
Democrats support legislation for police reform. Republicans oppose it. The House passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act in February of 2021, however Senate Republicans didn’t support it. Law enforcement usually trends towards supporting conservatism so Republicans side with the police against public complaints about corruption and brutality. The GOP meekly states opposition to police murdering black men during traffic stops, while they ridicule the police who were brutalized while defending the Capitol against the insurrectionists. Memphis officials are setting party affiliation aside, declaring,”enough is enough” and calling for police reform legislation.

Is another preventable death of a young black man caused by police use of excessive force finally going to bring about reform? A major obstacle: the majority of law enforcement professionals are conservatives and the current Republican party is infested with racism and toxic masculinity. The epidemic of black men being killed by excessive force is a stain on America’s world image. Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and MAGA members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Green are on a mission to revive the racism of the Jim Crow era. However, there is outrage among all political parties about young men being killed during routine traffic stops by enraged, anxious police officers.
Timeline of black deaths by police in the US ( BBC, April, 2021)

- 17 July, 2014, Eric Garner: Eric Garner died after he was wrestled to the ground by a New York police officer on suspicion of illegally selling cigarettes.
- 9 August, 2014, Michael Brown: Michael Brown, 18, was killed by a police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri, who was responding to reports that Brown had stolen a box of cigars.
- 22 November 2014: Tamir Rice: Tamir Rice, a boy of 12, was shot dead in Cleveland, Ohio by a police officer after reports of a male who was “probably a juvenile” pointing a gun that was “probably fake” at passers by.
- Walter Scott was shot in the back five times by a white police officer, who was later fired and eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- Alton Sterling’s death led to days of protests in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mr Sterling was killed after police responded to reports of a disturbance outside a shop.
- 6 July 2016: Philando Castile: Philando Castile was killed while out driving with his girlfriend in St Paul, Minnesota.
- 18 March 2018 Stephon Clark: Died after being shot at least seven times in his grandmother’s backyard in Sacramento, California, by police who were investigating a nearby break-in.
- 13 March 2020: Breonna Taylor: Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was shot eight times when officers raided her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.
- 25 May 2020: George Floyd: George Floyd died after being arrested in Minneapolis and held down by police officers, one of whom had his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
- 25 May 2020: George Floyd: George Floyd died after being arrested in Minneapolis and held down by police officers, one of whom had his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
- 11 April 2021: After being pulled over for a traffic violation, the police told Mr Wright he was being arrested for an outstanding warrant.He broke free and tried to re-enter his car, at which point an officer is heard shouting “Taser” several times before firing a shot.
A 2020 study by the Harvard Chan School of Public Health revealed black Americans are 3 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans. The continued resistance by Republican lawmakers to support life-saving police reform is political-based racist dog-whistling to it’s white nationalist voters and wandering strategy to please other forms of alt-right conservative voters.
Republican Senator Tim Scott, the only black man in the Senate, pushed the passing of a bill called the Justice Act which failed to pass because it didn’t include restricting the use of most deadly forms of excessive force and supported qualified immunity for police officers.
However, the trend is positive as the justice system is beginning to hold police officers accountable for murdering black people taken into custody. The reality of systemic racism in policing is denied by Republicans but acknowledged by most Americans.