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YTS.MX
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Five, four, three, two, one.
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The movie usually starts now,
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but I want you to know this film offers
an analysis of police history
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that I'd like you to consider.
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This film requires curiosity
or, at least, suspicion.
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I'll leave that choice up to you.
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Police power is immediate power.
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It's right now.
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It's... "Do what I told you to do,
right now."
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"No waiting. No... Ain't no phone calls.
None of that. Or else."
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"I decide what happens next."
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There's only one thing you gotta have
to be a good cop. You gotta have a heart.
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But you gotta be a...
At times, you've gotta be a bitch.
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At times, you gotta
come on like a mean man.
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Police! Don't move!
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What did I do?
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Do you understand
what I'm saying to you?
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I don't have the time for you.
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On toes. Ten.
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Knee-high, ten.
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Waist-high, ten.
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Like many institutions,
there is a sense of,
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"This is how we've always done it,
so this is how it's supposed to work,"
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with no one ever rewinding
to the beginning of the tape
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to figure out, "What were we setting
out to do when we started?"
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When we think of the word "police,"
where does it come from?
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It comes from the word "polis."
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The idea is that we are
a self-governing people,
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and that we believe in the principle
of self-government.
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But the problem is we never can
figure out who polices the police.
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We never can figure out what gives
the police authority over the people.
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The police in our community occupy,
uh, our area, our community,
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as a foreign troop occupies territory.
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There are a lot of people
that feel that policing is out of control.
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But it's also the case that there's
horrific crime and violence
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in some communities in this country,
and it also is out of control.
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The brutality of police
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indicates that we have not achieved
full citizenship.
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And that is why the police are the spark
for such outsized protests,
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because it is a direct affront
to our belonging,
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to our ability to be here.
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You need to disperse immediately,
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or you will be subject to arrest!
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Do it now!
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If we were starting
a country tomorrow,
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and part of what we had to invent
was a system of law and order,
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of criminal justice, of... of police,
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there's almost no chance we would invent
the system we currently have.
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And yet, we continue
to have it every single day.
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Police power is enormous,
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omnipotent, and hard to pin down.
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It is the might of one million police
wielded everywhere, all at once.
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Yet police power
is extraordinarily intimate.
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The same massive institution
can search your pockets,
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trace your cell phone,
demand your identification,
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{\an8}watch you with surveillance cameras,
or collect your DNA.
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{\an8}In the United States,
police power is essentially unregulated.
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{\an8}In this kind of democracy,
who is more powerful?
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{\an8}The people?
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{\an8}Or the police?
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What kind of crime
is most prevalent in the north side?
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{\an8}What do you deal with,
uh, in this precinct?
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We deal with violence...
a lot of violence, murders.
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This is North High School, my high school.
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Yeah, we deal with a lot of violence.
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We just had one of our athletes from here...
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Our quarterback
was shot and killed a couple weeks ago.
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What happened?
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Well, they thought
they would release school early
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so kids could go down and protest
the Amir Locke shooting.
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So, uh, D Hill...
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left the school
with some of our other players.
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He was headed home or to a friend's house,
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and he ended up, uh, passing
a guy over here on Golden Valley Road...
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And we'll drive by the site.
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And, uh, just passed this guy.
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And the guy turned around, and we don't
know if they bumped each other or what,
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but D kept walkin',
and the guy went in his backpack,
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pulled a gun out
and shot him in the back of his head.
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Killed him right there.
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- Bring 'em in, boys.
- Here we go.
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- Okay, guys. Take care of each other.
- Concentrate, focus.
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Front door's open. I'll get it.
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Our police department, law enforcement,
is... is a paramilitary organization, right?
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Police department! Search warrant!
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Ah, hit it, hit it!
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- Mind your head!
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- Go!
- Go, go, go, go!
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Police department!
Search warrant! Get down!
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- Get down on the ground!
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With you, with you, with you!
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And people don't realize
why it became a paramilitary organization.
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It's because police
came from the slave patrol.
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Up! Up, up, up!
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Up, hon! Get up!
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All these enslaved folks
are walking in town.
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If they don't have a... a note from Master,
they end up getting beat, severely.
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And the masters are just fed up
with these slave patrols, right?
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So they asked The Citadel,
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"Can you train these people?
Give them some type of structure?"
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Well, guess... guess what the structure is?
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Paramilitary.
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Where do you live?
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- 80th and...
- Put your hands down.
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- Where?
- 80th and Figueroa.
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Go there.
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I think
if our officers understood that,
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and had that conversation
and was taught that,
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I think they'll know why,
when an African American says,
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"Yeah, you're a product of slave patrols,"
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he would understand
what they meant by that, right?
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Because some words like "patrolling,"
you know, we haven't changed that, right?
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We talked about gettin' a letter
goin' into town from Master, right?
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What do cops do when they see
a group of Black males standing there?
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"Hey, let me see your ID."
What's the difference?
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When we think about
the origins of policing in America,
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there's a temptation
to find a single point.
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{\an8}But, in fact,
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{\an8}policing is something that develops
from multiple sites over time.
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One point of origin would be the frontier,
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where white settlers
find themselves in a place
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where land claims are being
contested with Indigenous people.
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And white settlers are trying to establish
their own rights and ownership over land.
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So the frontier militia we could see
as one origin point
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for what we come
subsequently to know as policing.
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In the South,
you had a somewhat different system.
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{\an8}It was essentially a slave patrol system
that was tied to militias.
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These were essentially groups of men
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who were tasked with going
around plantations
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and making sure the slaves that were
living in dwellings around the plantations
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weren't up to trouble,
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and they were essentially
policing these groups.
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So the slave patrol
grows up into an institution
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in relationship to slavery
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that we can also see
as a kind of incipient police force.
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You guys will let me know
when it's clear?
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Yeah, we're set.
Great. Action.
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In the 18th and 19th century,
we see municipal policing
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that's mostly aimed at regulating order
among working people,
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so working-class people.
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So that would be the third sort of site
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in which police develops as a way
of essentially managing the class order.
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Fire and auto accessory
workers strike in Toledo.
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State guardsmen had to resort
to tear gas, lead, and cold steel
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to curb the temper of the strikers,
spurred by radical agitators.
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Tear gas and knockout gas
in a stifling barrage.
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A veritable battle zone
where two were killed and seven wounded
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before the ranks of the strikers broke
and their ringleaders could be rounded up.
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Warfare in the streets!
Civic strife at its worst.
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Police,
throughout the 1800s, into the 1900s,
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{\an8}one of their major roles was in breaking
strikes, when workers went on strike,
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{\an8}and protecting the property of employers.
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We go back to what
we've talked about all along.
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We have these three dimensions
of the American political project.
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The one that flows out of slavery
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and the capture
and coercion of Black labor.
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One that grows out of
the frontier and the expansion
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and land hunger and conquest
of Indigenous people.
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And one that grows out of
the development of American capitalism
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and its... and its demand for labor.
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It always begins from these sets
of relationships to property.
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It always begins from the idea
that people without property,
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or people who are property,
in the case of enslaved people,
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are a threat to the social order
built on property,
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because they don't have
a stake in that order,
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and, in fact,
they are the victims of that order.
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It's likely that everyone
in this scene is dead.
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The dead, beating or being beaten.
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{\an8}Violence that lives in the distant past.
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Does that violence stay in the past
or move through time?
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There is a dance here,
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movement across
the line of violence and back again.
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I wonder, what did these men
feel in this moment?
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How do they feel after the fighting stops?
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- Righteous? Powerful?
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{\an8}When you contain
and control other people for a living,
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{\an8}what does this power do to you?
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We're gonna knock over
every speakeasy, hook shop, wheel joint,
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and gin mill
from South Canal to North Haven.
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We're gonna keep pulling in every monkey
until they get so tired of it,
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they'll all want to
lie in the tanks and leave town.
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Leave the country!
Not the town, but the country!
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No, no.
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Never mind those open hands.
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Close them up into fists and use 'em.
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{\an8}Historically, law and order
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{\an8}has meant subjugating
small portions of the population
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to the benefit
of the larger swaths of the population.
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We look at the phrase "law and order,"
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{\an8}and law and order
are two different things.
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{\an8}Right? So how much of our policing
is about the enforcement of the law?
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{\an8}And how much of it
is about orderly society,
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{\an8}and orderly society as defined by whom?
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Policing is inextricably linked
to the racial history of this country.
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{\an8}And in order to understand
that underlying framework,
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{\an8}you really have to go back
to the very heart
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{\an8}of the cultural logics of Europe itself.
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That's not Ferguson.
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00:13:45,491 --> 00:13:47,618
{\an8}That's not whatever.
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00:13:47,618 --> 00:13:50,120
{\an8}This is Baltimore City!
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00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:53,123
{\an8}So the philosopher David Hume,
for an example,
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said that if you're Black, or a Negro,
you only mimic speech.
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00:13:57,419 --> 00:14:00,548
Why can't I walk to the store
without being stopped?
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00:14:00,548 --> 00:14:03,717
So you're like...
just like a parrot, an exotic bird.
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00:14:03,717 --> 00:14:06,929
We... Black people
don't come up with original ideas.
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00:14:06,929 --> 00:14:11,308
The same as, of course, Thomas Jefferson
held that we have no creativity at all.
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00:14:11,308 --> 00:14:15,020
Immanuel Kant held
that to be Black from head to toe
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00:14:15,020 --> 00:14:19,066
is clear proof that whatever
a Black person says is stupid.
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00:14:19,066 --> 00:14:23,362
The German philosopher Hegel
said that Black people don't possess what...
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00:14:23,362 --> 00:14:25,990
The German word is "Geist," or "spirit."
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00:14:25,990 --> 00:14:27,992
We're just eternal children,
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00:14:27,992 --> 00:14:32,413
primitive in the regions of Africa
with the exception, of course, of Egypt.
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00:14:32,997 --> 00:14:36,458
That's right! That's right!
Y'all caused it to be this way!
216
00:14:36,458 --> 00:14:40,212
So there's... there's a way
in which the white imaginary
217
00:14:40,212 --> 00:14:44,049
has structured
the Black body against itself
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00:14:44,049 --> 00:14:45,426
so that, in the end,
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00:14:45,426 --> 00:14:48,971
whiteness turns out to be
that which is human as such,
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00:14:49,597 --> 00:14:50,764
person as such,
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00:14:51,265 --> 00:14:54,476
and where Black people are always deviant,
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00:14:54,476 --> 00:14:58,105
always troubled
or dangerous or disorderly bodies.
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00:14:58,731 --> 00:15:00,900
- Get off my back.
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00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:02,776
If you don't get off my back...
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00:15:02,776 --> 00:15:04,987
Here we go, here we go.
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00:15:05,571 --> 00:15:07,406
Move!
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00:15:09,742 --> 00:15:12,328
What does it mean
to disturb the peace?
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00:15:12,995 --> 00:15:14,204
Talk too loud?
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00:15:14,747 --> 00:15:16,373
Stand too close?
230
00:15:16,373 --> 00:15:18,167
Ask too many questions?
231
00:15:18,834 --> 00:15:20,419
Refuse to do as you are told?
232
00:15:22,504 --> 00:15:25,174
Maybe you've been called
dangerous or deviant.
233
00:15:26,634 --> 00:15:28,761
Maybe you've been made uncomfortable
234
00:15:28,761 --> 00:15:31,597
by some disorderly body
that got too close.
235
00:15:34,266 --> 00:15:35,601
How did you respond?
236
00:15:51,075 --> 00:15:52,451
Can this be the man
237
00:15:53,953 --> 00:15:55,871
who, less than 24 hours ago...
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00:15:58,666 --> 00:16:02,169
risked his life for less money per hour...
239
00:16:04,213 --> 00:16:05,714
than this man earns?
240
00:16:11,804 --> 00:16:15,975
The idea of a police function
and its responsibility to the group
241
00:16:16,809 --> 00:16:19,645
could be compared
to what happened millions of years ago
242
00:16:20,145 --> 00:16:24,817
when the ancestors of these ants evolved
their own version of a police function,
243
00:16:24,817 --> 00:16:27,736
so that now,
after millions of years of evolution,
244
00:16:27,736 --> 00:16:30,656
the ant has a social system
in which certain ants
245
00:16:30,656 --> 00:16:35,119
stand guard and check out other ants
trying to get into their anthill home.
246
00:16:35,703 --> 00:16:40,249
If considered an enemy,
these police or guard ants signal,
247
00:16:40,249 --> 00:16:43,502
and other ants arrive
and help destroy the intruder.
248
00:16:43,502 --> 00:16:46,171
I think there's
very good reason to believe
249
00:16:46,171 --> 00:16:48,841
{\an8}that the very founding
of these modern police departments
250
00:16:48,841 --> 00:16:50,759
{\an8}that started in the 19th century
251
00:16:51,260 --> 00:16:55,764
were founded in response
to people in American society
252
00:16:55,764 --> 00:16:58,934
who were seen as, uh, different and other.
253
00:16:59,643 --> 00:17:01,437
There's a good case to be made,
for example,
254
00:17:01,437 --> 00:17:04,565
that the first New York City
Police Department in 1844
255
00:17:04,565 --> 00:17:09,028
was a direct response to the influx
of immigrants from Europe,
256
00:17:09,028 --> 00:17:12,364
and particularly the Irish,
who were seen as less than,
257
00:17:12,364 --> 00:17:13,782
who were seen as inferior.
258
00:17:13,782 --> 00:17:17,369
{\an8}In fact, we think
of Irish populations today as "white,"
259
00:17:17,369 --> 00:17:20,831
{\an8}but in the mid-19th century,
they weren't considered fully white.
260
00:17:29,631 --> 00:17:33,260
In the United States,
especially in the late 19th century,
261
00:17:33,260 --> 00:17:36,764
when the United States was seeing
a tremendous amount of immigration,
262
00:17:36,764 --> 00:17:40,517
there was a lot of disagreement
about who belonged to what race,
263
00:17:40,517 --> 00:17:43,020
what the boundaries
between different races were.
264
00:17:43,020 --> 00:17:45,981
So the act of being targeted by police
265
00:17:45,981 --> 00:17:50,194
was often one of the ways
that people were marked as non-white.
