Resolved: on balance, police are more responsible than protesters for recent civil unrest in the United States



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Neg Case 10


“Race is there. You’re tired of hearing about it? Imagine how exhausting it is living it.”

As the Con we agree with comedian and political analyst, Jon Stewart, and stand in firm negation to the Resolved: On balance, police are more responsible than protesters for recent civil unrest, in the United States.


Definitions:

We define ‘civil unrest’ as referring to: disruptions to a community’s or country’s typical way of life, including peacefully protesting or rioting. (Wolfe 09)


Contention One: Protesters are benefitting society by participating in civil unrest.
The recent civil unrest between citizens and police forces comes about because police have been racially discriminate in their actions. As our opponent’s will surely agree, police commit unjust actions against citizens, especially African Americans. In fact, the Department of Justice found that 84% of police officers admit they have seen their colleagues use excessive force against civilians. When police brutality, especially based on racial bias, becomes the system citizens live under, the people have a moral responsibility to protest it and create civil unrest.
This is an accepted principle in American democracy, and Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Lawrence Thomas says that citizens “have a responsibility to protest injustice”. And that is exactly what began in Ferguson, which soon spread across America. "This is part of larger dialogue and conversation about justice for black people,” says Adam Jackson, a Baltimore protest coordinator. “People are dissatisfied with their conditions and are speaking up because they're sick and tired."
This is not a bad thing though judge. Many times in American history civil unrest is how significant social change was achieved. African Americans gained their rights in the 1960’s using civil unrest, troops were pulled out of Vietnam as a result of civil unrest, in fact, America was founded by revolutionaries using civil unrest against an unjust system. The recent civil unrest we’ve seen protesters creating and spreading against the systemic injustice towards African Americans is a tool for justice, and we should give credit where credit is due: to the protesters.
Contention Two: Police militarization decreases the longevity of civil unrest.
Unlike anything seen in the United States before, recent civil unrest has sparked militarization of the local police forces. This militarization is a transfer of equipment, ranging from small handguns to tanks and machine guns, from the military to police forces. Unfortunately, in recent civil unrest the police utilized this equipment, and even called in SWAT teams to quell protesters. In fact in 2014, Alfred Regnery found that “the arrival of an armored SWAT team in a potentially violent situation, well before anything actually happens, will convince the offender that he has no chance of survival unless he surrenders.”
This militarization of police directly counters civil unrest, and this can be seen most apparently in Ferguson, where by Day 3 the police were in full riot gear and equipped with automatic weapons though there were no riots yet. Eventually when riots did break out, the police were there with tear gas and rubber bullets to quickly stop all protesters, though most were nonviolent.
It’s clear that the militarization of police officers resulted in less civil unrest and less damage to the community. When looking to history, we see that the civil unrest in previous racial equality protests is more impactful when the police don’t militarize. In the 1992 Los Angeles Riots after the death of Rodney King, when the police did not militarize L.A. suffered more damage than the Baltimore and Ferguson riots combined. This is an unfortunate truth, but proves the police have been counteracting civil unrest and furthering the current system of racial injustice.
Contention Three: Protesters use of social media helps civil unrest spread and grow stronger.
Throughout the last year social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr have been used by the public to convey concerns surrounding the systemic injustice found within our society. According to Professor Tucker 2014, social media plays an important role in “facilitating protest by making it easier for individuals to acquire information.” And that, in addition to providing information to individuals about the protest, social media also affects people's motivation to participate in protest and provides a means to bring them together. These social platforms trigger feelings of group identity through identifiable injustice, and help to bring these like-minded groups together through organized protest, so that these individuals may fulfill their duties as citizens of the U.S.
We can see this in Ferguson where, according to Mario Trujillo, 2014, “More than 3.5 million tweets were shared in just a few hours following a St. Louis prosecutor's announcement that a grand jury had decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson, who killed Brown.”

So while social media not only highlights to citizens the systemic injustice within our society, it gives “hope to the hopeless that change could happen if they take joint action.”



In conclusion, we would like to end with the quote we began with. “Race is there. You’re tired of hearing about it? Imagine how exhausting it is living it.”

