During a late-night meeting on the Senate floor this past Tuesday, former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker energetically supported his Republican colleague Sen. Tommy Tuberville stating he was “so excited” by the proposed Amendment 3113. Unfortunately, in doing so, Booker inadvertently self-designated himself as a spokesperson of the Democratic Party, declaring the amendment intended to decrease federal funding for local jurisdictions that defund the police “a gift”. He asserted, “This is perhaps the highlight of this long and painful and torturous night,” urging all of his fellow senators to “sashay down there and vote for this amendment”. He finally added that he needed to “put to rest the lies” and that every Senator present at that meeting “wants to fund the police, believes in God, country, and apple pie.”
Sen. Booker’s impassioned support of an alleged enemy of the “left-leaning” Democratic party doesn’t come as much of a surprise. He and many of his fellow Democrats’ platforms are more liberal than genuinely progressive or wholly left. Nationwide protests against the murder of George Floyd (which received international support from countries such as the UK, South Africa, Switzerland, Brazil, and Hong Kong) prompted progressive and leftist responses of defunding the police to racial injustice. Sen. Booker’s viral speech indicates that the two-party system is not as democratic and representative of the diversity of American citizens’ opinions as it claims. It also reveals a continued failure of the current American political structure to understand or support the institution of any other political systems or policies that might oppose its self-perception, history, and values. In a time of a massive economic collapse, an impending housing catastrophe, a wealth gap worse than what it has been in centuries, a worsening climate crisis, and an 18-month (and ongoing) global pandemic, it is apparent that consideration of any new socio-political structures is still not on the table. What will become of the self-proclaimed leader of the free world that refuses to enact substantial reform and systemic change especially considering it’s nearing its 250th anniversary?
This article won’t attempt to answer this question. However, it should be remembered when considering the Democratic party’s constant inconsistency in picking and enacting a position regarding social issues such as the status of the American carceral police state. Hypocrisy in the party results in members acknowledging the historical roots of modern-day social problems such as chattel slavery and Jim Crow without actually enacting the change necessary to end the visible symptoms of said former systems. Hence, we are left with political leaders such as Sen. Booker, who turn a blind eye to the more radical calls for change, such as defunding the police for the sake of maintaining the status quo and holding their positions of power. In response to Tuesday night, let’s consider the ongoing controversy of the American police state and its growing militarization much older than the discourse of 2020.
The growing aggressiveness of US police forces victimizes many marginalized groups, including the poor, undocumented, certain professions (e.g., sex workers), ideological opponents (e.g., communists), and people of color. In the case of Black Americans (a voting base Booker failed to substantially appeal to during his presidential campaign to win him the nomination), laws to militarize and fortify police forces were passed that directly impacted this community amidst their outraged response to racism. One of these laws was the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (OCSA). The OCSA passed under the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration created the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), allowing local governments to apply for grants from the federal government to bolster local police departments. The LEAA reported over $25 million in “action grants” dispersed across the 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam within the first year alone. These funds went towards strengthening corrections programs, improving police training, creating riot-readiness programs, enlarging police operations, and enhancing police equipment and communications. Conveniently, the LEAA came in the heat of Johnson’s proclaimed wars on crime and poverty which were notorious for disproportionately targeting Black Americans. On top of this, the OCSA legislation came during heightened racial tensions from the Urban Riots of the 60s. Some of the most known and prolonged riots were the August 1965 Watts riots, the 1967 Detroit riots, and the King-Assassination Riots of 1968. In their attempts to achieve racial reconciliation for the massive injustices they endured throughout the Civil Rights Movement, Black Americans were some of the primary targets to be silenced by the federal government.
A more recent and still active instance of the militarization of the police is the Pentagon’s 1033 program. Under the National Defense Authorization Act of 1990, “Congress authorized the transfer of excess DoD [Department of Defense] property to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.” This militarization expanded in 1997 with a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), permitting law enforcement agencies to “acquire property for bona fide law enforcement purposes — particularly those associated with counter-drug and counter-terrorism activities.” This NDAA gave the Secretary of Defense permanent authority to transfer defense material to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. From 1997 to 2014, the Washington Post reports nearly 3,029 law enforcement agencies received transfers worth $796.8 million in value. Some of these transfers included more than 6,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), close to 80,000 assault rifles, over 200 grenade launchers, near 12,0000 bayonets, 50 airplanes, more than 400 helicopters, and $3.6 million in camouflage and other “deception equipment”. In addition, The DoD alone provided more than $5.1 billion in military-grade equipment to local police forces. Of this equipment, 40% was never used and came from a military surplus.
There is now growing research describing the impact of this militarization. A PBS summary of a 2018 study published in the PNAS reported that police militarization neither reduced rates of violent crime nor changed the number of officers assaulted or killed. Furthermore, previously unavailable data on communities affected by militarization now illuminate a trend in Maryland where police were more likely to deploy militarized units in Black neighborhoods. Many critics of the current police state believe this discrimination is probable in many other states, too. A 2017 study found military equipment increased violent behavior in police officers. Counties lacking military equipment are expected to kill 0.068 fewer civilians, whereas those with the maximum amount can expect to kill 0.188 more.
Mass incarceration statistics reveal that Black Americans are still overwhelmingly targets of the War on Drugs campaign. While it is not the only culprit behind the sheer number of people in the US penal system, it is a significant factor that cannot be overlooked. Compared to their white peers, Black Americans are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana charges. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported between 1991–1993, nearly 50% of all drug sale arrests were Black, even though they represented only 16% of admitted drug sellers at that time. In this same period, only 13% of admitted illicit drug users were Black, yet they were 36% of those arrested for possession. Before the 2010 Congressional Fair Sentencing Act, the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act intentionally created a sentencing disparity of 100:1 between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. The only difference between the two drugs is the addition of baking soda and water. Yet, the stories of “crack babies” and violent “crackheads” were regularly weaponized against Black people while most crack users were and still are white. In 1988, Congress made crack the only drug where mere possession was a federal crime. Finally, in 2018, the Drug Policy Alliance found nearly 80% of all people in federal prison and almost 60% of people in state prison for drug offenses to be Black or Latinx. This same report found that prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for Black people than for white people charged with the same offense. Resultantly, 31% of those facing a mandatory minimum sentence in 2011 were Black, while they only represent 12–13% of the entire US population. There is a glaring racial discrepancy in policing, yet “left-leaning” Democrats are not doing enough to absolve this injustice to quiet Republican rumors and targeted political ads.
Over a year after the explosive BLM protests in June 2020, it is abundantly clear there is no real prioritization or commitment to changing our understanding of policing and punishment. It appears that all the Democratic party plans to do in solidarity with the Black constituents that contributed to their Congressional house majority and reclamation of the Executive office is a one-time outfit change into Ghanian drip and extend gratitude to police brutality victims for “sacrificing their lives. Sen. Cory Booker’s outburst on Tuesday night confirms what many Americans are finally starting to understand in the wake of little federal support in a global pandemic: the two-party system does not provide nearly enough political support to all marginalized communities. While Democrats might claim to be open to some left ideas that encourage systemic change to promote a more egalitarian society, values of God, country, and apple pie are more pressing.
Tuberville’s amendment 3113 passed the Senate 99–0.
To learn more about the call for the abolition of police, you can learn more here, here, and here.
