George Floyd died on Monday, May 25. He was known among his family and friends for his compassionate character and beautiful spirit. However, he died in a matter of minutes at the hands of Derek Chauvin, an officer with the Minneapolis Police Department. Since then, protests have erupted across the country, demanding justice for Black Americans who have been murdered this year, including Breona Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others. In the process, police precincts have been seized, protestors have been fired upon, and stores have been razed. America is returning slowly to a new normal constructed on the ruins of weeks of protests and riots.
However, as we watch this violent crisis unfold, another looms in the background: The pandemic rages on. On May 28, the U.S. death toll surpassed 100,000 people. As of July 13, that number has increased to 137,000, with over 3 million total cases. Yet, reopening orders continue to be implemented across the country, with states like Texas, Florida, and Arizona emerging as new global epicenters for the virus. Adding to this, the American economy is in a state of crisis. The federal deficit is climbing at an unprecedented rate, with the Department of the Treasury borrowing over $3 trillion in only the last three months and economists foreseeing a significant recession in our near future. People are dying, markets are in a freefall, and GDP growth and deficit spending are at unhealthy long-term levels.
Today, however, we must realize that the crisis of policing and that of the economy are inextricable from each other. George Floyd himself, as reported by Joanna Walters in the Guardian, was like many millions of Americans over the last few months: out of work and looking for a new job. His situation was the result of mass businesses closures, a situation which has left millions of other Americans jobless. The crises are converging. Both the calamity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the scourge of systemic racism are inextricably intertwined, stemming from and perpetuated by the countrys reverent adherence to a corrupt, capitalist system. If we are to cast off the political and social ineptitude that has marked our policies for generations, we must take this moment of large-scale societal change to implement progressive political change.
With regard to the pandemic, despite the heightened urgency of support, the only existing relief package to Americans has been a means-tested $1,200 check without systemic payment freezes or assistance for utilities, rent and mortgages. This has left many millions of Americans in a state of economic limbo. Sandra Black, an economics professor at Columbia University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, highlighted the insufficiency of such a measure. In an interview with Time, Black remarked that this is not enough money to keep most families afloat And this shutdown is far from over.
Meanwhile, major debt-bearing American corporations have received substantially more government assistance, resulting in moral hazard a situation which encourages corporations to continue their risky practices without liability, to the detriment of the average American. As American workers find it more difficult than ever to make ends meet, financial institutions are saved to the penny. Meanwhile, billionaires continue to profit, with some, like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckeberg, adding over 50% to their respective net worths as most Americans suffer on a months-old relief check. This conundrum is similar to the Great Recession, but our contemporary context makes it an entirely different beast: Even if individuals can find work, they may have to expose themselves to unsafe conditions in order to earn wages. Floyd himself was among the millions caught within this abhorrent paradox. Like so many other struggling Americans, Floyd found himself in search of a new job. However, in merely soliciting a possibly counterfeit bill, Floyd became part of an even more sinister statistical grouping: an unarmed Black person killed by an American police officer.
The intersection of these trends is no coincidence. It is the working of a corrupt, capitalist system. The wage slavery that has arisen amid stagnant wages drives poverty, and poverty drives policing especially in urban areas. These trends further drive community mistrust of police, where the force that allegedly protects the public is increasingly perceived as the problem. Black Americans, who are disproportionately represented amongst these poor communities, are continually targeted by police in their own communities. However, what brings together these two systems that of police targeting and economic disadvantage is racial policing.
Consistent historical evidence has documented overtly discriminatory policing against Black Americans for centuries, but the most recent surge in such behavior was catalyzed by Reagans Tough on Crime campaign and its post-Reagan continuations, especially the 1994 Crime Bill. The War on Drugs and calls to crack down on urban crime became political tools for the mass incarceration of Black Americans. Indeed, as Kenneth Nunn writes in Race, Racism, and the Law, the War on Drugs was a targeted war, the employment of force and violence against certain communities in order to attain certain political objectives. These political objectives are expressly racial the mass incarceration of people of color. Compounding this, many millions of Black Americans are stuck in generational cycles of poverty, their communities also engulfed by gentrification. They are denied political rights by racial gerrymandering and overtly discriminatory polling rules in the South. These distinct yet structurally intertwined systems of oppression are the makeup of an apartheid state, in which White supremacy complements the American neoliberal economic system to maintain a vast prison-industrial complex that disproportionately targets communities of color.
