For centuries, Black people have consistently called out the effect state violence not only has on marginalized communities, but society as a whole. Over the last year, the effort to call out these injustices has picked up. Coupled with a pandemic, the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have triggered a protest movement that stretched across the United States and around the world. More recently, this movement has come into focus as Derek Chauvin was convicted for murdering Floyd. Unfortunately, this verdict has done nothing to curb police killings of Black Americans. During the trial, Kim Potter killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. In the days since Wright was killed, Andrew Brown Jr., Ma'Khia Bryant, Isaiah Brown and several others have died at the hands of police. As the issue continues to plague American society, the world watches on.
Struck by the disturbing amount of violence brought forth by police officers in the United States, a group of human rights experts from 11 countries put together a 188-page report dissecting "police murders" in America. Through the report, the group calls out America for violating international human rights obligations, abusing Black citizens and rarely holding police officers accountable. In the end, the group hopes that the International Criminal Court will investigate America's policing practices.
“This finding of crimes against humanity was not given lightly, we included it with a very clear mind,” human rights expert Hina Jilani told The Guardian.
“We examined all the facts and concluded that there are situations in the US that beg the urgent scrutiny of the ICC.”
In the simplest of terms, the group classifies America as running a caste-like system. As a result, Black citizens are subjected to different treatment than any other race in American society.
“One is for white people, and another for people of African descent,” the report states.
This is a drastically different assessment than the one federal lawmaker Lindsey Graham gave just a few days ago. During a recent interview, he claimed that systemic racism could not exist in the United States because Barack Obama was elected President and Kamala Harris was elected Vice President. While Graham was chastised by critics and his colleagues, his statements symbolize the stark difference between how some view the country and others view American society.
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