This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated January 28, 2021
January, 2021 will long be remembered as one of the most significant months in our history. The inauguration of President Biden marked a significant change from what the past four years had wrought.
Besides the symbolic change, Biden got a lot done on his first day. The Muslim ban was revoked, DACA preserved, the Paris Climate Agreement rejoined, the federal foreclosure and eviction moratorium extended, the census order excluding non-citizens rescinded, the declaration that all eleven million immigrants without legal status be a deportation priority canceled, the World Health Organization rejoined, a mask requirement on federal property instituted, student loan payments paused, construction & funding for the border wall ended, leases for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge halted, and permits for the Keystone XL pipeline voided.
“We cannot talk about systemic racism without talking about policing.”
Some conservatives say these steps are nightmarish, but treating every human being with dignity, while looking out for the health of all Americans and our planet should be the bare minimum of what we expect our government to focus on in the twenty-first century.
Before his first week in office was through, Biden talked about how systemic racism permeates all facets of our society and took measures to address racial inequities, from ending federal use of private prisons to fortifying anti-discrimination enforcement in housing. He also directed federal agencies to combat xenophobia against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, which has been on the rise, as we here in Brooklyn have been all too aware of.
The President Biden portion of the month of January stands in stark contrast with the President Trump portion. One week before Biden was sworn in, Trump was impeached. One week before that, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent Biden’s win from being certified.
The January 6 insurrection cannot be uncoupled from the systemic racism President Biden spoke of. From the collective complexion of the crowd to the symbols they proudly displayed, white supremacy was an inextricable part of that day.
We cannot talk about systemic racism without talking about policing. At least 17 Capitol Police Officers have been suspended for their handling of the Capitol invasion, but this is not to say that their misconduct is the whole story of law enforcement that day. 139 officers were injured, and one was murdered.
The overwhelming majority of officers performed exemplary that day, but the proverbial “few bad apples” had a significant negative effect on everyone’s safety. The cops who fought a literal battle January 6 must be irate over the unacceptable conduct of some of their fellow officers, but that has not been voiced publicly.
The D.C. Police Union slammed top brass for not properly preparing the force but had nothing negative to say about officers whose conduct jeopardized the lives of the cops trying to do their jobs. Police unions have almost universally supported officers in controversial cases, often in spite of the circumstances. Even in the case of George Floyd, it was not until 30 days after his murder that the Minnesota Police Union gave an extremely tepid disavowal of Officer Derek Chauvin by only stating they would not contest his firing.
Although the D.C. Police Union has not called out officers who have been suspended for their actions at the Capitol insurrection, they have stood behind them either. Why can they not publicly condemn them? Is their lack of public support for the officers under investigation only because other cops were the ones put in harm’s way this time?
Danny Presti, co-owner of the restaurant on Staten Island that saw rowdy protests in December, just escaped any serious charges for striking a Sheriff’s Deputy with his car and breaking his legs, while Brooklyn Sanitation worker Dominic Madden, who was arrested for storming the Capitol, was quickly released on $250,000 bond, yet Kalief Browder spent almost three years in jail for a crime he was never convicted of because his family could not afford $3000 bail.
Accountability in policing and equity in our justice system should not be controversial, but recent high-profile events in Washington, D.C. and right here in New York show that, as a society, we still have unfortunately not come to a consensus on that.
