words by Charles Brooks
Police reform in America is difficult because
police unions, elected officials – Democrat and Republican – along with their
largely white constituents seeks to maintain a racial order disguised as “law
and order”. Opposition to police reform is seen in the public and political
support for blue lives matter, and proposed anti-protest legislation across the
nation that will clearly pit police officers on the front line against
protesters deemed rioters
. We saw this during the seventies when the activist demand for community control over the police was met with the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights or LEOBOR – such as the one passed by Maryland in 1974. Passed into law at a time when politicians and the police, together basked in the spectacle of “law and order” – which meant, get tough on Black folk.
