By Zoe Bator
Black police officers in America simultaneously have dealt with fighting for racial justice while working for the justice system that critics say systemically disadvantages their community.
“I fully believe in participating in a system in order to gain leverage, but I’m not sure what there is to be gained by people of color from the current-day police system,” said Kalle Duncan, a Black and Hispanic student at UT Austin.
Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in June 2020, there has been increasing debate about whether racism is inherently ingrained in policing. According to mappingpoliceviolence.com, a project that collects information from government and private databases, Black people comprise 28% of the total U.S. citizens killed by police since 2013, while only making up 13% of the American population.
Black cops in Austin have to deal with pushback from both ends of the spectrum, as they face being discriminated against not only by non-Black citizens but also by Black citizens who don’t understand why they would work for a system they believe is corrupt.
“I understand the perspective of ‘changing a system from within,’ but I don’t think this is a system that can be fixed that way. I think it’s a larger issue that requires reform, and I think because it requires reform, pushback from the Black community is extremely necessary,” Duncan said.
Although diversity in law enforcement has been a priority in recent years and representation in the force has increased — in 2022, 18% of the incoming class of police officers in Austin were Black compared to the 7.8% Black population according to the 2020 Census — -there are still foundational issues in the force that are interwoven into the structure of what policing is today. Black cops in Austin hope that their increased presence will seek to change that.
“Diversity in any job is critical. To have a police force that looks like the community it serves is huge for us because some African American officers only feel comfortable seeking consultation with African American leadership,” said Tonya Thomas, a Black sergeant with the Austin Police Department.
In a country built off stolen resources from people of color and documents that present fundamental rights as only pertaining to white citizens, most governmental systems have been built around the idea of white dominance, and further, the NAACP points out that modern-day policing found its roots in the “Slave Patrol.”
“US history is full of events that reflect the harm invoked upon communities of color. Enforcing slave labor, Jim Crow, etc helped build government systems and policies that privileged white people and contributed to ongoing disparities.” said Danielle Brown, a Journalism professor at the University of Minnesota and conductor of BLM protest research.
“It is especially hard to get African American recruits right now due to the lack of trust. When the senior African American officers retire, I fear what’s to come,” Thomas said.
Lynching was not a federal crime until 2020, when George Floyd’s death and the subsequent upheaval prompted lawmakers to create the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The act also draws attention to unethical methods of force used by police, banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants. Racial bias training is also implemented in introductory classes for cadets.
Thomas says the system needs to see change on a legislative level.
“If I shot someone on the job… all I’d really have to do to vindicate myself would be to say that I feared for my life. So, for change to happen in the police system, changes have to be made on a law-making level.”
Between January 1, 2015, and June 1, 2020, rates of fatal shootings by police were 50% higher in districts with white police chiefs than in those with Black police chiefs, according to the Fatal Force Database, a tool used to calculate per-capita rates of how often police officers were tied to fatal shootings. Cities led by Black chiefs also had 30% fewer shootings overall.
“In my opinion, reform would be similar to gun restricting: re-evaluating employees, regular mental health checks, background checks on groups of affiliation and thorough interviews,” Duncan said.
Thomas suggests an open dialogue moving forward.
“If we close our eyes and ears and don’t listen, nothing can be done.”
Zoe Bator Portfolio 