Nothing Has Changed
Over the past five years, Black Americans have made no substantial advancements in the fight for civil rights.
Five years ago, George Floyd was murdered.
Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer, knelt on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds as Floyd screamed for his mother and begged for his life. This killing sparked outrage throughout the country and was the focus of protests attended by millions, which led to policing reforms on both the state and federal levels. These reforms have in no way curbed police killings.
Over the past five years, Black Americans have made no substantial advances in the fight for civil rights, and police reforms have failed to end the epidemic that is state-sanctioned murder, as shown in the NYT chart below.
Police killings have increased since George Floyd was murdered, and they have not become less racially targeted. Today, while comprising only 13 percent of the country, Black people are the subjects of 21 percent of reported police encounters, make up 33 percent of the imprisoned population, and are over three times more likely to be killed by the police than their White counterparts. This is after widespread reform.
The reason we have failed to see true progress is that this country was intellectually established by and for White men who owned and enslaved Black people, forcing them to work on land that was acquired through mass murder, and justified using religious doctrines. This country was forged with racism and brutality.
This is not to say our founding fathers were wholly evil people who had no misgivings about the practice of slavery; they did. Thomas Jefferson, for example, who wrote “all men are created equal,” famously referred to slavery as a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot,” and frequently advocated against brutal slaveowners, hoping to eventually abolish the practice. Although he lacked urgency, Jefferson had a plan for abolition: he proposed a gradual emancipation process whereby slaveowners would “improve” slavery’s most violent features by bettering living conditions and moderating physical punishment.
Similarly, after George Floyd was murdered, many states implemented reforms, hoping to improve policing’s most violent features:
Use of force
Best practices in instances of police misconduct (Officers must intervene, report, or render medical aid)
Policies relating to law enforcement misconduct reporting and decertification (Police officers must be fired if they have a record of brutality)
While all progress is good progress, this didn’t work the first time (it took the Civil War to end slavery), and it is unlikely to work this time. Accurately reporting the death of a Black man does nothing to save his life; restricting no-knock warrants doesn’t overturn decades of racist judicial prejudice in warrant assignment. And this is not just a Republican issue. Democrat-led states do not seem committed to the kind of change needed to address racial inequality. Certainly, they preach DEI and anti-racism, but in practice, many blue states are bastions of class and race-based injustices.
New York, for example, a state where Democrats control essentially every lever of power, is still riddled with inequality. As sociologist Musa al-Gharbi writes in his latest Substack post about progressives in New York:
Despite these concentrations of wealth and progressivism, nearly 1 out of every 7 residents of the state falls below the poverty line. New York has the highest levels of within-state inequality in the country. New York is the 10th-worst state in the nation for racial equality (looking at poverty, homelessness, labor participation, homeownership, income, and more). It’s one of the worst states in the nation for social mobility (ranking 44/50): the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor.
Democrats have not done what they promised. Voters are losing hope.
And Trump is doing everything in his power to roll back the progress made on civil rights in the last few decades. Just last month, he signed an executive order to reverse many of the reforms (measly as they were) implemented after George Floyd was murdered:
STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS
Safe communities rely on the backbone and heroism of a tough and well-equipped police force. My Administration is steadfastly committed to empowering State and local law enforcement to firmly police dangerous criminal behavior and protect innocent citizens. When local leaders demonize law enforcement and impose legal and political handcuffs that make aggressively enforcing the law impossible, crime thrives and innocent citizens and small business owners suffer. My Administration will therefore: establish best practices at the State and local level for cities to unleash high-impact local police forces; protect and defend law enforcement officers wrongly accused and abused by State or local officials; and surge resources to officers in need. My Administration will work to ensure that law enforcement officers across America focus on ending crime, not pursuing harmful, illegal race- and sex-based “equity” policies.
This man is our president. If it has not yet become clear, he is both dangerously violent and racist, publicly tweeting, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” four days after George Floyd was killed. There are many more examples.
On the campaign train, Trump told a crowd of law enforcement officials, “When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over [their head.] Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody. Don’t hit their head. I said, ‘You can take the hand away, O.K.?’” The crowd of officers applauded.
At a rally, he mused about “one really violent day,” twenty-four hours of state brutality, as an answer to what he has described as a plague of unchecked property crime in American cities. He continued, “If you had one day, like one real rough, nasty day…” before trailing off. Many political commentators compared this to Kristallnacht, “the Night of Broken Glass,” a spree of Nazi-led violence in 1938.
At another rally, he went on a tirade against shoplifters, claiming, "We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store." To applause, he loudly said “shot” again for emphasis.
Over the past five years, no meaningful progress has been made in the fight for civil rights. Black Americans are still being murdered by police; they are still being incarcerated at high rates; they still have far less wealth on average compared to White families. Neither the peaceful nor the riotous Black Lives Matter protests have made much of a change in the lives of Black Americans.
All that has been offered is the empty promise of slow reform.