Moral Issues of War Police and Terrorism in America - Free Paper Example

Introduction

In this paper I will be discussing the moral issues behind war in America, the government utilizing the military and police forces on their own citizens and how these tactics resemble war and terrorism. With the constant battles between police and civilians around the world, things have been spiraling down for many years. Many unarmed black and brown Americans are being gunned down at the hands of our community police officers and white supremacists. This has sparked much outrage and is being looked at as a deliberate infliction of war amongst all races across the world. This poses an issue due to the ideology that the duty of officers is to ‘Serve and protect’. One may argue that this is a symbolism of terrorism. Others may argue that this is a great example of civil disobedience and the lack of control that our government has on their people. The problem is that unnecessary physical force and militarized weapons are normally used for terroristic criminal acts. Besides the recent case of George Floyd, for more than four centuries now, there have been very many cases of police departments using excessive force and history of racism.

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It appears as if there is no place to truly be safe in the U.S., as black Americans are living in fear of law enforcement officers with armed weapons. There are enough evidence showing people who have been killed for the slightest alleged provocations. History indicates that these organized groups of white men are helped by the nation’s law enforcement departments to launch centuries of violent and racist behaviour. The issue has raised concern as millions of Americans have been gathering in cities to denounce police brutality. Recent deaths of black Americans and many other deaths have led to protests and calls for police reforms. The society tends to consider the contemporary issue at its current forgetting that the acts of police brutality have been inexistence for around four centuries. Therefore, it is important to first address the matter before attempting to move forward.

The Posing Problem

The act of terrorism by definition is to inflict fear in order to establish dominance and political power. So by knowing the definition of terrorism, this poses the question, “Is calling in local military forces from around the US during a sensitive time considered terroristic behavior”? By utilizing unnecessary force, one can grasp the feel that the US president calls for unnecessary and inhumane force on their citizens and goes against constitutional rights of free speech. This controversy poses various questions for many philosophers due to their moral opinions being that we need structure from law enforcement in this country. Their question may be: Is utilizing the military on our civilians due to their unlawful acts in fact wrong when there is havoc and no structure?

According to studies that have been conducted, it is clear that constructions of terrorism originate from a variety of sources. Both the government and non-governmental organizations take part in the creation of criminal laws in order to determine who should be considered a terrorist and the person whose acts should be constituted terrorism. The public understanding and government policy of the word terrorism is greatly influenced by discussions among its members and the press. Different groups of terrorists also play a major role in enhancing constructions of terrorism. In most cases, terrorism is often dominated by studies that investigate the use of terrorism by non-state individuals. Additionally, there is also evidence that perpetrators of terrorism can come from within a state. Literature has pointed that transnational political violence and terrorist labels can be utilized by political actors to validate their violent behaviour.

How can a country be governed without the structure from police? One may argue against this with the appeal that the duty of officers and the military being to protect and serve the communities and not to cause any harm. However, statistical evidence has shown otherwise. Since January 2, 2020 statistics have shown that roughly around 598 people have been killed and 28% of which are African Americans despite them making up only 13% of the population ("Mapping Police Violence"). Of these statistics, Black people are 3 times more likely to be killed compared to white people (“Mapping Police Violence”). The counterargument would be what measures do we take when law enforcement is not holding up to their civil duty to protect and serve all citizens? Is it right for them to only protect, honor and serve “some”?

Why Is Declaring War and Terrorism Permissible?

My first key point will be derived around the discussion of is using war and terroristic behavior on peaceful citizens permissible? Often arguments pertaining to human rights seem determined to hold onto some fort of dichotomy (one or the other) between what is “right” legally on one hand, and what is “wrong” on the other. It is difficult to find any justification for thinking any kind of dichotomy captures the reality of the situation: inexcusable violence directed at individuals’ lives in danger at a disproportionate rate at the hands of law enforcement implemented to hold up a status quo.

In the United States an individual is said to have engaged in a terrorism act if one commits an act that causes danger to human life. Such acts often appear to intimidate other citizens, influence government policy by intimidation, and directly affecting the conduct of the government by assassinating or through mass destruction. A person is said to have engaged in domestic terrorism if and only the conduct is committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. The public is made to understand that domestic terrorism is broad enough and includes activities and organizations. People who violate the law should be prosecuted even if their acts are not based on political reasons. However, non-governmental organizations in the United States are opposing the broad definition of terrorism. Therefore, it is important to limit the scope of the actions that cause terrorism activities.

In context, what message can this possibly be sending to civilians? How have these impacted communities? Experts believe that these matters should be handled. In an interview done by NPR journalist Steve Inskeep goes into conversation with ex-cia and police agent Patrick Skinner. This discussion entailed his moral beliefs on the war that is happening within our country. Skinner adds, “We need to make a clear distinction between protests and riots. “His argument is that 90% of what we have been seeing is peaceful protestors. That people have been killed, businesses have been burned down and looted, however cops are using that 1% of people to categorize 99% of people and use that as a means to terrorize and dehumanize individuals ("Police Officers, During Protests, Are Resembling Soldiers in War Zones").

With this conversation continuing on, curiosity was stricken in regards to Skinner’s moral beliefs on the president’s threats to send in the US military? Essentially, their duty is to serve and protect so does this not go against our constitutional rights of freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. By utilizing military tactics on its citizens, by definition is this not an act of terrorism? With many outraged about the police terrorism happening, the results have led to peaceful protests, riots and looting.

These of course are in response to Black and Brown citizens being lynched, killed and dehumanized by police and white allies in America. Due to these unfortunate cases one may feel that utilizing militarized weapons on civilians that are peacefully protesting escalates situations rather than deescalates. Given supporting examples from various sources and the definition of terrorism, is this not a means of terrorism? One may believe that labeling our police force as terrorists is a bit extreme. However, there is much resemblance within the history of those who have imposed terrorist attacks and the police that have continuously targeted and killed unarmed black and brown people. The argument is that both agendas were to inflict fear and control.

Redefining the Face of Terrorism

In order to fight the issues within our country, we need to continue having honest discussions on the impact that our police and military has on people. For many years the face of a terrorist has been of Middle Eastern descent. Many Middle Eastern people have suffered from racism and prejudices when it comes to the ideology of the face of terrorism. Many forms of violence are labelled as “terrorism” by governments and media entities. The negative meaning of terrorism carries little to resolve the significant threat of the modern form of mass violence. All that is understood is that “terrorism” is meant to perpetuate fear but there is still no proper understanding of this treat. Militaries are still paralyzed about the global threat because there is no common definition of the term. There have been continuous changes that are evident as terror continues but the international community has failed to present a clear understanding of the extent of terror threat. This has given non-state acts to act with impunity. It remains the government and international community responsibility to point out the best strategies to curb the problem of terrorism.

Bibliography

"How The USA PATRIOT Act Redefines "Domestic Terrorism"". American Civil Liberties Union, 2020, https://www.aclu.org/other/how-usa-patriot-act-redefines-domestic-terrorism.

"Mapping Police Violence". Mapping Police Violence, 2020, https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/.

"Police Officers, During Protests, Are Resembling Soldiers In War Zones". Capradio.Org, 2020, https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=869282857.

Moyar, Mark, et al. A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq. Yale University Press, 2009. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1nptj7. Accessed 28 June 2020.

STOHL, MICHAEL, et al., editors. Constructions of Terrorism: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Research and Policy. 1st ed., University of California Press, 2017. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1qv5prv. Accessed 28 June 2020.

Usatoday.Com, 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/07/black-lives-matters-police-departments-have-long-history-racism/3128167001/.