Demilitarization, abolition of the police state is needed

Guest Commentary

Hot Air Weekend Editor Jazz Shaw believes that pointing out police militarization – not just in Ferguson, Mo. but everywhere – is “a rather rapid rush to judgment and lacking in larger context.” He is flabbergasted that “one local disturbance has turned into a national demand to defang the police.” Ignoring Shaw’s obvious attempt to “Godwin” the conversation into the abyss, perhaps it might be a good idea to answer his objections charitably, providing the larger context he desperately seeks, starting with Ferguson.

The most obvious statement to make at the outset is that neither jaywalking nor suspicion of petty theft nor running away from cops are crimes punishable by death anywhere in the United States. The fact that Mike Brown was killed for one of those three things is outrageous, and people were rightfully angry about it. But that isn’t everything at work in Ferguson.

According to data taken from the U.S. Census Bureau and a handful of news reports, roughly 64 percent of Ferguson’s population of 21,203 – 14,290 people – are black, yet its mayor, James Knowles, is white; five members of its six-person City Council are white; six of its seven school board officials are white; and out of the 53 sworn officers on the Ferguson Police Department, three – three! – are black.

There’s more. According to the Missouri Attorney General’s office, even though white people in Ferguson are statistically more likely to be found carrying “contraband” on their persons during police searches than black people, the latter are six times more likely to be stopped in their vehicles by local police department, 11 times more likely to be searched and 12 times more likely to be arrested.

Mike Brown’s death served as a catalyst for an extensively racially profiled, harassed and disenfranchised population to attempt to fight back. And this is not an isolated incident. 2014 has seen several high profile cases of cops killing unarmed, nonviolent men of color, from Luis Rodriguez in Moore, Okla. to Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.

Yet Jazz Shaw believes that those arguing against militarization of police, such as Radley Balko, Rand Paul and numerous others, are simply pining for the good old days of policing, or as he puts it, “the era of the lovable flatfoot, twirling his baton and wagging a finger at the precocious kid about to steal some penny candy.”

He wants soldier cops to patrol the streets in full regalia at all times, in all communities, to protect him and those like him from school shooters, black people, and/or anyone else who dares break the necessarily conservative social contract he has created for us all.

“Before you’re too quick to demand the ‘demilitarization’ of the police,” he writes, “you might want to remember who it is that stands between the neighborhood you have now and South Central L.A. circa 1992.”

We remember. And we want full demilitarization, followed by complete abolition, of not only the Ferguson Police Department but all police, everywhere.

-Trevor Hultner is an independent journalist, retail salesperson and Internet content creator.