266
00:17:57,910 --> 00:18:00,287
So when police were policing
267
00:18:00,287 --> 00:18:03,999
Italian-Americans or Greek-Americans
or Irish-Americans
268
00:18:03,999 --> 00:18:08,879
and they were subject to the kinds
of abusive or discriminatory policing
269
00:18:08,879 --> 00:18:11,673
that many non-white folks
are subject to today,
270
00:18:11,673 --> 00:18:16,136
{\an8}they were not necessarily seen
as another ethnicity within whiteness
271
00:18:16,136 --> 00:18:18,847
{\an8}but as occupying
a non-white racial status.
272
00:18:27,648 --> 00:18:30,567
Policing is a pathway to power.
273
00:18:34,363 --> 00:18:38,117
And so what we've seen
over the course of American history
274
00:18:38,117 --> 00:18:42,162
is different white ethnic groups,
as they've arrived in the United States,
275
00:18:42,663 --> 00:18:46,583
{\an8}initially being the targets
of American policing
276
00:18:47,084 --> 00:18:50,546
{\an8}and working to assimilate themselves
not just into American whiteness,
277
00:18:50,546 --> 00:18:52,881
but into American policing itself.
278
00:18:55,092 --> 00:19:00,514
When you look at the police forces
of many major American cities,
279
00:19:01,014 --> 00:19:07,187
you see that they are made up
of many of the white ethnic identities
280
00:19:07,187 --> 00:19:09,606
that previously would have been
the victims
281
00:19:09,606 --> 00:19:14,194
of harsh, discriminatory,
aggressive policing tactics.
282
00:19:14,194 --> 00:19:17,614
{\an8}Just before slavery
and just after slavery,
283
00:19:17,614 --> 00:19:21,368
{\an8}people who were white indentured servants
or poor white people,
284
00:19:21,368 --> 00:19:24,955
indentured servants before slavery,
poor white people after,
285
00:19:24,955 --> 00:19:29,334
were offered what historians call
a racial bribe, which is,
286
00:19:29,334 --> 00:19:34,756
"Come away from your class peers.
Don't form solidarity networks with them."
287
00:19:34,756 --> 00:19:38,051
"Instead, we will bestow upon you
this thing called whiteness."
288
00:19:38,051 --> 00:19:40,721
"And through very concrete laws
and practices,
289
00:19:40,721 --> 00:19:42,931
that will confer
a series of privileges on you."
290
00:19:42,931 --> 00:19:46,768
"And the police will be crucial
to conferring those privileges."
291
00:19:46,768 --> 00:19:48,729
{\an8}In the 1690s in Virginia,
292
00:19:48,729 --> 00:19:53,066
{\an8}the governors of Virginia colony
have the idea in their head,
293
00:19:53,066 --> 00:19:55,694
"Ah! The way we'll make sure
that slaves and servants
294
00:19:55,694 --> 00:19:59,990
don't get together and try to overthrow us
is we'll tell them
295
00:19:59,990 --> 00:20:03,577
that the servants get to keep
their clothes on when they're whipped,
296
00:20:03,577 --> 00:20:05,579
but the slaves can be stripped naked."
297
00:20:05,579 --> 00:20:07,789
What that tells you is a couple of things.
298
00:20:07,789 --> 00:20:12,085
It tells you white privilege isn't
that great, if you can still be whipped.
299
00:20:12,085 --> 00:20:15,422
But it also tells you there's an effort
to make a differentiation,
300
00:20:15,422 --> 00:20:21,011
to make sure that Black people
are going to be exposed, literally,
301
00:20:21,887 --> 00:20:28,310
as being the most vulnerable
to the force and violence of the state.
302
00:20:28,310 --> 00:20:30,729
To the extent to which one is not Black
303
00:20:30,729 --> 00:20:33,482
is the extent to which one
is closer to white.
304
00:20:33,482 --> 00:20:37,903
And in virtue of being closer to white,
the level, the frequency,
305
00:20:37,903 --> 00:20:41,823
the danger of policing
will be fundamentally different.
306
00:20:41,823 --> 00:20:43,825
I tell the story how,
when I was a rookie cop,
307
00:20:43,825 --> 00:20:46,411
I was chasing a guy
in a stolen car, on foot.
308
00:20:46,912 --> 00:20:48,956
And I tackled the guy, caught him.
309
00:20:48,956 --> 00:20:51,792
Next thing I know,
I get a flashlight to my head, right?
310
00:20:52,292 --> 00:20:55,254
I turned, looked at the cop,
and said, "What did you do that for?"
311
00:20:55,254 --> 00:20:57,631
He's like, "There was
two Black kids down there."
312
00:20:57,631 --> 00:21:00,217
"I just took the first one
I could take." Right?
313
00:21:01,343 --> 00:21:06,932
You know, that was...
And he did that without no regret, right?
314
00:21:06,932 --> 00:21:08,684
We don't hate the Negro.
315
00:21:09,434 --> 00:21:12,688
God made him Black, and He made us white.
316
00:21:13,730 --> 00:21:17,359
And you will find this laid out
in the 11th chapter of Genesis
317
00:21:17,859 --> 00:21:20,237
in which He segregated the races.
318
00:21:20,237 --> 00:21:26,660
And we, knowing that for 5,000 years,
the white man has been the supreme race,
319
00:21:26,660 --> 00:21:31,290
we, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,
intend to keep it the white race.
320
00:21:32,582 --> 00:21:33,959
Because of segregation,
321
00:21:33,959 --> 00:21:38,839
because of the way
that race marks African Americans,
322
00:21:38,839 --> 00:21:43,218
{\an8}many immigrants
who also suffered indignities
323
00:21:43,218 --> 00:21:47,097
{\an8}and oppression and exclusion
324
00:21:47,806 --> 00:21:50,183
could eventually turn into something else.
325
00:21:50,183 --> 00:21:53,937
You could change your last name.
You could lose your accent.
326
00:21:53,937 --> 00:21:57,274
You could become white in this society
327
00:21:57,774 --> 00:22:01,903
in ways that could never happen
for African Americans
328
00:22:01,903 --> 00:22:03,864
because you can't change your skin color.
329
00:22:17,419 --> 00:22:21,631
Police have tried to employ
tear gas upwind of the mob, if possible.
330
00:22:22,132 --> 00:22:24,259
If the wind is blowing against you,
331
00:22:24,259 --> 00:22:28,972
use a gas gun to drop long-range
CN projectiles behind the crowd,
332
00:22:28,972 --> 00:22:31,558
so the wind will carry it through the mob.
333
00:22:41,401 --> 00:22:43,403
At the outset
of the 20th century,
334
00:22:43,403 --> 00:22:46,198
police in many cities
across the United States
335
00:22:46,198 --> 00:22:49,618
{\an8}were totally integrated
with the political system in the city.
336
00:22:50,660 --> 00:22:53,246
When police were part
of the political machines,
337
00:22:53,246 --> 00:22:55,624
they were ineffective at crime control.
338
00:22:55,624 --> 00:22:58,627
In fact, they were part
of criminal organizations.
339
00:22:59,294 --> 00:23:03,256
And so a generation of police reformers
tried to change that.
340
00:23:08,220 --> 00:23:12,391
Many of them
had military experience overseas.
341
00:23:13,266 --> 00:23:18,146
And they came back to the United States,
and they wanted to transform police
342
00:23:18,146 --> 00:23:21,400
{\an8}in the same way
that the military had transformed
343
00:23:22,109 --> 00:23:24,861
in colonial military operations
344
00:23:24,861 --> 00:23:28,323
in the Caribbean and the Philippines
and other places.
345
00:23:28,323 --> 00:23:32,160
They wanted to make
police into professionals
346
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,372
the way that soldiers
were becoming more and more professional.
347
00:23:36,790 --> 00:23:40,085
In order to understand policing
today, you really do have to go back
348
00:23:40,085 --> 00:23:42,921
to some of these early
American interventions overseas.
349
00:23:42,921 --> 00:23:45,966
When I think about this,
I think of a guy named August Vollmer.
350
00:23:47,676 --> 00:23:50,178
{\an8}Now, August Vollmer
is a fascinating character.
351
00:23:50,178 --> 00:23:51,638
{\an8}He's well known among police.
352
00:23:51,638 --> 00:23:54,015
{\an8}He's considered
the father of modern policing.
353
00:23:54,975 --> 00:23:57,102
{\an8}August Vollmer served in the military,
354
00:23:57,602 --> 00:24:00,522
{\an8}and he particularly served
in the Philippines
355
00:24:00,522 --> 00:24:02,691
during the Spanish-American War.
356
00:24:02,691 --> 00:24:06,403
The United States doesn't say,
"The Philippines is our colony."
357
00:24:07,904 --> 00:24:12,242
But it holds
the Philippines under occupation
358
00:24:12,242 --> 00:24:14,411
that lasts almost half a century.
359
00:24:15,537 --> 00:24:20,625
And the establishment of that occupation
is a brutal counterinsurgency war.
360
00:24:23,837 --> 00:24:26,339
One thing about
this colonial war in the Philippines
361
00:24:26,339 --> 00:24:31,261
is that the American military perfected
a lot of techniques and tactics
362
00:24:31,261 --> 00:24:33,513
to deal with insurgents,
363
00:24:33,513 --> 00:24:35,974
{\an8}to deal with rebels,
to deal with, um, their...
364
00:24:35,974 --> 00:24:38,810
{\an8}their "little brown brothers,"
as they called Filipinos.
365
00:24:43,940 --> 00:24:47,486
August Vollmer was
a crucial player in that campaign.
366
00:24:47,486 --> 00:24:49,654
He was handpicked to serve
367
00:24:49,654 --> 00:24:52,574
in one of these elite mobile
counterinsurgency units,
368
00:24:52,574 --> 00:24:55,202
where they used these mobile forces
to go into the interior
369
00:24:55,202 --> 00:24:58,747
and essentially search and destroy
Philippine insurgents.
370
00:25:00,832 --> 00:25:05,629
Vollmer is one of these
really great figures to look at
371
00:25:05,629 --> 00:25:09,174
because he is a policeman,
372
00:25:09,174 --> 00:25:16,264
he spends time in the Philippines thinking
about designing policing institutions,
373
00:25:16,264 --> 00:25:18,141
and then he becomes an academic.
374
00:25:18,141 --> 00:25:23,021
So he is one of the people
who's kind of writing up
375
00:25:23,021 --> 00:25:27,067
how to think about
what a police apparatus looks like.
376
00:25:27,067 --> 00:25:31,488
Inspired, perhaps, by the
forty-and-eight transports of war days,
377
00:25:31,488 --> 00:25:35,575
the mounted division of the police
department has acquired truck equipment.
378
00:25:35,575 --> 00:25:39,287
Within the cab are accommodations
for ten officers, machine guns,
379
00:25:39,287 --> 00:25:41,748
tear gas bombs, and other riot equipment.
380
00:25:41,748 --> 00:25:43,625
Vollmer does this kind of thing
381
00:25:43,625 --> 00:25:47,212
where he crosses these different domains
we've been talking about.
382
00:25:47,212 --> 00:25:52,259
He's oriented on thinking
about the domestic, uh... order.
383
00:25:52,259 --> 00:25:58,181
He... he's gaining his experience
in a counterinsurgency situation,
384
00:25:58,181 --> 00:26:02,185
so a situation that we
might think of as being akin to war
385
00:26:02,185 --> 00:26:04,396
but really is about pacification.
386
00:26:04,396 --> 00:26:07,065
And he's trying to think about, um,
387
00:26:07,065 --> 00:26:11,736
how do you ensure
that policing retains its legitimacy?
388
00:26:18,535 --> 00:26:20,745
To avoid
physical confrontation,
389
00:26:20,745 --> 00:26:23,498
police again used tear gas,
390
00:26:23,957 --> 00:26:27,252
this time driving the crowd
back to the monument grounds.
391
00:26:29,796 --> 00:26:34,843
The use of these counterinsurgency
tools and tactics instills in police
392
00:26:35,343 --> 00:26:39,389
the idea that citizens,
or potential criminals,
393
00:26:39,389 --> 00:26:42,183
are like insurgents abroad,
394
00:26:42,183 --> 00:26:44,853
and therefore, are enemies of the state,
395
00:26:44,853 --> 00:26:49,065
and therefore, you can mete out whatever
violence upon them that is necessary.
396
00:26:54,154 --> 00:26:56,656
When you talk
about the characteristics of the police,
397
00:26:56,656 --> 00:27:00,368
it's almost exactly
a colonial institution.
398
00:27:00,368 --> 00:27:03,622
This is a power
of a government ruling over people
399
00:27:03,622 --> 00:27:06,791
who have no say in the way they're ruled.
400
00:27:06,791 --> 00:27:09,044
So, for me, the implications are
401
00:27:09,044 --> 00:27:12,714
{\an8}that police, as a colonial institution,
402
00:27:12,714 --> 00:27:17,886
{\an8}is going to be primarily oriented
towards serving the interests
403
00:27:17,886 --> 00:27:20,472
of the so-called colonizers,
404
00:27:20,472 --> 00:27:25,560
the settlers, who tend to be associated
with wealth and whiteness.
405
00:27:27,228 --> 00:27:30,023
There is a wealth of beauty
in this land of ours.
406
00:27:30,023 --> 00:27:33,943
Every conceivable type of coloring
can be found in American women.
407
00:27:34,444 --> 00:27:36,988
Miss America takes
her appearance seriously,
408
00:27:37,489 --> 00:27:41,409
and her beauty of mind and body
is her great American heritage,
409
00:27:41,409 --> 00:27:46,706
her birthright by virtue of the fact
that her forefathers came to this country
410
00:27:46,706 --> 00:27:51,336
to make a new world for their children
and for their children's children.
411
00:27:52,003 --> 00:27:53,588
On this free soil,
412
00:27:53,588 --> 00:27:57,300
all the many peoples
of the many countries met and married
413
00:27:57,300 --> 00:28:00,804
and brought forth
their children as Americans.
414
00:28:10,855 --> 00:28:16,236
{\an8}Police are fundamentally unlike
any other part of government
415
00:28:16,236 --> 00:28:23,034
{\an8}in that they most clearly crystallize
the fundamental power of the state
416
00:28:23,034 --> 00:28:26,121
to claim a monopoly
on legitimate violence,
417
00:28:26,121 --> 00:28:29,332
to say, "This violence is okay.
This violence is not okay."
