The recent violent insurrection on Capitol Hill reminded me of a “Chappelle’s Show” parody of “Law and Order.” It depicts an alternative reality of a racist and biased criminal justice system, one that disregards and tramples on the rights of a white suspect, while treating a Black suspect with dignity and undue deference. Dave Chappelle’s spoof of “Law and Order” aired in 2004 but reflects what Black Americans have known and experienced since Reconstruction—there are two de facto criminal justice systems, one for white Americans and one for Black Americans. In the real world of “Law and Order,” the police treat Black people much differently than white people, which we saw on full display during the riots on Capitol Hill.
The police response to the violent mob of white pro-Trump supporters that breached the Capitol building stands in stark contrast to the militaristic, aggressive and unfair way that law enforcement responds to peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors. Many have rightly denounced the obvious inequity in the lenient manner in which the police treated the mostly white pro-Trump rioters, compared to police treatment of Black Lives Matter protestors. Even President-elect Joe Biden commented that “if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protestors … they would have been treated very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol.” Biden acknowledges what many within the law enforcement community will not, or at least so far have not acknowledged, that in contrast to the tolerant and lenient treatment shown by the police toward the far-right extremists that stormed the Capitol, Black Lives Matter protestors are routinely confronted with unjustified aggression and suspicion from the police, including arrest and prosecution. This difference in treatment is rooted in longstanding and systemic racism and bias within the criminal justice system and policing.
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