Also inherent in the nature of American capitalism is the defense of private property before social good. The police have revealed themselves to be the mercenaries of corporate interests, stepping in not to protect protestors but to protect burning buildings and endangered private property. Jacob Frey, the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, even came under fire from the president for refusing to dispel protesters from the Third Precinct station of the Minneapolis Police Department, instead allowing the building to burn in hopes that it would quell the passion of the protesters. It was at this juncture, when private property was threatened, that Trump escalated his federal response, threatening and then pursuing national military action.
Leftists intellectuals have long asserted that the role of police in America has been to uphold the agenda of the monied elite. Recent events have indeed evidenced the inherently violent means of enforcing protection of property in this country, especially in urban areas where looting is most concentrated. Even President Trump asserted this logic in invoking the racially charged words of Miami Police Chief Walter Headley in 1967: When the looting starts, the shooting starts. The violent actions of police demonstrate an insurmountable internal contradiction for police officers: How can the protectors of our communities often meet peaceful protests with military-style repressive tactics? In the midst of this contradiction, organizers have brought awareness to a new rallying cry: Buildings can be rebuilt, but lives cannot be brought back.
While only now coming to the forefront of ongoing discourse, these are long-existing realities of the Black experience in America. As a White man, I cannot say I can truly give this experience and crisis enough consideration in writing this article I can only recognize the systemic inequity and utilize my privilege to become an ally. But I can review the annals of our history, and such a reading provides a dangerous narrative: It is this time, in our era, that the riots are different. This time, compromise and peace are failing to deliver answers, even more so than they did in Los Angeles in 1992. This time, dialogue is breaking through at an alarming rate.
This is because the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening the basic institutions of American society. The market disruptions of March and April were unprecedented, featuring the biggest stock market crash since 2008. As a result, the modern state has expanded across society in a visibly larger way since even March. The coronavirus relief bill shares many traits with major policies of crisis management in the past, especially during the Great Depression and the Great Recession, such as its direct assistance to individuals, companies, and even American cultural funds. Yet, it is distinct in its size: It appears now to be the largest economic stimulus, even adjusted for inflation and real growth, in American history. What may be more important than scale, however, is implication. Similar to the Works Progress Administration in FDRs New Deal and the employment-based direct assistance in Obamas American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the current world situation again evidences that large, rogue markets cannot regulate themselves and that they are undermined by systemic crisis. Again, people are being asked to forgive the mistakes of a system that has never worked for them.
Such large-scale changes, undergirded by major global crises, open up the space for political discourse and make equally large-scale institutional and social change seem like achievable goals. Yet, we cannot merely speculate any longer. We must seize this moment for change.
Image Credit: Photo by Julian Wanis used under the Unsplash License
Visit link:
A Revolutionary Perspective on Our Crisis, Part I - Harvard Political Review
- wage slavery - Why Work - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Pudzer isn't looking at the big picture - Las Vegas Sun - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Scheme for fishing crews is 'legitimising slavery' - Irish Times - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Living off the grid: Neo-peasants in Daylesford, Victoria take on ... - NEWS.com.au - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Attending College Doesn't Close the Wage Gap and Other Myths Exposed in New 'Asset Value of Whiteness' Report - The Root - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Why Do We Take Pride in Working for a Paycheck? - JSTOR Daily - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- An interesting life through the eyes of a slave driver - Irish Independent - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Attending College Doesn't Close Racial Wage Gap, Says New Report - Post News Group (blog) - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- The Rule of Law and The Working Class - Anarkismo.net - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Wolf budget proposal calls for $12 minimum wage - Scranton Times-Tribune - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Where did capitalism come from? - Socialist Worker Online - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Aussies working too hard and we're headed for disaster - Bundaberg News Mail - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- The Two Types of Campus Leftists - National Review - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Month of the Presidents - PrimePublishers.com - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Believing is seeing - Arkansas Times - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Uncomfortable truths: The role of slavery and the slave trade in building northern wealth - Daily Kos - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Point/Counterpoint: On Liberal Capitalism - The Free Weekly - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- To make Trump's America ungovernable, African American struggles are key - Green Left Weekly - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians against fascism: continuing the culture of resistance - Straight.com - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- What Chaos? The Trump Steam Roller has it Under Control - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- 31 Life Lessons After 30 Years - The Good Men Project (blog) - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- No Room for Compromise on Lower Tipped Minimum - Eater Twin Cities (blog) - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Netflix is Allowing 13th to be Shown to the Public Without a Subscription - The Urban Twist - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Mayor Betsy Hodges says tip credits are bad for women - City Pages - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Washington State Rep Endorsed Slavery When Confronted by Voter - The Pacific Tribune - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Tesla warns that 'thousands' of Model 3 reservations holders will go outside of Connecticut to buy without direct sales - Electrek - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- National Prison Strike Exposes Need for Labor Rights Behind Bars - Toward Freedom - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- New: Berkeley's New Ideology: A critique of the Strategic Plan - Berkeley Daily Planet - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Column: Farmworkers, immigration and local food - GazetteNET - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Forced to work? 60000 undocumented immigrants may sue detention center - Christian Science Monitor - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Slavery 'lieutenant' jailed for 'heinous offences' - Bradford Telegraph and Argus - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- The Confederacy was a con job on whites. And still is. - News & Observer - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- VIDEO: Street cleaners fight for London Living Wage from ... - Wandsworth Guardian - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- VIDEO: Street cleaners fight for London Living Wage from Continental Landscapes - Your Local Guardian - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Restaurant-backed campaign enters minimum wage debate - Southwest Journal - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- VIDEO: Street cleaners fight for London Living Wage from ... - Your Local Guardian - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Erica Armstrong Dunbar Talks Never Caught, the True Story of George Washington's Runaway Slave - Paste Magazine - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Fountain pen prices 'write' out there - Sault Star - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- Role of servers' tips fires up Minneapolis debate over $15-an-hour ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- Carson receives backlash after appearing to compare slaves to immigrants - WCVB Boston - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- Wash Post: At Least 60000 Immigrants Were Forced to Work for $1 or Less Per Day - Newsmax - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- Italian Nationalists Vent Fury Following Migrant Camp Fire - Breitbart News - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- Ben Carson Says Slaves In America Were Just Low Wage Immigrants - The Ring of Fire Network - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- Child labor in Seattle: Mexican girl kept in near slavery - seattlepi.com - seattlepi.com - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- 10 Ways American Crime Season 3 Exposes Modern Slavery - Rotten Tomatoes - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Daily Reads: Trump Fills Government with Lobbyists; It's Been a Hot Winter, Blame Climate Change - BillMoyers.com - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- America the Ahistorical: Ben Carson and the Dangers of Willful Ignorance - Rewire - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- How a Mini-Retirement Brought Meaning to My Life - Entrepreneur - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Capitalist Globalization of Labor is Modern Colonialism - Truth-Out - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Gumtree pulls 'slave labour' domestic worker advert - Times LIVE - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Reese vs. Nicole vs. Bette vs. Joan? It's Not Too Early to Get Psyched for Best Actress at the Emmys - Decider - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Readers sound off on slavery, the CIA and Mike Francesa - New York Daily News - March 12th, 2017 [March 12th, 2017]
- Raped, beaten, exploited: the 21st-century slavery propping up Sicilian farming - The Guardian - March 12th, 2017 [March 12th, 2017]
- It's Alive! It's Alive!: Our Film Critic Previews The 60th San Francisco International Film Festival - East Bay Express - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- LETTER: Getting our history wrong - Leavenworth Times - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Small World: Ranking the rank - The Bridgton News - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Is Passover Broken Beyond Repair? - Forward - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Caribbean Reparations Movement Must Put Capitalism on Trial - teleSUR English - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Two Democratic hopefuls for Va. governor on schools, Metro and the minimum wage - Washington Post - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- The Myth of the Kindly General Lee - The Atlantic - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Big business backs Labor call for new anti-slavery legislation - The Sydney Morning Herald - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Paying Inmates Minimum Wages Helps the Working Class ... - Bloomberg - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Slavery law to protect supply chains backed by big companies - The Australian Financial Review - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Filipino Women Against Modern Day Slavery - Workers World - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Paying minimum wage to inmates helps the working class - Chicago ... - Chicago Tribune - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Nova Ruth Wants To Free Us From The Bondage Of Wage Slavery - Village Voice - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- A Myopic View Of Robert E. Lee - National Review - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Jeff Sessions Says Social Media, Encrypted Apps Hamper War on 'Modern Slavery' - Reason (blog) - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Modern-day slavery alive in Cambridge as couple refuses wages to domestic worker: AG - Metro US - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Education & Wage Slavery | The Middle Finger Project - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- 21 sad and shocking facts ahead of World Day Against Child Labour - ReliefWeb - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Australia: Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into ... - Human Rights Watch (press release) - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- 4 Signs You are a Slave to Your Job | The Unbounded Spirit - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- It's True: Black Women Are Working Harder And Getting Less In Return - Essence.com - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Taxi drivers are hit by '21st century slavery' in Uber row over fares - expressandstar.com - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- The eco guide to prison labour - The Guardian - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Fashion doesn't empower all women - The Guardian - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Slave wages in Zimbabwe farms - The Standard - The Zimbabwe Standard - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Exeter car wash owner in court accused of posing modern slavery risk - Devon Live - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- The scout system at Oxford must be scrapped - Cherwell Online - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]