418
00:28:29,332 --> 00:28:33,169
{\an8}So what it means to look
at policing, then, is to look at power
419
00:28:33,878 --> 00:28:37,757
{\an8}and the way that police function
in a society
420
00:28:37,757 --> 00:28:40,468
to maintain a particular status quo.
421
00:28:40,468 --> 00:28:44,055
And this is whether the police officers
are conscious of it or not.
422
00:28:44,055 --> 00:28:46,141
So we're looking at power,
423
00:28:46,141 --> 00:28:50,645
and we're looking
at how do officers become participants
424
00:28:50,645 --> 00:28:54,274
in the inequities of power
in this particular society?
425
00:28:55,525 --> 00:28:56,693
Stop, stop, stop.
426
00:28:56,693 --> 00:28:59,487
- I'm just gonna spray him. Watch out.
All right.
427
00:28:59,487 --> 00:29:01,489
I'm gonna spray you.
For what?
428
00:29:01,489 --> 00:29:04,075
Get out or you get sprayed.
Get out for what?
429
00:29:04,075 --> 00:29:06,661
Get out or you get sprayed.
Get out for what?
430
00:29:09,664 --> 00:29:12,250
Reach around.
You take off in this car, I'ma shoot you.
431
00:29:12,250 --> 00:29:13,752
I'm gonna make it super easy on you.
432
00:29:13,752 --> 00:29:16,087
You put this car in drive,
you get one right to the chest.
433
00:29:16,087 --> 00:29:18,715
I don't care what you got.
I don't care if you got bullshit on you.
434
00:29:18,715 --> 00:29:20,550
But guess what?
Now you gotta deal with it.
435
00:29:20,550 --> 00:29:22,802
If you pull some bullshit,
you'll take one to the chest.
436
00:29:22,802 --> 00:29:24,971
Now you gonna shoot me?
Absolutely.
437
00:29:24,971 --> 00:29:26,765
For what?
Absolutely.
438
00:29:26,765 --> 00:29:28,141
If you don't listen, you're done.
439
00:29:28,141 --> 00:29:31,770
Violence work is not violent work.
440
00:29:31,770 --> 00:29:33,813
Hands on top of the car,
both of yous.
441
00:29:33,813 --> 00:29:36,316
- Right now! Right fuckin' now!
Come on!
442
00:29:36,316 --> 00:29:40,361
It is the work of state violence.
443
00:29:40,361 --> 00:29:44,574
And it functions best
when violence is withheld,
444
00:29:44,574 --> 00:29:49,078
when violence is a threat
that is actually not inflicted
445
00:29:49,078 --> 00:29:53,291
but is understood
as able to be inflicted at any moment.
446
00:29:53,291 --> 00:29:56,503
They pulled a knife out on me!
Pull that, I'll split you open.
447
00:29:56,503 --> 00:29:57,879
- You understand me?
- Jackie, stop!
448
00:29:57,879 --> 00:30:01,466
All of yous, go up in the front.
Now. Get up there! Get up there!
449
00:30:01,466 --> 00:30:03,384
- All right, all right.
Come on!
450
00:30:03,384 --> 00:30:09,349
When I talk about marginalized
people as being sort of dystopic threats,
451
00:30:09,349 --> 00:30:13,853
I really should qualify this by saying
that they're also considered a contagion,
452
00:30:13,853 --> 00:30:16,815
and they will essentially affect others.
453
00:30:16,815 --> 00:30:21,402
So the goal, then,
is to force them back in their place,
454
00:30:22,195 --> 00:30:24,239
not just in their social place,
455
00:30:24,239 --> 00:30:28,743
but also the physical geographies
which we have set aside for them.
456
00:30:33,581 --> 00:30:37,418
The group that has really defined
how carceral logic has developed
457
00:30:37,418 --> 00:30:39,587
have been Black people
in the United States.
458
00:30:39,587 --> 00:30:42,590
And that's in part
because policing grew up
459
00:30:42,590 --> 00:30:45,468
within the context
of enslaving Black people.
460
00:30:50,390 --> 00:30:52,350
Once slavery was outlawed,
461
00:30:52,350 --> 00:30:54,769
that was very scary to a lot of people.
462
00:30:54,769 --> 00:30:57,772
{\an8}And so first,
they came up with these Black Codes,
463
00:30:57,772 --> 00:31:01,442
{\an8}which were literally laws
that only applied to Black people.
464
00:31:01,442 --> 00:31:05,321
So it was very explicit that,
"We are going to try to control you
465
00:31:05,321 --> 00:31:08,324
in a way we're not gonna try to control
any other group."
466
00:31:20,461 --> 00:31:24,132
This march
will not continue. Is that clear to you?
467
00:31:24,132 --> 00:31:26,968
It is quite clear
that this carceral logic
468
00:31:26,968 --> 00:31:30,638
doesn't only impact Black people,
doesn't only impact brown people.
469
00:31:30,638 --> 00:31:32,765
Everyone is wrapped up in it.
470
00:31:32,765 --> 00:31:37,103
But if we didn't have
that history of fear,
471
00:31:37,103 --> 00:31:41,024
of "What will we do when we have
Black people who are no longer enslaved?"
472
00:31:41,024 --> 00:31:45,778
"And if we can't control them that way,
how will we make sure they act right?"
473
00:31:45,778 --> 00:31:48,156
If we didn't have that particular history
in this country,
474
00:31:48,156 --> 00:31:51,451
I think we might have seen
a public safety system
475
00:31:51,451 --> 00:31:53,828
that evolved very differently.
476
00:31:58,958 --> 00:32:00,376
How did we get here?
477
00:32:01,502 --> 00:32:04,213
The question breaks down
as soon as you ask it.
478
00:32:05,506 --> 00:32:08,343
Who is "we"? Where is "here"?
479
00:32:08,343 --> 00:32:10,470
Ready... front!
480
00:32:11,471 --> 00:32:12,889
You and me,
481
00:32:12,889 --> 00:32:16,893
we may share this country,
but are we close enough to be "we"?
482
00:32:18,728 --> 00:32:22,815
Is your America
and my America the same place?
483
00:32:24,734 --> 00:32:25,818
Has it ever been?
484
00:32:41,626 --> 00:32:43,670
Is this police brutality?
485
00:32:44,253 --> 00:32:45,838
Or self-defense?
486
00:32:46,422 --> 00:32:47,799
What do you think?
487
00:32:48,424 --> 00:32:50,551
Unless you said you didn't know,
you were prejudiced,
488
00:32:50,551 --> 00:32:52,553
either for or against the police.
489
00:32:53,262 --> 00:32:54,597
And we'd better get all the facts,
490
00:32:54,597 --> 00:32:58,851
as many facts as it takes to arrive
at a real understanding of the police,
491
00:32:58,851 --> 00:33:02,355
their function, and their responsibility
to all citizens.
492
00:33:03,106 --> 00:33:05,692
So, insects or mankind,
493
00:33:05,692 --> 00:33:09,153
the idea of a police force
or function came out of necessity.
494
00:33:09,821 --> 00:33:14,534
Even the human body has its police force,
when in the event of illness or injury,
495
00:33:14,534 --> 00:33:18,871
white blood cells such as these
protect us from harmful bacteria
496
00:33:18,871 --> 00:33:21,249
and other substances
that threaten the body.
497
00:33:21,249 --> 00:33:22,792
Fire, here!
498
00:33:24,877 --> 00:33:27,880
When mankind
grew more civilized,
499
00:33:29,048 --> 00:33:34,262
{\an8}it became necessary to live
by more elaborate rules, laws.
500
00:33:34,262 --> 00:33:37,140
{\an8}Laws to protect the weak
from the aggressive strong.
501
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,143
{\an8}In this arrangement,
the power and strength of the group
502
00:33:40,143 --> 00:33:43,438
{\an8}was given to individuals
to use on behalf of the group.
503
00:33:44,397 --> 00:33:47,525
{\an8}The same principle applies
to today's modern police force.
504
00:33:53,781 --> 00:33:56,784
This is North Minneapolis.
This is Plymouth Avenue.
505
00:33:56,784 --> 00:34:01,622
{\an8}Plymouth Avenue is known for,
back in the '60s after, you know, the...
506
00:34:01,622 --> 00:34:05,418
{\an8}We had an uprising in the '60s.
I believe it was '67, '68.
507
00:34:05,918 --> 00:34:10,840
These used to be all stores,
delicatessens, uh, all kinds of things.
508
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,259
And, you know, Black folks got upset.
509
00:34:13,259 --> 00:34:14,761
They burnt it down.
510
00:34:18,890 --> 00:34:21,726
I can clearly remember.
I was probably five at the time.
511
00:34:21,726 --> 00:34:25,813
But I could remember the incident
'cause I remember the day after,
512
00:34:25,813 --> 00:34:28,191
my uncle put us in the car
and we drove down here,
513
00:34:28,191 --> 00:34:32,320
and he went into the Jewish deli,
and he... he looted it, right?
514
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,906
He took meats and all that stuff out.
515
00:34:34,906 --> 00:34:37,909
I still can remember my mom
telling my uncle not to do that
516
00:34:37,909 --> 00:34:41,204
'cause that man used
to let my mom get stuff on credit.
517
00:34:41,204 --> 00:34:45,333
What was going on in the community
that was... that had people upset?
518
00:34:45,333 --> 00:34:48,586
Well, there was...
there was a police incident.
519
00:34:48,586 --> 00:34:51,047
It was just not a stable environment
for Black folks.
520
00:34:51,047 --> 00:34:53,591
Police harassment in North Minneapolis.
521
00:34:55,343 --> 00:34:59,680
There was... there was an incident at a bar
where one of the bar owners,
522
00:35:00,223 --> 00:35:02,975
you know, brutally beat up a Black man,
and, you know...
523
00:35:02,975 --> 00:35:05,144
and officers didn't do anything about it,
524
00:35:05,144 --> 00:35:07,605
which triggered "enough is enough," right?
525
00:35:10,566 --> 00:35:13,694
We had all these different businesses
on Plymouth Avenue,
526
00:35:13,694 --> 00:35:15,530
and one night, they set it on fire,
you know,
527
00:35:15,530 --> 00:35:18,574
like many scenes across America that year.
528
00:35:21,994 --> 00:35:25,414
Gutted shells of buildings,
flames raging out of control,
529
00:35:25,414 --> 00:35:27,166
and an atmosphere of apprehension
530
00:35:27,166 --> 00:35:30,670
still hover over
the quieting Watts section of Los Angeles.
531
00:35:30,670 --> 00:35:33,172
Drop that purse
and get your hands up.
532
00:35:33,172 --> 00:35:34,507
Hey, hands up!
533
00:35:35,550 --> 00:35:36,676
- Hands up.
- Get 'em up!
534
00:35:36,676 --> 00:35:39,303
Get your hands up. Let's go.
535
00:35:39,303 --> 00:35:42,807
Negro leaders blamed it
on a variety of social ailments.
536
00:35:42,807 --> 00:35:46,144
Poverty and unemployment,
poor schools and bad housing,
537
00:35:46,144 --> 00:35:48,688
all of which add up to discrimination.
538
00:35:48,688 --> 00:35:52,567
But most of all, said the Negro spokesman,
police brutality.
539
00:35:53,067 --> 00:35:58,197
While the conventional wisdom
is that somehow the residents,
540
00:35:58,197 --> 00:36:00,199
Black residents in particular,
541
00:36:00,199 --> 00:36:04,203
{\an8}started these violent episodes
against police
542
00:36:04,203 --> 00:36:07,165
{\an8}and against institutions
in their community,
543
00:36:07,165 --> 00:36:09,083
when we actually look at the history
544
00:36:09,083 --> 00:36:12,336
and we look at the prevalence
of this form of political protest,
545
00:36:12,336 --> 00:36:18,176
there were some 2,000 rebellions
between 1964 and through 1972.
546
00:36:18,176 --> 00:36:22,346
We see that, actually, it was police
that provoked these incidents.
547
00:36:24,390 --> 00:36:26,684
Absolutely incredible scene.
548
00:36:27,935 --> 00:36:31,022
A gun battle in the middle of Broadway.
549
00:36:31,022 --> 00:36:34,192
- Grenade in the streets of Los Angeles.
550
00:36:34,984 --> 00:36:39,739
And I submit to you that we shall not see
a Harlem or a Rochester or a New York.
551
00:36:39,739 --> 00:36:41,741
We can solve it. It is yet time.
552
00:36:41,741 --> 00:36:45,786
{\an8}I tell you, tonight there's gonna be
another, whether you like it or not.
553
00:36:45,786 --> 00:36:47,580
{\an8}- No, no, wait. Wait.
554
00:36:47,580 --> 00:36:49,415
Come on!
- Listen. Listen.
555
00:36:49,415 --> 00:36:50,708
See, they...
556
00:36:50,708 --> 00:36:55,588
We... we, the Negro people down here,
have gotten completely fed up.
557
00:36:55,588 --> 00:36:58,007
You know what they'll do tonight?
They don't care.
558
00:36:58,007 --> 00:37:00,593
They not... they not gonna
fight down here no more.
559
00:37:00,593 --> 00:37:02,637
You know where they going?
They after white people.
560
00:37:02,637 --> 00:37:05,097
{\an8}Ain't nobody in this society
561
00:37:05,097 --> 00:37:09,060
{\an8}ever sought to stop them
when they burnt our church down.
562
00:37:09,060 --> 00:37:12,438
{\an8}But when we retaliate, everybody is upset.
563
00:37:13,231 --> 00:37:16,692
{\an8}In many ways,
we think of the riots of the 1960s
564
00:37:16,692 --> 00:37:20,196
{\an8}as just a response to police brutality.
565
00:37:20,196 --> 00:37:21,948
But they are also a response
566
00:37:21,948 --> 00:37:25,243
to a prolonged period
of white mob violence.
567
00:37:25,243 --> 00:37:28,871
Don't you worry about it,
'cause we're not gon' take it anymore.
568
00:37:28,871 --> 00:37:33,918
In Lowndes County, Alabama, last month,
they burned two churches to the ground.
569
00:37:33,918 --> 00:37:35,419
They were Black churches.
570
00:37:35,419 --> 00:37:39,382
A week later,
a white church was burnt to the ground.
571
00:37:40,675 --> 00:37:46,889
Either we will all worship inside,
or we will all worship outside.
