But a police officer has a right to defend themself

Even if Blacks have a higher crime rate, does this justify the police’s excessive use of force against them?

In short, it doesn’t. Whether or not one group of people commits more crimes does not, does not, determine how much force the police can use in an encounter.

In America, the police have to follow use of force guidelines. The police are only allowed to use lethal force if their lives are in danger. Furthermore, when using non-lethal force, it cannot be excessive. Just because they have to detain a suspect doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want to capture them. The police cannot use deadly force against a suspect who isn’t also using deadly force.

That’s the reason why George Floyd's death caused so much uproar. He was already detained. There was no need to escalate the use of force to keep him detained. Yet, the officer still knelt on his neck and cut off his ability to breathe. And he died. This account isn’t exaggerated either. There’s video of the incident showing the police’s gross misuse of force. Whether or not the chokehold directly killed him, it was still a gross misuse of force.

Even if Blacks have a higher crime rate, does this justify the police’s excessive use of force against them?

Of course, the problem doesn’t stem from lawful arrests. The problem exists when the police exercise inappropriate amounts of force, which results in police brutality. Since George Floyd’s death is at the center of media attention at the moment, we must not overlook other instances of the police’s misuse of violence.

According to this police violence report, over 1,147 people were killed by the police. Most of these incidents began with responses to nonviolent crimes, and about a tenth of these people were unarmed. While these stats don’t go into the nuances of these cases, it’s pretty concerning that the U.S. police force kills at a higher rate than other wealthy countries.

The police cannot resort to deadly force unless their life is threatened. They are not allowed to use excessive force above what the situation calls for. Full stop.