In 2021, Black Lives Matter demonstrators march through Washington to demand police accountability. [Brooke Anderson/TNA]
Five years after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order reversing accountability laws for officers in alleged misconduct cases.
The order, which was signed on 28 April, around the time that many Americans were marking the grim milestone that sparked the global Black Lives Matter movement, is now leaving some from marginalised communities vulnerable, but also defiant.
“We always knew who Trump was. We see this as a direct attack on Black people,” remarked Faayani Aboma, an organiser with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
Trump’s executive order makes clear the administration’s position on alleged excessive police force. Named “Strengthening and unleashing America’s law enforcement to pursue criminals and protect innocent citizens”, the order expands legal protections to police officers and prisons, in addition to giving power to federal law enforcement.
The Center for Constitutional Rights says the order will make communities less safe by criminalising police accountability and by militarising police forces.
The issue of excessive police force has long been an issue in the United States, particularly among marginalised communities. In 1991, a video of a Los Angeles police officer beating Rodney King following a traffic stop set off nationwide protests and a new public awareness of a system that favours police.
Twenty years later, a series of high-profile incidents of young Black men getting killed in what appeared to be unprovoked incidents set off a series of mass demonstrations, one of the most notorious being the police killing of George Floyd following his alleged use of a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill. What made the case unusual was the conviction of the police officer, Derek Chauvin, who is now being considered for a pardon.
Police accountability has also been an issue for Arab and Muslim communities. In the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, the police beating of Hadi Abuatelah two years ago set off local protests and calls for increased police accountability.
Trump’s executive order lends support to a system that many activists argue is far from giving sufficient accountability to police officers.
“The environment and the context the executive order was signed in is what we’re seeing as this country more and more down the path of fascism. We’re seeing more forms of repression that comes with less accountability from the state,” Sara Suleiman, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement in Washington, DC, told The New Arab.
“Of course, it’s disappointing to see, but it doesn’t change how we move forward. We must fight in the streets and show our dissent and make our voices louder,” she said.
“If we succumb to this attempt at repression, we’re letting the repressors win. What they’re doing is trying to make people overwhelmed so they don’t fight back,” she added.
Similarly, Aboma remains committed to working to advance civil rights and sees the executive order as a sign of weakness from the administration.
“We remember the way Trump gleefully cheered on cops. We know where he stands,” he said. “At the same time, it was the movement that rose up for George Floyd that got him out of office. He sees it was a threat.”