572
00:37:56,482 --> 00:37:59,318
Rebellion occurred
in the industrial Midwest,
573
00:37:59,318 --> 00:38:03,322
in the Sun Belt, in the Rust Belt,
the East Coast, and the Southern states.
574
00:38:03,322 --> 00:38:06,325
Essentially, in any place
where Black people lived
575
00:38:06,325 --> 00:38:11,747
in segregated, unequal conditions,
on top of being policed more frequently
576
00:38:11,747 --> 00:38:16,377
and policed in new ways during the era
of the war on crime in the 1960s,
577
00:38:16,377 --> 00:38:19,088
led to a cocktail where rebellions erupted
578
00:38:19,088 --> 00:38:21,549
across the country
in cities large and small.
579
00:38:28,639 --> 00:38:31,600
{\an8}Gettin' tired of being pushed around
by you white people, that's all.
580
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,186
How pushed around?
How badly? In what way?
581
00:38:34,186 --> 00:38:37,064
You're stoppin' us on the street,
kickin' in the doors,
582
00:38:37,064 --> 00:38:39,942
takin' to the police station,
you're kickin' your teeth in.
583
00:38:39,942 --> 00:38:41,944
They're stopping people
on the street now.
584
00:38:41,944 --> 00:38:44,488
- Yeah. I'm not speakin' about now.
They weren't before.
585
00:38:44,488 --> 00:38:46,782
Oh, they've been doin' it
a long time before now.
586
00:38:52,663 --> 00:38:55,458
{\an8}The police, they're not to...
in our community,
587
00:38:55,458 --> 00:39:00,254
{\an8}not to promote our welfare
or for our security and our safety.
588
00:39:00,254 --> 00:39:05,509
But they're there to contain us,
to brutalize us, to murder us,
589
00:39:05,509 --> 00:39:08,262
because they have their orders to do so.
590
00:39:08,262 --> 00:39:11,432
The police in our community
couldn't possibly be there,
591
00:39:11,432 --> 00:39:15,269
uh, to protect our property
because we own no property.
592
00:39:15,269 --> 00:39:21,025
Uh, they couldn't possibly be there to see
that we receive the due process of law
593
00:39:21,025 --> 00:39:25,488
for the simple reason that the police
themselves deny us the due process of law.
594
00:39:25,988 --> 00:39:29,700
And so it's very apparent
that the police are only in our community,
595
00:39:29,700 --> 00:39:34,997
not for our security, but the security
of the business owners in the community,
596
00:39:34,997 --> 00:39:38,542
and also to see
that the status quo is kept intact.
597
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,381
{\an8}Once you realize
that you are payin' taxes.
598
00:39:43,381 --> 00:39:45,800
All right.
- Taxes for the cops to whoop your ass.
599
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:47,927
{\an8}- You are payin' 'em.
600
00:39:48,886 --> 00:39:51,263
You're payin' them to whoop your ass.
601
00:39:52,098 --> 00:39:55,184
You are payin' them
to come in and beat your children.
602
00:39:55,976 --> 00:39:58,312
You're payin' them
to run you off the corners.
603
00:40:00,689 --> 00:40:02,608
And you're payin' them to kill you.
604
00:40:06,570 --> 00:40:08,656
Don't be afraid. Don't be ashamed.
605
00:40:08,656 --> 00:40:10,241
We want Black Power!
606
00:40:10,241 --> 00:40:12,326
- We want Black Power!
607
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:14,578
We want Black Power!
608
00:40:15,246 --> 00:40:16,330
We want Black Power!
609
00:40:16,330 --> 00:40:20,501
Stokely Carmichael,
a 25-year-old revolutionary.
610
00:40:21,001 --> 00:40:23,212
It was here in Mississippi this summer
611
00:40:23,212 --> 00:40:25,965
that Carmichael,
with his cry for Black Power,
612
00:40:26,465 --> 00:40:30,344
first became a national figure,
and to many, a frightening one.
613
00:40:31,137 --> 00:40:34,348
Every courthouse in Mississippi
ought to be burned down tomorrow
614
00:40:34,348 --> 00:40:35,599
to get rid of the dirt.
615
00:40:35,599 --> 00:40:38,769
From now on, when they ask you
what you want, you know what to tell 'em!
616
00:40:38,769 --> 00:40:40,980
- What do you want?
Black Power!
617
00:40:40,980 --> 00:40:43,149
What do you want?
Black Power!
618
00:40:43,149 --> 00:40:47,069
Police understood
Black radicalism
619
00:40:47,069 --> 00:40:51,615
{\an8}in the 1960s as a global formation.
620
00:40:59,248 --> 00:41:02,710
Police understood the threat of communism
621
00:41:03,544 --> 00:41:07,298
that seemed to go hand-in-hand
with Black radicalism
622
00:41:07,298 --> 00:41:09,216
as a global problem,
623
00:41:09,216 --> 00:41:12,511
a problem that was not confined
to "over there."
624
00:41:14,305 --> 00:41:16,974
Security officials in the United States
625
00:41:16,974 --> 00:41:20,186
looked at what was happening
on the streets of American cities.
626
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:26,400
They saw all of these movements
as tantamount to
627
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:31,363
and similar to the liberation movements
that were happening across the globe.
628
00:41:31,864 --> 00:41:36,243
There was enormous fear
of radicalism, of communism.
629
00:41:39,413 --> 00:41:42,166
To the idea
of the militarization of the police,
630
00:41:42,166 --> 00:41:43,876
we need to add
631
00:41:43,876 --> 00:41:48,881
{\an8}a notion that might be an awkward phrase,
632
00:41:48,881 --> 00:41:53,594
{\an8}but we need to think
about how the military became policified.
633
00:41:53,594 --> 00:41:55,095
One thousand.
634
00:41:55,095 --> 00:41:57,848
Stand by. Stand by.
635
00:41:59,183 --> 00:42:00,184
Mark, mark.
636
00:42:02,686 --> 00:42:06,065
Really, police is
the more important category.
637
00:42:06,065 --> 00:42:10,027
{\an8}The military's job becomes about policing.
638
00:42:11,111 --> 00:42:15,950
It doesn't become
about fighting wars for national defense
639
00:42:15,950 --> 00:42:18,619
with other sovereign powers
after World War II.
640
00:42:18,619 --> 00:42:23,707
It becomes about projects
of overseas counterinsurgency,
641
00:42:23,707 --> 00:42:25,793
pacification.
642
00:42:25,793 --> 00:42:29,421
The military aspects
are kind of infiltrating the police,
643
00:42:29,421 --> 00:42:36,011
and the policing kind of rationale
is entering into military action.
644
00:42:40,015 --> 00:42:43,435
People keep coming
to more and more radical conclusions,
645
00:42:43,435 --> 00:42:45,729
and in the United States,
646
00:42:45,729 --> 00:42:51,068
those conclusions are fueled
and fed by international movements,
647
00:42:51,068 --> 00:42:52,611
anti-colonial movements.
648
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:56,407
{\an8}In those countries,
649
00:42:56,407 --> 00:43:01,996
{\an8}people are adopting
radical political frameworks.
650
00:43:01,996 --> 00:43:04,415
{\an8}They are calling themselves socialists.
651
00:43:04,415 --> 00:43:10,254
{\an8}They are challenging and demanding
the right to govern on that basis.
652
00:43:10,254 --> 00:43:16,927
{\an8}And those are ideas that make sense
to radicals in this country where
653
00:43:17,970 --> 00:43:24,435
maybe you're not exactly
a colonized population in the same sense,
654
00:43:24,935 --> 00:43:27,313
but your conditions look
something like that.
655
00:43:37,573 --> 00:43:41,035
It might not be
traditional colonialism,
656
00:43:41,035 --> 00:43:44,413
but it's something
that looks remarkably similar.
657
00:43:44,413 --> 00:43:49,918
And so people begin to take up
the same kind of ideas and rhetoric,
658
00:43:49,918 --> 00:43:53,339
and also begin to question capitalism.
659
00:43:53,339 --> 00:43:56,759
Our Negro community leaders are--
660
00:43:56,759 --> 00:43:58,510
- Where are they?
661
00:43:58,510 --> 00:44:01,263
They are not here,
and they are not comin' down, because...
662
00:44:01,263 --> 00:44:03,807
- Ah, right. That's right.
663
00:44:03,807 --> 00:44:08,395
They are selling us again,
and we're tired of bein' sold as slaves.
664
00:44:16,820 --> 00:44:19,073
- He's on the floor...
665
00:44:20,074 --> 00:44:23,619
- Please don't kill me. Please!
Get up out of the gutter.
666
00:44:23,619 --> 00:44:25,371
- Please don't kill me.
Come on!
667
00:44:25,371 --> 00:44:28,707
When it was all over,
a young member of the demonstration
668
00:44:28,707 --> 00:44:30,292
had been shot to death.
669
00:44:30,793 --> 00:44:34,838
At least 30 were injured,
19 by gunshot wounds.
670
00:44:34,838 --> 00:44:36,757
Eighty-eight were arrested.
671
00:44:38,926 --> 00:44:40,302
Throughout the 1960s,
672
00:44:40,302 --> 00:44:45,224
many police officials believed
that the civil rights movement
673
00:44:45,224 --> 00:44:50,229
and then the Black Power movement
were dupes of the Soviet Union.
674
00:44:50,229 --> 00:44:51,980
They were being manipulated.
675
00:44:51,980 --> 00:44:56,902
There were agitators
feeding ideas into the heads
676
00:44:56,902 --> 00:45:00,030
of African-American people
across the country,
677
00:45:00,030 --> 00:45:02,783
convincing them to rebel.
678
00:45:10,374 --> 00:45:13,669
Samuel Cartwright was a doctor
679
00:45:13,669 --> 00:45:17,381
who would often be consulted
by white plantation owners
680
00:45:17,381 --> 00:45:20,676
because the plantation
owners noticed that Black people
681
00:45:20,676 --> 00:45:25,097
{\an8}would run away from the plantations,
which you would think is natural, right?
682
00:45:25,097 --> 00:45:28,100
{\an8}You wanna be free.
Hence, you would flee a plantation.
683
00:45:28,809 --> 00:45:32,563
Well, the white plantation owners
didn't understand this.
684
00:45:32,563 --> 00:45:36,275
If Black people were naturally inferior,
if they were like chattel,
685
00:45:36,275 --> 00:45:37,693
then why should they flee?
686
00:45:37,693 --> 00:45:39,987
They go to Samuel Cartwright.
He thinks about it.
687
00:45:39,987 --> 00:45:41,947
He says, "I think I have an answer."
688
00:45:42,448 --> 00:45:46,118
He says Black people suffer
from what he called "drapetomania,"
689
00:45:46,118 --> 00:45:50,831
and "drapetomania" is the disease
of running away from plantations.
690
00:45:51,707 --> 00:45:56,754
The Black body is being fixed
according to the image of white people
691
00:45:56,754 --> 00:46:00,007
because Black people
can't possibly want to be free.
692
00:46:00,007 --> 00:46:04,219
Because if they actually flee plantations
because they desire freedom,
693
00:46:04,219 --> 00:46:10,684
then that puts a lie to the claim
that Black people are naturally slaves.
694
00:46:10,684 --> 00:46:12,311
Wait a minute.
695
00:46:12,311 --> 00:46:14,313
All we want is jobs.
696
00:46:14,313 --> 00:46:17,232
We get jobs, we don't bother nobody.
697
00:46:17,232 --> 00:46:19,860
We don't get no jobs,
we'll tear up Los Angeles, period.
698
00:46:19,860 --> 00:46:24,072
What... what you think, brother,
about the police situation? Do you--
699
00:46:24,072 --> 00:46:25,073
{\an8}Police?
700
00:46:25,699 --> 00:46:27,701
{\an8}The police? We'll burn them up too.
701
00:46:30,204 --> 00:46:35,793
Police didn't see
these movements as organic, as justified,
702
00:46:35,793 --> 00:46:39,046
as based in real injustice.
703
00:46:40,547 --> 00:46:43,884
And that meant
that these movements were treated
704
00:46:44,968 --> 00:46:47,513
as if they were an enemy plot.
705
00:46:53,101 --> 00:46:54,394
And for that reason,
706
00:46:54,394 --> 00:46:59,024
the tools they used
to suppress those movements overseas,
707
00:46:59,608 --> 00:47:01,860
these were appropriate
to use at home as well.
708
00:47:04,488 --> 00:47:06,406
My fellow Americans,
709
00:47:07,282 --> 00:47:11,453
we have endured a week
such as no nation should live through.
710
00:47:12,996 --> 00:47:15,165
We need to know the answer, I think,
711
00:47:15,165 --> 00:47:18,418
to three basic questions
about these riots.
712
00:47:19,545 --> 00:47:22,214
{\an8}What happened? Why did it happen?
713
00:47:22,214 --> 00:47:26,677
{\an8}What can be done to prevent it
from happenin' again and again?
714
00:47:27,261 --> 00:47:31,682
I'm tonight appointing a special advisory
commission on civil disorders.
715
00:47:32,307 --> 00:47:36,937
Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois
has agreed to serve as chairman.
716
00:47:38,814 --> 00:47:40,899
...coat down a little bit again...
717
00:47:41,024 --> 00:47:43,277
- Ten seconds.
718
00:47:48,866 --> 00:47:51,243
The Kerner Commission report
is a massive document.
719
00:47:51,243 --> 00:47:56,373
It's an important watershed
in the history of American government.
720
00:47:56,999 --> 00:48:01,378
For the first time,
you have a really clear recognition
721
00:48:02,045 --> 00:48:06,717
of the way in which
the policing of American society
722
00:48:06,717 --> 00:48:09,386
is deeply interwoven
723
00:48:09,386 --> 00:48:14,808
with the creation of a society
that is divided along racial lines,
724
00:48:14,808 --> 00:48:18,478
and as the commission clearly states,
separate and unequal.
725
00:48:18,478 --> 00:48:21,440
The report turned out to be
a runaway bestseller.
726
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:25,277
740,000 copies were sold
the first three weeks.
727
00:48:25,277 --> 00:48:27,237
More than a million are now in print.
728
00:48:27,237 --> 00:48:29,656
Bantam Books,
which published the first edition,
729
00:48:29,656 --> 00:48:33,702
called it the fastest-selling paperback
since Valley of the Dolls,
730
00:48:33,702 --> 00:48:36,455
which it does not
precisely resemble in style.
