As calls for “defunding” the Police in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death mounts across America – land of the free, it is interesting to compare how police treats its citizens in the U.S. vs China – often depicted as a “police state” in the West.
Police brutality is nothing new in the U.S. or the West (for example, see this, or this, or this, or this). What about China?
The following video is revealing. Of course, while all systems will have faults, the level of problem in the West I believe is not just quantitatively different, but qualitatively, too.
In the above video, a real altercation between a police officer and a Chinese citizen is seen. The citizen was able to physically harass, demand and protest to get her phone back, with the police fighting back, but not applying force, with police ultimately giving her back.
Do you think this would happen in the U.S.? Not a chance? You would be thrown on the ground, get a knee on your neck, or shot to death.
ltlee1 says
In America, police is a lot more than individual brutality.
It is part and parcel of the school to prison pipeline (STPP).
“Over the past 20 years, advocates, students, educators, and researchers have coined the term “school-to-prison pipeline” (STPP) to describe how harsh school disciplinary policies and law enforcement policies intersect to feed young people into the criminal punishment system. This is part of a national trend that criminalizes rather than educates students — and one that disproportionately targets black students — as “tough-on-crime” policy has resulted in millions of mostly black and brown people winding up behind bars. Nationally, since 1990, spending on prisons has increased three times as quickly as spending on education.”
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-works