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Despite significant advancements in the areas of human rights and equality, modern societies are still affected by social injustice. In the United States, people of color continue to face discrimination within various systems of the government, as well as from white people. The recent protests in the United States were sparked by racial discrimination and led to significant consequences for infrastructure and individuals (VOA News). Analyzing public unrest from the perspective of human rights and equality helps to see how a population faced with continued social injustice eventually reacts by protesting or other forms of civil unrest.
First of all, it is essential to note that the primary cause of the recent protests in the United States is the killing of George Floyd during an arrest (Joseph). The footage taken at the scene shows the officer using excessive force against the man and putting his knee on Floyd’s neck, which resulted in his death (The Straits Times). The tragedy immediately drew public attention as people in Minneapolis started reacting to violence. The protesters vandalized police cars and the police station, which incited action from the authorities, and the four officers involved in Floyd’s arrest were fired (The Straits Times). Over the next few days, the protests spread throughout the United States. With substantial coverage in international news media, they also spread to Europe and other foreign locations, elevating the scale of public unrest from local to global (The Straits Times). It is still unclear as to what the outcomes of the protests will be as civil unrest in the United States continues.
Although the killing of George Floyd was the inciting incident that sparked the protests, it was preceded by decades of police brutality toward black people. According to Lyle and Esmall, data gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows that black people are disproportionately affected by police brutality in the United States (155). Although black people represent 13 percent of the total population of the country, 31 percent of all victims shot by the police are black (Lyle and Esmall 155). Black men are particularly affected by police brutality; between January 2015 and 2016, at least 175 Black men were killed in the United States by police officers (Lyle and Esmall 155). Police brutality against black people is thus a significant issue that affects this population’s life in the country and contributes to public unrest.
The problem of police brutality has been widely studied in scholarly literature in order to develop a deeper understanding of its causes and create effective solutions. As explained by Smiley and Fakunle, the primary reason for the violence of police officers toward black people is the centuries-long demonization of black people as a whole and black men in particular (350). The researchers note that, with the beginning of the fight for black rights, there has been an increased tendency to portray black people as brutal, merciless, and savage (Smiley and Fakunle 354). These demonized images were used to justify the use of excessive force against black people, as well as lynching and other violent practices (Smiley and Fakunle 354). The biased portrayal of black people remains influential to this day when they are viewed as ‘thugs’ regardless of their actual social standing and criminal history, and victims of police brutality are criminalized and demonized, making it appear that they threatened the police (Smiley and Fakunle 350). However, the footage of Floyd’s killing does not allow blaming police brutality on him, which is likely one of the reasons to why the protests became so significant.
Moreover, it is also essential to note that there is a long history of public unrest associated with police brutality in America. Today, people’s responses to the problem vary and include not only protests by also social media activism (522-523). In the past, there were many other cases wherein the killing of a black person by police officers resulted in protests. For instance, the 1964 protests in Harlem were triggered by a white police officer shooting a 15-year-old African American teenager (Joseph). The unrest incited by this tragic event lasted for six days, although it did not achieve any positive, long-term change. A similar situation occurred in Watts in 1965, where a rebellion over police discrimination lasted for a week, covering 46 miles of land and resulting in the deaths of 34 people, with at least 4,000 arrested and 1,000 injured (Joseph). Although there were efforts to address inequality following the protests, they were mostly ineffective due to underfunding. As a result, the problem of racial inequality and discrimination still affects the justice system in the United States, leading to public unrest.
On the whole, the continuing protests in the United States were sparked by a single incident of social injustice. Still, they are based on the centuries-long history of racial violence and discrimination in the country and the fact that to this day, black people in the United States face significant social injustice. Studying the root causes of these protests and relating them to other protests associated with police brutality shows that continued social injustice leads to public unrest.
References
Carter, Corinthia A. “Police Brutality, the Law & Today’s Social Justice Movement: How the Lack of Police Accountability Has Fueled# Hashtag Activism.” CUNY Law Review, vol. 20, 2016, pp. 521-557.
Cheung, Heiler. “George Floyd Death: Why US Protests Are so Powerful This Time.” BBC News US & Canada, 2020, Web.
Joseph, Peniel E. “How Will the Protests End? History Tells Us Much Depends on How Government Responds.” National Geographic, 2020. Web.
Lyle, Perry, and Ashraf M. Esmail. “Sworn to Protect: Police Brutality–A Dilemma for America’s Police.” Race, Gender & Class, vol. 23, no. 3-4, 2016, pp. 155-185.
Smiley, CalvinJohn, and David Fakunle. “From “Brute” to “Thug:” The Demonization and Criminalization of Unarmed Black Male Victims in America.” Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, vol. 26, no. 3-4, 2016, pp. 350-366.
The Straits Times. “The George Floyd Protests: A Timeline.” ST World, 2020, Web.
VOA News. “Anti-Racism Protests Continue in the US.” Voice of America, 2020, Web.
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