731
00:48:43,211 --> 00:48:46,715
{\an8}Buy your books on the riot commission.
On the riot commission.
732
00:48:47,883 --> 00:48:51,219
Several young priests
in Bushwick are active behind the scenes,
733
00:48:51,219 --> 00:48:55,057
urging sales of the report
as a first step by whites
734
00:48:55,057 --> 00:48:58,518
toward recognizing what the priests
and the report see
735
00:48:58,518 --> 00:49:01,229
as the fundamental problem, white racism.
736
00:49:01,897 --> 00:49:04,358
What's going to be
the answer to this report?
737
00:49:04,358 --> 00:49:06,818
What answer in the form
of action in Washington?
738
00:49:07,694 --> 00:49:09,905
Here's Roger Mudd, who covers Congress.
739
00:49:09,905 --> 00:49:11,657
Roger, what's the impact down there?
740
00:49:11,657 --> 00:49:14,952
As yet, nothing has come
from the White House but silence.
741
00:49:14,952 --> 00:49:18,789
- Why is that? There hasn't been a word?
- I think this is perhaps calculated.
742
00:49:18,789 --> 00:49:21,792
The president wants time
for the report to soak in,
743
00:49:21,792 --> 00:49:26,380
and also he has some fairly precise
political calculations he must make.
744
00:49:30,342 --> 00:49:32,803
A couple things ought to be
remembered about Congress.
745
00:49:32,803 --> 00:49:38,475
That the Congress is made up mainly
of white middle-class, small-town America.
746
00:49:39,393 --> 00:49:43,397
So already you've got certain resistance
to, uh, such a report as this,
747
00:49:43,397 --> 00:49:47,859
pointing the finger at these men on
the Hill as the main cause of the riots.
748
00:49:49,069 --> 00:49:52,906
The fact is that the Kerner
Commission had something for everyone.
749
00:49:52,906 --> 00:49:54,992
{\an8}For people more on the left,
750
00:49:54,992 --> 00:50:00,664
{\an8}it had lots of analysis
of the root causes of crime.
751
00:50:00,664 --> 00:50:05,627
And for people on the right, it had lots
of recommendations for shoring up policing
752
00:50:05,627 --> 00:50:07,671
{\an8}and police techniques.
753
00:50:12,676 --> 00:50:17,472
{\an8}The suggestions on the right
overwhelmed the analysis on the left.
754
00:50:17,472 --> 00:50:22,436
Johnson really ran with
the recommendations,
755
00:50:22,436 --> 00:50:26,106
especially in the Kerner report,
for more police.
756
00:50:27,566 --> 00:50:30,819
Crime is usually considered
a big-city problem.
757
00:50:30,819 --> 00:50:35,032
Now suburbia is feeling
the impact of soaring crime rates.
758
00:50:35,032 --> 00:50:40,078
Lakewood, California, uses helicopters
the way most cities use prowl cars.
759
00:50:40,078 --> 00:50:42,956
Called Project Sky Knight,
the Lakewood experiment
760
00:50:42,956 --> 00:50:46,126
links the car on the ground
with the policeman in the air.
761
00:50:46,126 --> 00:50:49,546
The federal government
infusion of cash
762
00:50:49,546 --> 00:50:52,716
grossly expanded the number of people
763
00:50:52,716 --> 00:50:56,845
who were hired
as uniformed and civilian police.
764
00:50:56,845 --> 00:51:00,807
136, this is Sky Knight.
We're rolling from Compton and Downey.
765
00:51:00,807 --> 00:51:04,936
And it grew the technology
and the material
766
00:51:04,936 --> 00:51:06,772
that they used for policing.
767
00:51:11,568 --> 00:51:15,030
Sky Knight, I have 'em
now. I'm going to effect the stop.
768
00:51:15,030 --> 00:51:18,909
All right, we'll hover overhead
till we get a call...
769
00:51:18,909 --> 00:51:20,827
Johnson's intervention
770
00:51:20,827 --> 00:51:24,998
is not just about
the professionalization of the police,
771
00:51:24,998 --> 00:51:31,129
{\an8}but it really inserts
the federal government in policing,
772
00:51:31,129 --> 00:51:34,549
local policing, in an unprecedented way.
773
00:51:34,549 --> 00:51:36,343
The American people
774
00:51:37,469 --> 00:51:43,391
have had enough of rising crime
and lawlessness in this country.
775
00:51:46,353 --> 00:51:50,148
{\an8}The people also recognize
that the national government can
776
00:51:50,148 --> 00:51:54,611
and the national government
should help the cities and the states
777
00:51:54,611 --> 00:51:56,488
in their war on crime.
778
00:51:58,657 --> 00:52:02,619
When people invoke
war in general,
779
00:52:02,619 --> 00:52:07,082
what that does is to ask the public
to authorize the government
780
00:52:07,082 --> 00:52:08,959
to do whatever is necessary,
781
00:52:08,959 --> 00:52:10,669
take any step as necessary.
782
00:52:10,669 --> 00:52:14,297
It's a way of framing the issue
to ask people not to push
783
00:52:14,297 --> 00:52:16,883
for too much oversight,
too much accountability,
784
00:52:16,883 --> 00:52:20,929
to allow police
the license to do anything,
785
00:52:20,929 --> 00:52:23,974
uh, and to trust that they will judge
that appropriately,
786
00:52:23,974 --> 00:52:27,352
because in theory,
they're fighting an existential threat
787
00:52:27,352 --> 00:52:30,188
against the community that
they were charged with protecting.
788
00:52:33,024 --> 00:52:36,444
{\an8}The problem of crime
has become increasingly serious.
789
00:52:39,281 --> 00:52:42,159
It is freighted
with graver menace to the nation
790
00:52:42,159 --> 00:52:47,038
than could possibly have been true
only a few decades ago.
791
00:52:47,038 --> 00:52:50,500
{\an8}Crime has a partner in forming
the common denominator
792
00:52:50,500 --> 00:52:53,128
{\an8}of a breakdown in moral behavior.
793
00:52:55,380 --> 00:52:57,716
We will continue
to press for laws
794
00:52:57,716 --> 00:53:01,219
which would protect
our citizens from violence,
795
00:53:01,720 --> 00:53:04,347
{\an8}and our work has just begun.
796
00:53:05,056 --> 00:53:06,016
Run! Run!
797
00:53:06,016 --> 00:53:07,934
- Run!
Yeah!
798
00:53:10,604 --> 00:53:13,690
{\an8}Time is running out
for the merchants of crime and corruption
799
00:53:13,690 --> 00:53:15,609
{\an8}in American society.
800
00:53:16,234 --> 00:53:19,946
{\an8}The wave of crime
is not going to be the wave of the future
801
00:53:19,946 --> 00:53:21,948
in the United States of America.
802
00:53:24,201 --> 00:53:30,498
Our ranks have
increased from the original 55 men in 1925
803
00:53:31,249 --> 00:53:35,670
to the present complement
of almost 4,000 men and women.
804
00:53:35,670 --> 00:53:38,673
Again, I commend you
805
00:53:39,758 --> 00:53:44,221
for manning the thin blue line
that holds back a jungle
806
00:53:44,221 --> 00:53:47,557
{\an8}which threatens to reclaim
this clearing we call civilization.
807
00:53:50,894 --> 00:53:56,274
Last February,
I asked for a 700 million dollar increase
808
00:53:56,274 --> 00:53:58,693
{\an8}in the drug budget for the coming year.
809
00:53:59,402 --> 00:54:03,823
We have found an immediate need
for another billion and a half dollars.
810
00:54:04,741 --> 00:54:07,869
With this added 2.2 billion,
811
00:54:07,869 --> 00:54:12,832
our 1990 drug budget
totals almost eight billion dollars.
812
00:54:13,416 --> 00:54:18,213
{\an8}I came here to say that in my balanced
budget proposal to the Congress,
813
00:54:18,213 --> 00:54:22,300
we will have nearly 1.3 billion dollars
814
00:54:22,300 --> 00:54:26,137
to renew our community policing program.
815
00:54:31,476 --> 00:54:35,814
{\an8}The Homeland Security Grant Program
funds state and local governments
816
00:54:35,814 --> 00:54:39,401
{\an8}for planning, organization,
equipping, training, and exercising
817
00:54:39,401 --> 00:54:42,112
{\an8}against the possibility
of terrorist attacks.
818
00:54:42,112 --> 00:54:44,155
That's why,
from the very beginning,
819
00:54:44,155 --> 00:54:45,782
my administration has been dedicated
820
00:54:45,782 --> 00:54:48,827
{\an8}to giving state and local law enforcement
the resources they need
821
00:54:48,827 --> 00:54:50,287
{\an8}to get the job done.
822
00:54:50,287 --> 00:54:52,956
{\an8}So far, 3.5 billion dollars
823
00:54:52,956 --> 00:54:56,209
of the Recovery Act
has gone to support local law enforcement.
824
00:54:56,793 --> 00:54:58,670
{\an8}I will fight to protect you.
825
00:54:59,462 --> 00:55:02,215
{\an8}I am your president of law and order.
826
00:55:03,341 --> 00:55:06,469
Today I have strongly recommended
to every governor
827
00:55:07,053 --> 00:55:12,350
to deploy the National Guard
in sufficient numbers
828
00:55:12,350 --> 00:55:14,811
that we dominate the streets.
829
00:55:14,811 --> 00:55:18,315
{\an8}We should all agree the answer
is not to defund the police.
830
00:55:18,940 --> 00:55:20,775
{\an8}- It's to fund the police.
831
00:55:22,652 --> 00:55:23,653
Fund them.
832
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:26,531
Fund them.
833
00:55:40,420 --> 00:55:41,588
Status quo.
834
00:55:43,006 --> 00:55:44,799
{\an8}The existing state of affairs,
835
00:55:44,799 --> 00:55:47,719
{\an8}especially regarding social
or political issues.
836
00:55:50,597 --> 00:55:53,308
{\an8}Police expansion has been the outcome
837
00:55:53,308 --> 00:55:58,313
{\an8}of almost every domestic war
and moment of social unrest in US history.
838
00:56:00,899 --> 00:56:02,859
When the status quo is resisted,
839
00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:06,613
that resistance is put down
with overwhelming force.
840
00:56:07,364 --> 00:56:09,074
Armed backlash,
841
00:56:09,074 --> 00:56:14,329
an expansion of police
to return us to the status quo.
842
00:56:21,252 --> 00:56:22,629
I'm looking at, uh...
843
00:56:23,505 --> 00:56:27,175
{\an8}So I want cameras at McDonald's, and J...
is that JJ's Fish House?
844
00:56:27,759 --> 00:56:30,595
{\an8}In between there.
Then I need one back up at Merwin's.
845
00:56:32,430 --> 00:56:34,766
Well, they're dealin' drugs right now, so...
846
00:56:34,766 --> 00:56:36,726
I'm... I'm lookin' right...
847
00:56:37,268 --> 00:56:40,897
I don't know if they're throwin' needles.
Are they still on heroin there?
848
00:56:41,398 --> 00:56:42,857
Or are they sellin' weed?
849
00:56:43,358 --> 00:56:45,318
These are younger dudes I'm lookin' at.
850
00:56:46,569 --> 00:56:50,323
I wish I had 'em
on every... every corner, you know?
851
00:56:50,323 --> 00:56:53,868
'Cause they've been
very helpful with, uh, you know...
852
00:56:53,868 --> 00:56:56,079
I wouldn't say deterring crime,
853
00:56:56,079 --> 00:56:58,748
because most people
don't realize they're up there.
854
00:56:58,748 --> 00:57:00,750
We're not tryin' to keep it a secret.
855
00:57:00,750 --> 00:57:03,545
There were some... some people
on the council last year
856
00:57:03,545 --> 00:57:07,090
didn't like the whole
"Big Brother watching" theory, right?
857
00:57:07,757 --> 00:57:11,052
You know, but with all these cameras
around the city,
858
00:57:11,052 --> 00:57:15,098
it's been real helpful
for us getting our bad guys
859
00:57:15,098 --> 00:57:17,225
and young ladies off the street.
860
00:57:19,978 --> 00:57:21,813
This is always recorded, right?
861
00:57:22,730 --> 00:57:27,235
The beauty of this thing is we know what
vehicle's involved. We got a black SUV.
862
00:57:27,235 --> 00:57:30,071
We got four African-American males
who've been there for hours.
863
00:57:30,071 --> 00:57:31,865
I've watched them do hand to hand.
864
00:57:31,865 --> 00:57:34,367
And we can go right up to them
and snatch them.
865
00:57:34,367 --> 00:57:36,411
We have probable cause to do it, right?
866
00:57:36,411 --> 00:57:38,872
So nobody innocent gets caught up in this.
867
00:57:38,872 --> 00:57:40,790
So I'm gonna read our mission,
868
00:57:40,790 --> 00:57:45,003
say what I'm hoping we can do today,
and then we'll go around and check in.
869
00:57:45,003 --> 00:57:47,464
So, we're
the Police and Black Men Project.
870
00:57:47,464 --> 00:57:50,758
Our mission is we're a group
of Minneapolis police officers
871
00:57:50,758 --> 00:57:52,469
and Black community members
872
00:57:52,469 --> 00:57:56,681
building relationships of trust
to promote community safety.
873
00:57:56,681 --> 00:58:00,685
My thing is
the rise of carjackings, right?
874
00:58:00,685 --> 00:58:02,520
- Yeah.
- And the thing is, our car...
875
00:58:02,520 --> 00:58:06,399
Most of our carjackers,
probably 99% are juveniles.
876
00:58:06,399 --> 00:58:07,400
- Right?
- Yeah.
877
00:58:07,400 --> 00:58:10,945
You... It's rare you get an adult
doin' that, but we do get 'em.
878
00:58:10,945 --> 00:58:14,240
Our youngest carjacker was nine, right?
879
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:17,202
And we got one young lady,
she's probably 16 now,
880
00:58:17,202 --> 00:58:21,998
but she's probably got over 20 carjackings
under her belt, felony type.
881
00:58:21,998 --> 00:58:24,876
So we were... they were talking
about the revolving door
882
00:58:24,876 --> 00:58:27,086
of the juvenile justice system, right?
883
00:58:27,086 --> 00:58:29,547
You know,
we don't want to criminalize our kids.
