Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Police Brutality: No End Under Capitalism
Ken Morgan
20 Sep 2017
🖨️ Print Article
Police Brutality: No End Under Capitalism
Police Brutality: No End Under Capitalism

“Hiring more black police officers probably doesn’t offer a direct solution to this problem.”

Recently, another cop -- former St. Louis officer, Jason Stockley -- was acquitted for the 2011 first-degree murder of Anthony Lamar Smith.

The police video caught most of the incident. It included the alleged planting of a gun in brother Smith’s car. Investigators only found Stockley’s DNA on the gun in Smith’s car.

Cops need only say those magic words, " I feared for my life." The New York Times reported Judge Wilson’s reason for acquittal.

The judge said: “This court, in conscience, cannot say that the state has proven every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt or that the state has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant did not act in self-defense.”

A demonstrator among the more than 1000 that protested the verdict said, “There is all of this evidence, and to still get a verdict of not guilty just shows how broken everything is.”

Federal consent decrees achieved between the U.S. DOJ and offending jurisdictions remain popular with anti-police brutality advocates. Beware.

The Marshall Law School Project says that making reforms stick is problematic in consent decree jurisdictions. Benchmarks used do not measure what is to be corrected. Little or no federal monitoring is forthcoming. Some police misconduct issues are not covered under federal law.

“Making reforms stick is problematic in consent decree jurisdictions.”

According to a recent article in the Fordham University Law Review, the Justice Department investigates less than 0.02 percent of the country’s nearly 18,000 state and local law-enforcement agencies each year. Plus these investigations often do not contain elements that most directly impact police misconduct.

Other reforms that do not work: Community police review boards, community policing, police body cameras, and cop training.

More diversity is a familiar cry among black politicians and some of our misguided sisters and brothers. Diversity fails to stem police misconduct. A mainstream Public Administrative Review study author said, “What we find is evidence that [having] more black police officers probably doesn’t offer a direct solution to this problem.” Check your locale.

Too many times, police misconduct gets confused with fighting crime. Yes, neighborhood folks do not want to get shot, robbed, mugged, or burglarized. The capitalist system maintains a dog eat dog mentality. The daily grind to survive creates an inhumanity towards one another. It provides senseless murders and other crimes in Black marginalized neighborhoods. More cops are not the answer.

The cops do policing that protects and serves the interests of the propertied owners and their profits. Job one is to defend the rule of capital. Make no doubt who the “to protect and to serve” on the shield is aimed.

Do we give up and wait for the revolution? No. You might quell police misconduct in the short run. Under capitalism do not hold your breath for the long haul.

Dr. Morgan is a Black activist scholar and Internationalist. Contact him at kmorgan2408@comcast.net.

Police brutality

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Black Alliance For Peace
From George Floyd Back to the Structural Violence of Capitalism
28 May 2025
With the ritualistic murder of George Floyd by the occupation forces referred to as the police that roam the streets and barrios of the Black a
Aisha
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Aisha Beliso-De Jesús’ Book, “Excited Delirium”
14 August 2024
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Pan-African Community Action
Pan-African Community Action
DC’s 2024 Crime Bill Is More War on the Black Working Class
14 February 2024
The DC Crime Bill is a continuation of the assault on the Black working class, created to expand control over Black communities via surveillanc
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan
06 September 2023
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan (For Franklin, the Families, and Antioch’s Fightback)
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
Alice Speri 
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
08 February 2023
The chief of the Memphis, Tennessee police department took part in trainings in Israel.
Solve Tomorrow’s Uvalde in nano seconds…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Solve Tomorrow’s Uvalde in nano seconds…
27 July 2022
                                       
Protesting for Jayland Walker
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Protesting for Jayland Walker
06 July 2022
The number of bullets used to kill Jayland Walker have sparked an outcry, but police kill one Black person every day in this country.
Patrick Lyoya’s Death Sentence for the Crime of “Contempt of White Cop”
Mark P. Fancher
Patrick Lyoya’s Death Sentence for the Crime of “Contempt of White Cop”
20 April 2022
Police in the United States kill an average of three people every day and one of those persons will be Black.
Black Panthers, Sacramento CA 1967
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Copaganda
05 January 2022
Copaganda I.
Biden’s DOJ Sleight of Hand on Police Reform
Netfa Freeman
Biden’s DOJ Sleight of Hand on Police Reform
22 September 2021
DOJ "reforms" are a smoke screen covering up systemic complicity with law enforcement.

More Stories


  • Protest in Detroit
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Electoral Redistricting Battles Rage Across the United States
    10 Apr 2024
    A federal judicial panel has approved new electoral districts in Michigan while struggles continue in other states.
  • World central kitchen car
    Ali Abunimah
    How World Central Kitchen Serves Israel’s Genocidal Agenda
    10 Apr 2024
    The recent drone strike on World Central Kitchen workers exposed that organization's collusion with the Israeli and U.S. governments.
  • UN General Assembly
    Alfred de Zayas , John Perry
    UN Human Rights Council Again Supports US Regime Change Plans for Nicaragua
    10 Apr 2024
    The United States uses its power within the United Nations and the concept of human rights to cover its plans for regime change.
  • Baltimore Key Bridge collapse
    Sharon Black
    Deadly Bridge Collapse Exposes Capitalist Decay
    10 Apr 2024
    The deaths of the six Latino immigrant workers in the Baltimore bridge collapse encapsulates the injustice inherent in the U.S. capitalist system.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio April 5, 2024
    05 Apr 2024
    This week, BAR's poet-in-residence discusses his work, we learn why Bill Clinton, the CIA director and Tony Blair recently visited Guyana. First, the Black vote and election year politics in Michigan.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us