For these reasons we urge a Con ballot.


Cards


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"People are saying they're not going to tolerate this anymore," Randolph said.

April 21st, 2015. Irv Randolph, chief editor of the Philadelphia Tribune. CNN. ‘We're not seeing more police shootings, just more news coverage’.

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"This is part of larger dialogue and conversation about justice for black people," said Jackson. "People are dissatisfied with their conditions and are speaking up because they're sick and tired." [Adam Jackson, leader of Baltimore based organization: Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle]

April 28th, 2015. Common Dreams. By: Sarah Lazare. ‘'Structural Looting' of Black Communities Driving Protesters to Baltimore Streets’.

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A Department of Justice study revealed that a whopping 84 percent of police officers report that they’ve seen colleagues use excessive force on civilians, and 61 percent admit they don’t always report “even serious criminal violations that involve abuse of authority by fellow officers.”

May, 2000. The Department of Justice. ‘Police Attitudes Toward Abuse of Authority: Findings from a National Study’. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181312.pdf (page 3)

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Most of us remember the mayhem caused by rioters in Los Angeles in 1992 – 50 people dead, 500 injured, $1 billion worth of property destruction. Police are not going to control such violence with pellet guns.

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In Ferguson riots, looting, attacks on other demonstrators and on the police became so acute that the governor – a Democrat who certainly consulted White House officials and the Justice Department first – imposed a curfew (which was ignored) and finally dispatched the National Guard to quell the riots.

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The arrival of an armored SWAT team, for example, in a potentially violent situation, well before anything actually happens, will convince the offender that he has no chance of survival unless he surrenders.

August 19th, 2014. Alfred Regnery. ‘Police Militarization: It’s not about the equipment, it’s about keeping the peace’.

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Platforms such as Twitter have been hailed as a boon for activists while some have criticized them as rumor mills that have heightened tensions.

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"But social media is certainly spreading information faster and in the case of recent events, probably giving hope to the hopeless that change could happen if they take joint action," Roditi said.

December 27th, 2014. Mario Trujillo (political writer). ‘Amid protests, social media’s role is praised and scrutinized’.

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Social media, therefore, can play an important role in facilitating protest by making it easier for individuals to acquire information. This can include: Information about the planned and actual location and timing of protests. Information about how safe participation is (is there violence? fires? tear gas?). Information about how many other people are currently participating in protests. In addition to providing information about the protests, social media might affect people’s motivation to participate in the protest. This could be done in many ways, but could include: Triggering feelings of group identity (e.g, the many references seen to “black lives matter” in tweets regarding the Ferguson protests). Triggering feelings of injustice. Triggering emotions such as anger.

November 24th, 2014. Joshua Tucker (Professor of Politics at NYU). The Washington Post. ‘Tweeting Ferguson: how social media can (and cannot) facilitate protest’.

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More than 3.5 million tweets were shared in just a few hours following a St. Louis prosecutor's announcement last month that a grand jury had decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson, who killed Brown.

December 27th, 2014. Mario Trujillo (political writer). ‘Amid protests, social media’s role is praised and scrutinized’.

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Since August, roughly 300 people, including local residents and activists as well as organizers and journalists who traveled to Ferguson, have been arrested amid the protests, which have been marred by looting and arson attacks.

December 1st, 2014. Emily Flitter. Reuters. ‘Ferguson protesters lawyer up after scores of protests’.

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Destruction is estimated at $9 million for about 285 businesses damaged during the recent unrest in Baltimore — which officials say is only a fraction of what the total will be for the damage and economic impact.

May 13th, 2015. Yvonne Wenger. The Washington Post. ‘Damage to businesses from Baltimore rioting estimated at about $9 million’.

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Level Two can disrupt normal life and business in a whole region or country.

Claire Wolfe, published author and blogger, “Preparing for Civil Unrest” July/August 2009.

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King is proposing that morally righteous people have a responsibility to protest injustice even though he recognizes that most people would not always be able to do what they ought to do.

Lawrence Thomas, Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Political Science at the University of Syracuse. 2009 [Lawrence, Contemporary Debates in Social Philosophy, p. 304].


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