884
00:58:29,547 --> 00:58:32,050
But we don't wanna understand
when they are criminals.
885
00:58:32,050 --> 00:58:34,886
So we continue to let them
go out there and do worse things.
886
00:58:34,886 --> 00:58:37,680
Uh, so here's the problem, is that, uh,
887
00:58:38,181 --> 00:58:42,227
what's happening is a failure
of the criminal legal system, Charlie.
888
00:58:42,227 --> 00:58:46,898
So, keep in mind, from my vantage point,
everything needs to be transformed--
889
00:58:46,898 --> 00:58:48,983
These girls will end up getting killed.
890
00:58:49,484 --> 00:58:52,779
They're going to end up killing somebody
if they haven't already.
891
00:58:52,779 --> 00:58:55,907
But what's insane to me
is just that we can't figure out
892
00:58:55,907 --> 00:58:58,910
how to get these kids
on a Zoom call in front of a judge
893
00:58:58,910 --> 00:59:01,371
to get them assigned
to some sort of intervention.
894
00:59:01,371 --> 00:59:03,206
It tells you what they think
about our kids.
895
00:59:03,206 --> 00:59:05,542
You wanna know what's happening
with white kids right now?
896
00:59:05,542 --> 00:59:08,545
They don't got...
They're getting pre-trial interventions.
897
00:59:08,545 --> 00:59:11,214
- Pre-trial interventions!
They're sending them to treatment.
898
00:59:11,214 --> 00:59:14,050
They're sending them to treatment.
They're sending them to all kinds...
899
00:59:14,050 --> 00:59:15,677
This fool that shot Deshaun,
900
00:59:15,677 --> 00:59:18,638
I'm sure at some point,
that dude got a pre-trial intervention.
901
00:59:18,638 --> 00:59:21,099
Like, the reality is, like...
that is what's...
902
00:59:21,099 --> 00:59:23,935
That is how
our criminal legal system fails us.
903
00:59:23,935 --> 00:59:25,853
It means you can't even do your job.
904
00:59:25,853 --> 00:59:27,355
So what do we do?
905
00:59:27,355 --> 00:59:30,817
It goes back to we got a bunch of kids,
African Americans,
906
00:59:30,817 --> 00:59:33,027
locked up in the County Home School.
907
00:59:33,528 --> 00:59:35,905
Maybe that's not right.
We shouldn't have them there.
908
00:59:35,905 --> 00:59:38,700
- But we're not checking their behavior.
Yeah.
909
00:59:38,700 --> 00:59:42,203
I think they're locked up for their
behavior, not because... who they are.
910
00:59:42,203 --> 00:59:45,623
We can talk about
what the intervention should be, right?
911
00:59:45,623 --> 00:59:47,041
I'm cool with that conversation.
912
00:59:47,041 --> 00:59:51,170
The problem we're having today
is that the process to get an intervention
913
00:59:51,170 --> 00:59:53,131
is not being given to our kids.
914
00:59:53,131 --> 00:59:55,550
And our criminal legal system
thinks that we just...
915
00:59:55,550 --> 00:59:58,177
"Just let 'em out with no intervention
and see...
916
00:59:58,177 --> 01:00:00,597
and make sure that they...
they don't re-offend."
917
01:00:00,597 --> 01:00:01,598
And it's bullshit.
918
01:00:01,598 --> 01:00:05,059
They're setting our kids up to fail.
They're setting you up to fail.
919
01:00:05,059 --> 01:00:08,896
They're setting all of us up to fail.
The same shit doesn't happen in Edina.
920
01:00:14,110 --> 01:00:17,697
Every arrest,
every discretionary stop and frisk,
921
01:00:18,281 --> 01:00:22,910
every moment of police violence
illustrates the paradox of police power.
922
01:00:24,287 --> 01:00:26,539
It is a vast institution,
923
01:00:26,539 --> 01:00:30,043
extending across
18,000 police departments.
924
01:00:31,044 --> 01:00:35,506
But it is most tangible
through close, individual encounters.
925
01:00:37,634 --> 01:00:39,802
Again, on this theme of domination,
926
01:00:39,802 --> 01:00:43,514
{\an8}Ray Kelly said
Stop and Frisk is designed to, quote,
927
01:00:43,514 --> 01:00:47,810
{\an8}"instill fear" in Black and brown kids
928
01:00:47,810 --> 01:00:50,271
that they should not go out with weapons.
929
01:00:50,271 --> 01:00:54,233
It's not a response to crime.
It's a form of domination and control.
930
01:00:55,568 --> 01:01:00,865
Day to day, the institution
of policing doesn't have a single face,
931
01:01:01,491 --> 01:01:05,161
but the individuals that get caught
in the machine of policing do.
932
01:01:05,662 --> 01:01:09,916
{\an8}By 2008, I was what's known as a truant,
933
01:01:10,917 --> 01:01:14,045
um, on my way
to being pushed out of school.
934
01:01:14,045 --> 01:01:18,508
Uh, I guess my life was just,
you know, skipping school, mostly.
935
01:01:18,508 --> 01:01:20,093
Home life was rough.
936
01:01:20,802 --> 01:01:22,136
School life was rough.
937
01:01:22,136 --> 01:01:26,057
I would take it out by not being there,
avoiding all responsibilities.
938
01:01:26,057 --> 01:01:30,395
And because of that, um,
I sort of got known around Flushing.
939
01:01:31,354 --> 01:01:36,484
I think I was getting stopped
and frisked a couple times... a week.
940
01:01:36,484 --> 01:01:38,277
At least once a day, somebody got stopped.
941
01:01:38,277 --> 01:01:41,030
There was, like, 30 or 40 of us
in one friend circle.
942
01:01:41,030 --> 01:01:45,159
"We can't go around Bowne Park
today because cops are there."
943
01:01:45,159 --> 01:01:47,620
We just... "Navinder already got stopped."
944
01:01:47,620 --> 01:01:50,164
Or "Asha got stopped," or something.
945
01:01:50,164 --> 01:01:53,459
It can... it can seem like a friendly thing,
even, sometimes,
946
01:01:53,459 --> 01:01:55,503
or it can be incredibly aggressive.
947
01:01:56,713 --> 01:02:00,174
I think I'm more upset
with the friendlier ones.
948
01:02:01,134 --> 01:02:02,760
What's your name?
Art.
949
01:02:02,760 --> 01:02:03,928
Huh?
- Art.
950
01:02:03,928 --> 01:02:05,346
His name?
Eddie.
951
01:02:05,346 --> 01:02:06,848
Come over here, man.
952
01:02:07,390 --> 01:02:09,016
Where you goin', Eddie?
953
01:02:09,016 --> 01:02:11,436
- If I see him again, he'll have a problem.
- I know.
954
01:02:11,436 --> 01:02:12,562
- Okay?
I know.
955
01:02:12,562 --> 01:02:15,022
Eddie!
You better come on, Eddie!
956
01:02:15,022 --> 01:02:16,399
It was routine at that point.
957
01:02:16,399 --> 01:02:18,901
I knew them by their names.
They knew me by my name.
958
01:02:18,901 --> 01:02:22,029
It happened to me once on a park bench
while I was reading a book.
959
01:02:22,029 --> 01:02:25,658
That particular day, I remember
just thinking, you know, nothin' of it.
960
01:02:25,658 --> 01:02:27,910
There's nothing
she could possibly have on me.
961
01:02:27,910 --> 01:02:30,830
I was like, "Hi, Amanda. How you doing?
You having a good day?"
962
01:02:30,830 --> 01:02:32,915
Says, "Yeah, Nilesh.
I'm havin' a good day."
963
01:02:32,915 --> 01:02:35,543
"Uh... put your hands on the bench."
964
01:02:35,543 --> 01:02:37,545
Wanna go to the station and talk about it?
965
01:02:37,545 --> 01:02:39,422
No.
- Then you wanna tell me his name?
966
01:02:39,422 --> 01:02:40,757
Eddie.
Hi.
967
01:02:41,674 --> 01:02:42,592
Eddie what?
968
01:02:42,592 --> 01:02:43,926
- Smith.
Get over here.
969
01:02:43,926 --> 01:02:45,219
Come on! Come on.
970
01:02:45,219 --> 01:02:47,096
- Come on, man! Come on.
- For real, Eddie Sm--
971
01:02:47,096 --> 01:02:48,806
Go sit in the car. I'm not gonna hold you.
972
01:02:48,806 --> 01:02:50,808
- Go sit in the car, man.
973
01:02:50,808 --> 01:02:53,060
And go to the station?
- Sit in the car.
974
01:02:53,060 --> 01:02:55,521
When you have
that kind of relationship with cops,
975
01:02:55,521 --> 01:02:59,942
every single time, every minute feels
like it was ten, you know?
976
01:02:59,942 --> 01:03:02,069
A five-minute stop feels like 30.
977
01:03:02,069 --> 01:03:05,448
You become fuckin' submissive
real fast too, you know?
978
01:03:05,448 --> 01:03:07,325
And... I was a dick.
979
01:03:07,325 --> 01:03:10,870
I... 'Cause, do you know what?
Fuck you, and fuck the cops.
980
01:03:10,870 --> 01:03:15,041
And again, I wasn't...
I wasn't some fuckin'... some...
981
01:03:15,041 --> 01:03:17,543
some violent fuck or somethin'.
982
01:03:18,586 --> 01:03:20,630
I'm just some skinny-ass Indian kid.
983
01:03:21,756 --> 01:03:23,591
It just slowly goes from like this guilty,
984
01:03:23,591 --> 01:03:26,177
"Oh my God,
I'm being stopped by the police."
985
01:03:26,177 --> 01:03:28,387
"I must be a terrible person," to...
986
01:03:30,723 --> 01:03:33,351
"Well, this is what I get."
987
01:03:33,351 --> 01:03:36,229
"This... uh... for bein' me," you know?
988
01:03:36,229 --> 01:03:42,610
And you sort of just, like, identify
with that sort of feeling.
989
01:03:42,610 --> 01:03:46,614
That... that sort of profile
that they put on you.
990
01:03:47,406 --> 01:03:50,076
And if you ask me
what that profile was, I don't know.
991
01:03:50,076 --> 01:03:53,246
But I felt like I was
some terrible criminal.
992
01:03:53,830 --> 01:03:57,375
I felt like I was some hood rat,
993
01:03:57,375 --> 01:04:02,004
fuckin' crack-slingin'
piece of shit, you know?
994
01:04:02,630 --> 01:04:04,340
I did. I did. I...
995
01:04:04,340 --> 01:04:08,302
It genuinely felt like
that's the kind of person I was,
996
01:04:09,136 --> 01:04:10,721
the way they treated me.
997
01:04:10,721 --> 01:04:13,474
And it was just like, well, I guess... I...
998
01:04:15,393 --> 01:04:17,603
I've never done any of those things.
999
01:04:17,603 --> 01:04:20,731
Uh... I swear. Um, but...
1000
01:04:27,697 --> 01:04:31,409
This constant little push, just down.
1001
01:04:31,409 --> 01:04:33,452
Just a little... just a little push.
1002
01:04:33,452 --> 01:04:38,082
It's just constant. And then, eventually,
you either become too tired,
1003
01:04:38,082 --> 01:04:44,171
or you get a little too angry
or a little too emotional,
1004
01:04:44,171 --> 01:04:46,799
and you end up fucking dead, you know?
1005
01:04:51,971 --> 01:04:56,309
One of the examples that I always
find super interesting to think about
1006
01:04:56,309 --> 01:05:00,813
{\an8}is in New York City,
in the period during Stop and Frisk,
1007
01:05:01,814 --> 01:05:03,524
{\an8}which was almost kind of like
1008
01:05:03,524 --> 01:05:08,237
{\an8}a more mobile
and flexible form of managing,
1009
01:05:08,237 --> 01:05:12,533
not spatial separation
into different parts of the city,
1010
01:05:12,533 --> 01:05:14,493
although that still exists,
1011
01:05:14,493 --> 01:05:17,788
but managing how people
move throughout the city.
1012
01:05:24,128 --> 01:05:27,006
Weapons were uncovered 1.5% of the time.
1013
01:05:27,006 --> 01:05:31,260
The... the gun recovery rate, 0.1%.
1014
01:05:31,260 --> 01:05:35,640
This is how preposterously faulty
this program was.
1015
01:05:35,640 --> 01:05:36,933
{\an8}This, in some ways,
1016
01:05:36,933 --> 01:05:42,605
{\an8}was a purely kind of algorithmic,
kind of racial project
1017
01:05:42,605 --> 01:05:45,191
when you think about what it actually was,
1018
01:05:45,191 --> 01:05:49,612
in which the police go around
watching where different kinds of bodies
1019
01:05:49,612 --> 01:05:51,739
are in motion in the city,
1020
01:05:51,739 --> 01:05:54,450
and taking it upon themselves
1021
01:05:54,450 --> 01:05:59,705
to literally seize
those bodies in a moment.
1022
01:05:59,705 --> 01:06:01,791
Stop and Frisk, right?
1023
01:06:01,791 --> 01:06:05,461
Making them suspect
for being in the place that they are.
1024
01:06:05,461 --> 01:06:09,799
You almost could think of that as
kind of like a mobile segregation project.
1025
01:06:09,799 --> 01:06:12,593
You know, "We're just gonna
move around and make sure..."
1026
01:06:12,593 --> 01:06:15,221
"We're not gonna say
people can't be here or be there."
1027
01:06:15,221 --> 01:06:19,058
But some people
are going to always be imagined
1028
01:06:19,058 --> 01:06:22,436
as potentially out of place,
out of where they should be.
1029
01:06:22,436 --> 01:06:25,481
Guess what?
I don't tolerate the shit out there.
1030
01:06:25,481 --> 01:06:27,733
He went in, and two of his pals went in.
1031
01:06:27,733 --> 01:06:30,903
All right, so we gotta
keep that corner clear.
1032
01:06:31,612 --> 01:06:35,491
What they do is they come out.
They hang out a few minutes.
1033
01:06:35,491 --> 01:06:38,703
If they don't get moved,
then they all start comin' out.
1034
01:06:38,703 --> 01:06:40,746
You gotta get 'em movin'
right from the start
1035
01:06:40,746 --> 01:06:43,040
because if you get
too big of a crowd there,
1036
01:06:43,040 --> 01:06:46,043
they're going to get out of control
and think they own the block.
