political platforms created by smaller civil rights campaigns associated with the movement, such as Campaign Zero and The Movement for Black Lives. While the latter’s platform includes a variety of demands that would benefit minority communities, these policies are undermined by impractical demands such as calls for the payment of reparations, which wastes valuable political capital on an overwhelmingly unpopular policy. A Black Lives Matter charter should omit these infeasible demands but incorporate some of the more pragmatic appeals listed in the Campaign Zero political platform, which includes several policies that have already been implemented in several state and municipal law enforcement agencies.
Comprehensive social reform is impossible without idealistic individuals willing to mobilize others and challenge the status quo. Today’s social activists have a rare opportunity to help drastically reform the current justice system; however, this cannot be achieved through inflammatory rhetoric and impractical demands. How Black Lives Matter reconciles this dilemma will determine whether it becomes a passing social trend or joins the likes of such renowned organizations as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP. While some may consider moderation in the pursuit of justice to be morally abhorrent, one might ask how lasting change has occurred any other way.
Brandon Brooks is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at b.brooks@cavalierdaily.com.
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