Posted by:
caffiend
(
)
Date: June 02, 2020 11:29AM
Taibbi writes,
"The early American police forces evolved out of slave patrols in the South, and “progressed” to enforce the Black Codes from the Civil War period and beyond, on to Jim Crow through the late sixties if not longer."
US policing began with the Boston "Watch and Ward Society," a system of community firewatch that began in earliest colonial times. It evolved into a rudimentary public safety, keeping an eye out for drunks and malefactors. For much of the colonial and early Federal period, most police forces (such as they were) were privately maintained and safeguarded the interests of those who hired them, such as block or guild associations.
Professional policing as we know it began in Britain with Robert Peel, hence the nickname "Bobbies" and "Peelers" for UK cops ("Constable On Patrol"), and the principle of enforcment "Under the Law" for the good of the larger community was first initiated in Boston in 1854.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/273030796135870361/Taibbi's thesis is derived from the NY Times "1619 Project", widely debunked (even disparaged) by respected historians everywhere, that North American colonization was instigated for the express purpose of exploiting Africans. Of course slavery was a potent and evil element in the European expansion into the New World, but it was one of very many factors, not the determining one.
There's plenty to discuss about "policing gone wrong," such as why at least one assisting officer didn't pull Chauvin off Floyd's neck, and why ARs were left unattended in cruisers. Incidentally, one of the ARs was fired by another demonstrator before the Marine recovered it.
Put your finger on the video's pause button and look at it second-by-second. That is one cool dude!