1037
01:06:46,043 --> 01:06:48,087
We own the block.
They don't own the block.
1038
01:06:48,087 --> 01:06:50,381
They might live there,
but we own the block.
1039
01:06:50,381 --> 01:06:51,882
We own the streets here.
1040
01:06:55,219 --> 01:06:57,346
In the end,
it won't be a knife or a gun,
1041
01:06:57,346 --> 01:07:00,641
but when this woman throws her shoe,
it will lead to an arrest.
1042
01:07:00,641 --> 01:07:01,976
Back off, all of yous.
1043
01:07:01,976 --> 01:07:04,353
Because Flynn thinks
it was a rock or a brick.
1044
01:07:04,353 --> 01:07:09,608
To demand unqualified compliance,
which is what the police demand,
1045
01:07:09,608 --> 01:07:13,571
{\an8}goes against what I think the majority
of Americans believe our society to be,
1046
01:07:13,571 --> 01:07:15,531
{\an8}which is a democratic society
1047
01:07:15,531 --> 01:07:20,036
where you don't have to be subjected
to essentially authoritarian commands.
1048
01:07:21,203 --> 01:07:22,913
She's going.
1049
01:07:22,913 --> 01:07:24,498
No! No!
1050
01:07:25,124 --> 01:07:28,252
This used to be referred to
as "ATM." Ask, Tell, Make.
1051
01:07:28,252 --> 01:07:31,213
"First, I ask someone to do it.
Then I tell them to do it."
1052
01:07:31,213 --> 01:07:34,383
"And if they don't do it at that point,
I physically make them do it."
1053
01:07:35,801 --> 01:07:37,595
No, no, no!
1054
01:07:45,394 --> 01:07:49,523
When we watch television shows
and there's an authoritarian government,
1055
01:07:49,523 --> 01:07:51,609
or we read about
an authoritarian government
1056
01:07:51,609 --> 01:07:55,821
where citizens are expected
to offer unqualified compliance
1057
01:07:55,821 --> 01:07:57,907
and obedience to some other power,
1058
01:07:57,907 --> 01:08:01,410
we laugh at that and say,
"Oh, isn't that horrible? That's tyranny."
1059
01:08:01,410 --> 01:08:03,412
"Luckily, we Americans are free."
1060
01:08:03,412 --> 01:08:05,206
I got him, Kyle. I got him.
1061
01:08:05,206 --> 01:08:06,749
Get off me, man!
1062
01:08:13,214 --> 01:08:19,261
{\an8}A chokehold is a maneuver
that some police officers use
1063
01:08:19,929 --> 01:08:22,890
to try to get you to do
what they want you to do,
1064
01:08:22,890 --> 01:08:25,559
but you cannot do it
because you cannot breathe.
1065
01:08:30,898 --> 01:08:33,692
Obviously, in any violent confrontation
on the street,
1066
01:08:33,692 --> 01:08:36,612
it's difficult for the officer to remember
1067
01:08:36,612 --> 01:08:40,491
{\an8}where the blood vessels
lie in the neck, where the nerves are.
1068
01:08:40,491 --> 01:08:42,326
He got you!
1069
01:08:42,326 --> 01:08:43,953
Oh!
1070
01:08:43,953 --> 01:08:46,163
{\an8}On the other hand, it is our belief,
1071
01:08:47,039 --> 01:08:49,333
particularly from
the medical advisors' side,
1072
01:08:49,333 --> 01:08:51,293
and from your training instructors,
1073
01:08:51,293 --> 01:08:53,045
{\an8}that the more one practices
1074
01:08:53,045 --> 01:08:57,007
{\an8}and the more one becomes familiar
with the underlying anatomy,
1075
01:08:57,007 --> 01:09:01,303
the less chance there is
for injury and disability.
1076
01:09:01,303 --> 01:09:03,722
It's my belief,
after reviewing a number of cases,
1077
01:09:03,722 --> 01:09:07,852
that these special holds,
when applied properly,
1078
01:09:07,852 --> 01:09:09,770
carry very little risk...
1079
01:09:09,770 --> 01:09:12,106
I can't breathe...
- This is why we believe...
1080
01:09:12,731 --> 01:09:16,110
I can't breathe...
I can't breathe...
1081
01:09:16,944 --> 01:09:19,780
People who are exercising the police power
1082
01:09:19,780 --> 01:09:21,866
are doing a really specific thing.
1083
01:09:21,866 --> 01:09:27,371
They are translating
this essential core piece of state power,
1084
01:09:28,247 --> 01:09:33,252
{\an8}the ability to claim the monopoly
on legitimate violence, into practice.
1085
01:09:38,215 --> 01:09:41,594
What? I'm trying to open it.
Open the door. Get out the car.
1086
01:09:41,594 --> 01:09:44,013
No, I don't know what's going--
Come on!
1087
01:09:44,013 --> 01:09:47,349
Okay, stop the car.
Stop! Stop!
1088
01:09:47,349 --> 01:09:49,977
- Okay, I'm getting out. I'm getting out!
1089
01:09:49,977 --> 01:09:51,937
- Stop! I'm getting out!
1090
01:09:51,937 --> 01:09:54,899
- Stop! I'm getting out! Stop!
1091
01:09:54,899 --> 01:09:56,567
- Stop! Stop!
Get out the car!
1092
01:09:56,567 --> 01:09:58,402
I'm trying to get out!
1093
01:09:58,402 --> 01:10:00,654
I'm trying! I'm trying! Get the...
1094
01:10:00,654 --> 01:10:02,281
Stop, I'm getting out!
1095
01:10:02,281 --> 01:10:04,491
Get out! Get out!
1096
01:10:04,491 --> 01:10:06,994
- Get out the goddamn car!
1097
01:10:16,086 --> 01:10:17,379
Stop here.
1098
01:10:18,589 --> 01:10:20,466
Okay. Roll black.
1099
01:10:24,011 --> 01:10:27,890
If I stop this violence here,
is it less obscene?
1100
01:10:30,142 --> 01:10:31,685
I've put it in the blind spot.
1101
01:10:33,312 --> 01:10:35,272
But how much can the blind spot hold?
1102
01:10:35,272 --> 01:10:38,442
He's not responsive.
Does he have a pulse?
1103
01:10:38,442 --> 01:10:39,777
No, bro, look at him.
1104
01:10:39,777 --> 01:10:41,946
- He's not responsive.
Check for a pulse.
1105
01:10:41,946 --> 01:10:44,114
- Check for a pulse.
Bro, are you serious?
1106
01:10:44,114 --> 01:10:47,076
- Gonna stand here with that on his neck?
Let me see a pulse!
1107
01:10:47,076 --> 01:10:49,036
Is he breathing now?
Check his pulse!
1108
01:10:49,036 --> 01:10:51,455
I'm not gonna
have this conversation.
1109
01:10:51,455 --> 01:10:54,333
Check his pulse, Thao.
I'm telling you, check.
1110
01:10:54,333 --> 01:10:56,418
Check his pulse.
What'd you do?
1111
01:10:56,418 --> 01:10:59,713
Bro, check his pulse, bro.
Don't do drugs, guys.
1112
01:10:59,713 --> 01:11:02,925
Don't do drugs, bro?
What is that? What do you think that is?
1113
01:11:02,925 --> 01:11:05,344
- So you call what he's doing okay?
Get back.
1114
01:11:05,344 --> 01:11:07,888
You call what he's doing okay?
Badge seven...
1115
01:11:07,888 --> 01:11:11,058
You call what you doing okay?
Are you really a firefighter's...
1116
01:11:11,058 --> 01:11:13,310
- Yes, I am, from Minneapolis.
- Get on the sidewalk, then.
1117
01:11:13,310 --> 01:11:15,312
You call this okay?
- Show me his pulse!
1118
01:11:15,312 --> 01:11:17,773
Check his pulse!
Check right fucking now!
1119
01:11:17,773 --> 01:11:20,693
Get back on the sidewalk.
- Check... The man ain't moved yet, bro.
1120
01:11:20,693 --> 01:11:23,279
- The man ain't moved yet, bro.
He's on the street...
1121
01:11:25,698 --> 01:11:30,911
{\an8}It's hard to prosecute police officers
for killing people of color
1122
01:11:30,911 --> 01:11:33,455
{\an8}because, usually, it's legal.
1123
01:11:34,123 --> 01:11:36,250
Get your hands in the air!
1124
01:11:36,250 --> 01:11:39,086
- Do it now. Turn around! Turn around!
...over here...
1125
01:11:41,005 --> 01:11:42,381
Get down!
1126
01:11:42,381 --> 01:11:46,969
The Supreme Court has given
the police what I call superpowers
1127
01:11:46,969 --> 01:11:51,265
to racially profile,
to arrest, and to kill.
1128
01:11:51,807 --> 01:11:55,185
{\an8}In terms of police use of force,
Graham versus Connor is the case.
1129
01:11:55,185 --> 01:11:59,606
{\an8}And the Supreme Court held
that the police can use force,
1130
01:11:59,606 --> 01:12:02,151
so long as your average police officer
would think
1131
01:12:02,151 --> 01:12:04,903
it was an appropriate situation
in which to use force.
1132
01:12:04,903 --> 01:12:05,821
That's the rule.
1133
01:12:05,821 --> 01:12:08,532
And it is extraordinary
how many police departments
1134
01:12:08,532 --> 01:12:11,660
don't want any regulation
of the use of force other than that.
1135
01:12:11,660 --> 01:12:14,997
{\an8}Now, what has happened for decades
1136
01:12:14,997 --> 01:12:19,501
{\an8}is police unions have aggressively used
the collective bargaining process
1137
01:12:19,501 --> 01:12:22,296
{\an8}to load up their contracts,
and in some cases,
1138
01:12:22,296 --> 01:12:27,426
{\an8}to load up state laws with provisions
that are not just generous,
1139
01:12:27,426 --> 01:12:31,555
{\an8}but that bend over backwards to help
police officers avoid accountability.
1140
01:12:31,555 --> 01:12:34,391
I guess it was
this house over here.
1141
01:12:34,391 --> 01:12:35,351
Yeah.
1142
01:12:35,351 --> 01:12:36,477
Are you muted or on?
1143
01:12:36,477 --> 01:12:37,895
I'm muted, but I can...
1144
01:12:37,895 --> 01:12:39,772
Fancy seeing you all here.
1145
01:12:39,772 --> 01:12:40,731
- Mute it?
1146
01:12:40,731 --> 01:12:43,859
Questions are swirling tonight over
why Sacramento police officers
1147
01:12:43,859 --> 01:12:45,277
muted their body cameras.
1148
01:12:45,277 --> 01:12:46,528
Are you muted?
1149
01:12:46,528 --> 01:12:48,072
I'm off. All the way off.
1150
01:12:48,072 --> 01:12:49,031
Okay.
1151
01:12:49,448 --> 01:12:52,743
{\an8}Police unions come to the table
and tell government officials,
1152
01:12:52,743 --> 01:12:55,579
{\an8}who are largely beholden
to them at this point,
1153
01:12:55,579 --> 01:12:58,582
{\an8}who kowtow and bow down to them,
"This is what we need."
1154
01:12:58,582 --> 01:13:01,960
"We need, you know,
24 to 48 hours before this officer
1155
01:13:01,960 --> 01:13:06,090
even has to make a statement
about whatever he or she did,
1156
01:13:06,090 --> 01:13:08,467
up to and including
gunning that person down."
1157
01:13:09,134 --> 01:13:11,845
{\an8}"We need disciplinary records
kept secret."
1158
01:13:11,845 --> 01:13:16,809
"We need records to be cleared
after a certain period of time,
1159
01:13:16,809 --> 01:13:18,102
as quick as six months."
1160
01:13:18,102 --> 01:13:20,396
"We need that whole...
that whole record gone."
1161
01:13:20,396 --> 01:13:23,607
And this is the kind of thing
that allows officers
1162
01:13:23,607 --> 01:13:26,110
to escape accountability
time and time again,
1163
01:13:26,110 --> 01:13:28,779
and don't even talk
about qualified immunity.
1164
01:13:34,243 --> 01:13:35,786
I'll tase you!
1165
01:13:36,703 --> 01:13:38,997
Just stay back.
I'll tase you!
1166
01:13:39,498 --> 01:13:41,333
- Taser, taser!
Stop!
1167
01:13:41,333 --> 01:13:43,919
Ah! She shot me.
Please, stop.
1168
01:13:44,670 --> 01:13:47,005
I shot him.
You did?
1169
01:13:47,005 --> 01:13:48,465
Yes!
'Kay.
1170
01:13:48,465 --> 01:13:51,301
I drew the wrong fuckin' gun!
1171
01:13:51,301 --> 01:13:54,805
I shot him! Oh my God!
Kim, sit down.
1172
01:13:54,805 --> 01:13:59,101
The system of policing
has largely been constructed
1173
01:13:59,101 --> 01:14:01,895
outside of the view
of the average American,
1174
01:14:01,895 --> 01:14:06,150
and the rules governing American policing
have been determined, in many cases,
1175
01:14:06,150 --> 01:14:08,986
by the police themselves
and their lobbies.
1176
01:14:08,986 --> 01:14:13,240
And what that means
is the police have been able to codify,
1177
01:14:13,240 --> 01:14:17,953
to double and triple down on their power,
time and time and time again.
1178
01:14:17,953 --> 01:14:22,666
{\an8}In terms of law, we have
very, very, very few national standards.
1179
01:14:22,666 --> 01:14:23,750
{\an8}Almost none.
1180
01:14:24,376 --> 01:14:28,547
And we have very, very few,
remarkably, state standards either.
1181
01:14:28,547 --> 01:14:30,632
And very few municipal standards.
1182
01:14:30,632 --> 01:14:34,094
So the standards by which
the police operate are largely set
1183
01:14:34,094 --> 01:14:38,640
by the police, police department policies,
and their professional associations.
1184
01:14:38,640 --> 01:14:41,852
{\an8}We're talking about ensuring
that what police do is lawful,
1185
01:14:41,852 --> 01:14:44,354
{\an8}and when they behave
in a way that's not lawful,
1186
01:14:44,354 --> 01:14:45,939
they're held accountable to that.
