Hashtags won’t end racism, but accountability might
Droves of empty statements with no accountability for action
In the past week we have seen posts of black squares and photos of kneeling leaders, all across social media. People attempting to take a brave stand against capital R, racism. Unfortunately, the gesture is literally empty, bordering on being a gimmick.
Many of these posts are accompanied with words of generalized solidarity to “listen up & solve racism together.” Cheap performative remarks. Worse yet, it is pacifying to people not as deeply impacted by the issue at hand. From former colleagues to major corporations, I have sifted through droves of empty statements with no accountability for action.
The reality is, solving racism isn’t something that gets done by Christmas. Honestly, racism in all its forms is something we may never truly solve. What we can aim for is sincere accountability. From brands to politicians — and ourselves. Saying you “stand in solidarity” is nice, but we both know that these things cannot exist in a vacuum. Solidarity is a lifelong dedication. It is work.
Before you share another black and white picture of a protest sign, ask yourself these questions: Who am I sharing this for? Is the statement identifying and naming the problem clearly? Are they calling for structural change from within?
Let’s not forget, the conversation has shifted to fighting racism now, due to another black life (many lives) being taken during police encounters, despite being unarmed. Yet if you read any of these statements, you would not know that. Like NIKE’S statement of “Just Don’t Do It”, the IT not mentioned is racism.
Law enforcement right here in Canada have long disproportionately targeted Black and Indigenuous communities. Hashtagging #BlackLivesMatter, isn’t going to stop the bludgeoning of unarmed black people by police. Those outside Black and Indigenous communities need to stop simply expecting better and start demanding it with us.
These past weeks, police abuse of power has been on full display with people capturing brutality on phones and security cameras from Nunavut to Texas. Beyond the fact that the police often abuse power, it’s common understanding that there is little to no accountability for their actions. Policing is inherently treated as a force and not a service, and therein lies the issue.
Policing oversight bodies like the RCMP’s Civilian review and complaint Commission, have investigation backlogs going back a year, undermining their inherent effectiveness and obvious transparency. We cannot continue to call a system just if that same system has little to no accountability to the public it is allegedly tasked to protect.
In the past year, when two Boeing 737 MAX airplanes had horrific crashes, airlines unilaterally pulled the aircraft out of the sky and immediately launched an international investigation. When there was talk of multiple malpractice complaints lodged against doctors across Canada, an internal investigation was launched across the country with many physicians stripped of their licenses.
Yet law enforcement has managed to go unchanged and comparatively unchecked for more than 150 years. In fact, the only larger changes within the system have gone in the opposite direction of accountability. From U.S. police forces getting surplus military equipment, to the Toronto Police using facial recognition technology breaching public privacy.
Police are receiving more funding for weapons with less checked power.
Police accountability cannot be body cameras and officers with more ‘community oriented’ job duties. That just adds to their ballooning budget. Having video evidence has never been the issue. Accountability must be in foundational reform like the reallocation of funds to vital independent community supports like emergency mental health crisis interventions, roles that police have been abysmal at executing.Reform must be honest to change a structure that has far too long been abjectly racist.
This is only accomplished with a groundswell of those who were formerly unimpacted demanding the same change we are.
In this Twitter thread shared by comedian Kenny DeForest, he highlights a story about a 2015 Dave Chappelle stand-up gig that shows the history of real action.
Chappelle speaks about his South African friend and the days leading up to the end of apartheid: “There were riots and car bombs, but the amount of people caring hit critical mass ... and there was nothing they could do to stop it,” Chapelle said.
I hope what we are currently experiencing is the groundswell of critical mass. People of all backgrounds demanding accountability for the disproportionate harm structurally biased policing causes Black and Indigenous communities. These demands must be loud, because hashtagging it won’t cut it.