1187
01:14:45,939 --> 01:14:47,941
But the biggest problem
with policing today
1188
01:14:47,941 --> 01:14:51,695
is that most of the harm
that policing causes is perfectly legal.
1189
01:14:58,994 --> 01:15:00,287
Um...
1190
01:15:02,873 --> 01:15:05,042
It's scary, right?
1191
01:15:05,042 --> 01:15:09,463
That's what I mean when I say it's on us.
'Cause we're the ones who make it legal.
1192
01:15:09,463 --> 01:15:12,841
I'm not... I'm not trying to absolve
the police from responsibility.
1193
01:15:13,509 --> 01:15:16,970
But the fact is that most of the harm
they cause is perfectly legal.
1194
01:15:18,222 --> 01:15:20,682
So I'm interested in the, um...
1195
01:15:22,226 --> 01:15:24,937
I'm interested in the "we"-ness of it all.
1196
01:15:25,896 --> 01:15:28,899
You've both made
similar points about the laws
1197
01:15:28,899 --> 01:15:31,151
that "we" let the police enforce
1198
01:15:31,151 --> 01:15:34,112
and the things
that "we" let the police do.
1199
01:15:34,112 --> 01:15:38,325
And I'm sitting here,
and I'm like, "I don't let the police do..."
1200
01:15:38,909 --> 01:15:40,869
-"I don't want the police to do that."
- Mm-hmm.
1201
01:15:40,869 --> 01:15:44,331
"I didn't know that was legal."
Am I a part of this "we"?
1202
01:15:44,957 --> 01:15:50,712
- Um, so if you could try to contextualize...
- Mmm.
1203
01:15:51,338 --> 01:15:55,676
...who it is that actually enables
1204
01:15:55,676 --> 01:16:01,890
the legislators to walk away
from their responsibility, um,
1205
01:16:01,890 --> 01:16:07,312
to tell the police in a more robust way
what to do and how to do it,
1206
01:16:07,312 --> 01:16:08,605
that would be great.
1207
01:16:16,446 --> 01:16:18,657
Anybody
in any position of authority
1208
01:16:18,657 --> 01:16:21,827
who moves to hold police accountable
1209
01:16:21,827 --> 01:16:24,454
faces a challenge
from the police department
1210
01:16:24,454 --> 01:16:28,292
and the other defenders of the status quo
in whatever environment you're in.
1211
01:16:28,292 --> 01:16:30,210
That's the same suspects wherever you are.
1212
01:16:31,169 --> 01:16:33,547
Corporate America,
moneyed interests.
1213
01:16:34,214 --> 01:16:37,217
{\an8}Just look at the historic role
of police in America.
1214
01:16:37,217 --> 01:16:41,388
{\an8}They put down the labor unions
in the North in their formative stage.
1215
01:16:41,388 --> 01:16:44,558
They were on slave patrols
in the South in their formative stage,
1216
01:16:44,558 --> 01:16:46,768
always protecting the interests
1217
01:16:46,768 --> 01:16:50,647
of those who would exploit
the masses to their profit.
1218
01:16:50,647 --> 01:16:53,400
When you think
about politicians and police,
1219
01:16:53,400 --> 01:16:56,987
you are thinking
about individual people, actual people,
1220
01:16:56,987 --> 01:16:58,655
as opposed to systems,
1221
01:16:58,655 --> 01:17:01,908
and those people are
often acting in the interest of a system
1222
01:17:01,908 --> 01:17:06,496
that they don't explicitly support,
that they might even critique.
1223
01:17:09,249 --> 01:17:14,963
But the weight of their work goes toward
reinforcing, buttressing that system.
1224
01:17:16,048 --> 01:17:20,260
And it is a system
that privileges a class elite,
1225
01:17:20,260 --> 01:17:23,764
a racial elite,
people who are free of social stigma.
1226
01:17:23,764 --> 01:17:26,808
And yet, there are many people
involved in shoring it up
1227
01:17:26,808 --> 01:17:30,395
who find themselves on the wrong sides
of all of those divides.
1228
01:17:32,189 --> 01:17:34,650
{\an8}You know, policing is hard now.
It's real hard.
1229
01:17:34,650 --> 01:17:36,693
You know, every day, it's kind of like...
1230
01:17:37,444 --> 01:17:39,738
Man, I'm kind of just tired, you know?
1231
01:17:41,365 --> 01:17:42,908
Last year, a 12-year-old was shot.
1232
01:17:44,117 --> 01:17:45,535
Right here, where...
1233
01:17:45,535 --> 01:17:49,456
You see where he was shot, fightin'
with another kid from up the street.
1234
01:17:49,456 --> 01:17:51,917
I've never...
When I pulled up here...
1235
01:17:52,751 --> 01:17:55,420
I've never had somebody
tell me who did it so quickly.
1236
01:17:55,420 --> 01:17:59,174
You know, 'cause they're still people
I grew up with who live down here.
1237
01:18:02,094 --> 01:18:04,721
What happened to that 12-year-old?
- He died.
1238
01:18:06,682 --> 01:18:10,560
We have many really
vulnerable communities in this country.
1239
01:18:10,560 --> 01:18:14,189
So you go to them and ask people,
"Do you want to abolish the police?"
1240
01:18:14,189 --> 01:18:16,858
And many people say,
"No, we'd like more police."
1241
01:18:16,858 --> 01:18:19,945
On the other hand, you go to
those communities and talk to people
1242
01:18:19,945 --> 01:18:22,489
about how they are policed,
and they're angry.
1243
01:18:22,489 --> 01:18:24,282
And again, that's our failing.
1244
01:18:25,450 --> 01:18:27,494
There are ways to help those communities
1245
01:18:27,494 --> 01:18:31,373
other than through
aggressive carceral policing.
1246
01:18:31,373 --> 01:18:33,959
It's just that we don't do it.
1247
01:18:35,377 --> 01:18:39,715
I was always a proponent of "More
Black cops, we would have less problems."
1248
01:18:40,298 --> 01:18:43,218
"Get us a Black Chief,
we'll have less problems."
1249
01:18:43,218 --> 01:18:45,971
I believed that
for 30-somethin' years, right?
1250
01:18:47,639 --> 01:18:49,349
I don't think that's the case.
1251
01:18:50,517 --> 01:18:55,272
I've lost a lot for just standin' up
for Black cops on this department.
1252
01:18:55,272 --> 01:18:57,274
It just makes me wonder sometime.
1253
01:18:57,274 --> 01:19:00,277
What if I was just one of those guys
who just kept my mouth shut
1254
01:19:00,277 --> 01:19:01,862
and did my job every day?
1255
01:19:01,862 --> 01:19:03,405
Where would I be, right?
1256
01:19:06,658 --> 01:19:10,620
Charlie Adams
has been a police officer since 1986
1257
01:19:10,620 --> 01:19:12,456
and has no plans to retire.
1258
01:19:13,915 --> 01:19:17,961
He wants to finish his mission
as an inspector with the 4th precinct.
1259
01:19:19,337 --> 01:19:25,469
♪ Oh! ♪
1260
01:19:26,428 --> 01:19:29,598
♪ Mine eyes have seen ♪
1261
01:19:29,598 --> 01:19:33,518
♪ The glory of the co-- ♪
1262
01:19:35,937 --> 01:19:39,232
We began as 13 states
along the Atlantic seaboard.
1263
01:19:39,232 --> 01:19:41,276
We carried freedom with us.
1264
01:19:41,276 --> 01:19:45,655
If the polis and the polity are
the self-governing democratic subjects,
1265
01:19:45,655 --> 01:19:50,952
the police are the shadow force that says,
1266
01:19:51,661 --> 01:19:58,084
"We exist to assert authority
when you can no longer govern yourselves."
1267
01:20:05,467 --> 01:20:10,806
"We exist to control
and regulate violence in the society
1268
01:20:11,348 --> 01:20:15,185
by arrogating all
of that violence to ourselves."
1269
01:20:15,185 --> 01:20:20,106
Consistently, the response
of law enforcement
1270
01:20:20,607 --> 01:20:24,069
to Black demands for respect
for our lives,
1271
01:20:24,069 --> 01:20:28,281
and our homes,
and our families, and our kids,
1272
01:20:28,281 --> 01:20:30,867
it's always, "Yeah, fuck that."
1273
01:20:31,618 --> 01:20:35,705
"Try... try this... Try this force
and see how you like that."
1274
01:20:44,089 --> 01:20:46,967
When you think
about the police systemically,
1275
01:20:46,967 --> 01:20:50,178
and you think about how the police
have grown up in the United States
1276
01:20:50,178 --> 01:20:51,888
into this massive force...
1277
01:20:53,223 --> 01:20:55,892
When you think about not just the police
1278
01:20:55,892 --> 01:20:59,604
but the network of prisons,
the numbers of people who get arrested,
1279
01:20:59,604 --> 01:21:02,607
the numbers of people
who have felony convictions,
1280
01:21:02,607 --> 01:21:04,651
all that flows from that,
1281
01:21:04,651 --> 01:21:10,198
all the people who are related to people
who are punished, policed, and in prison,
1282
01:21:10,949 --> 01:21:16,079
you're looking at the majority
of people in this country, now.
1283
01:21:16,746 --> 01:21:19,541
Not the minority,
the majority of people in this country.
1284
01:21:20,667 --> 01:21:24,212
We are an over-policed society,
1285
01:21:24,212 --> 01:21:27,048
and that over-policing means
1286
01:21:27,048 --> 01:21:32,178
that the relationship of the police
to the people has become entirely skewed.
1287
01:21:34,347 --> 01:21:37,350
Instead of growing the numbers of people
1288
01:21:37,350 --> 01:21:42,981
who can be seen as part
of this self-governing democratic
1289
01:21:43,607 --> 01:21:47,027
world of people trying to figure out
how to get along
1290
01:21:47,027 --> 01:21:51,865
and resolve their conflicts
through politics, through protest,
1291
01:21:51,865 --> 01:21:55,660
instead becomes increasingly shrunken,
1292
01:21:56,328 --> 01:22:00,206
to a core that can be allowed
to go about their business
1293
01:22:00,790 --> 01:22:06,880
and to an increasingly large group who are
under some kind of police supervision.
1294
01:22:07,714 --> 01:22:10,216
...see out on exit 161?
1295
01:22:10,842 --> 01:22:12,218
Okay, I see it.
1296
01:22:13,136 --> 01:22:16,556
{\an8}One of the first things fascist regimes
and totalitarian regimes do
1297
01:22:16,556 --> 01:22:18,224
is empower police.
1298
01:22:24,564 --> 01:22:27,859
One route is
we actually enhance the police power,
1299
01:22:27,859 --> 01:22:29,402
this fourth branch of government.
1300
01:22:29,402 --> 01:22:31,279
We enhance the powers of the police.
1301
01:22:31,279 --> 01:22:34,449
And that spells doom for democracy.
1302
01:22:47,796 --> 01:22:51,049
I like to say sometimes,
"Think of the most powerful person
1303
01:22:51,049 --> 01:22:52,676
you can think of in the United States,"
1304
01:22:52,676 --> 01:22:55,053
be it Joe Biden or Donald Trump
or Hillary Clinton,
1305
01:22:55,053 --> 01:22:57,889
if you think they're
still in charge of everything secretly.
1306
01:22:57,889 --> 01:23:00,642
None of them can pull out a gun
and shoot you in the chest.
1307
01:23:01,434 --> 01:23:04,145
Every single sworn police officer
in the United States of America
1308
01:23:04,145 --> 01:23:08,525
has the right, has the power,
to pull out a gun and shoot you.
1309
01:23:08,525 --> 01:23:10,193
Move! Get back!
1310
01:23:10,193 --> 01:23:11,778
Push... Hey!
1311
01:23:14,155 --> 01:23:16,700
- He is bleeding!
He's bleeding out of his ear!
1312
01:23:16,700 --> 01:23:19,035
Get somebody over here!
He's bleeding out of his ear!
1313
01:23:19,035 --> 01:23:20,745
- Get a medic now.
Get a medic.
1314
01:23:20,745 --> 01:23:23,373
What the fuck are you
walking up on me? I'm over there!
1315
01:23:23,373 --> 01:23:26,084
This question
of losing our democracy
1316
01:23:26,084 --> 01:23:30,964
won't have anything to do with some kind
of right-wing demagogue like Donald Trump.
1317
01:23:30,964 --> 01:23:34,467
It's gonna have to do
with this deep, long history
1318
01:23:34,467 --> 01:23:36,928
in which we fail to address
1319
01:23:36,928 --> 01:23:41,725
the systemic problem of growing police
1320
01:23:41,725 --> 01:23:47,022
at the expense of growing
and developing our democratic reflexes
1321
01:23:47,022 --> 01:23:51,985
and the supports that we need
to operate as a self-governing people.
1322
01:23:54,154 --> 01:23:59,784
Here we are a decade after Trayvon Martin,
almost a decade after Michael Brown...
1323
01:24:01,619 --> 01:24:04,205
and the American people
have to make a decision.
1324
01:24:05,498 --> 01:24:09,210
If we're gonna engage these issues
and have a real conversation
1325
01:24:09,210 --> 01:24:11,838
about upending these systems,
1326
01:24:11,838 --> 01:24:14,507
which is what many people
have said they want to do,
1327
01:24:15,216 --> 01:24:20,055
then folks are gonna have
to really engage on these questions.
1328
01:24:20,764 --> 01:24:24,017
Because these systems are tough.
1329
01:24:24,017 --> 01:24:26,102
They're hard. They're complicated.
1330
01:24:26,102 --> 01:24:27,270
They're powerful.
1331
01:24:28,646 --> 01:24:32,150
Frederick Douglass said,
"Power concedes nothing without a demand."
1332
01:24:32,650 --> 01:24:36,029
And the power that is American policing
hasn't conceded anything.
1333
01:24:37,030 --> 01:24:39,866
If anything, it's doubled
and tripled down on that power.
1334
01:24:39,866 --> 01:24:42,577
Move! Move!
1335
01:24:43,244 --> 01:24:45,747
Move, move, move!
1336
01:24:46,331 --> 01:24:48,541
Move! Move!
1337
01:24:53,421 --> 01:24:56,466
"Power concedes nothing
without a demand."
1338
01:24:57,717 --> 01:25:00,595
"It never did, and it never will."
1339
01:25:02,097 --> 01:25:03,556
Frederick Douglass.