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Classism and Police Brutality
Capitalism has played an important role in the development of urban centers around the world, both in developed and developing nations. Through capitalism, neoliberal cities have been realized, and the cities like Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles have been able to set themselves apart from other cities. The governance of the cities allows for free markets for the economic success of the cities as well as the individuals of the city. Although people are able to achieve financial success and the attainment of a higher social class, the governance of the neoliberal cities faces the challenge of creating a group of individuals who are poor as well as promote racial discrimination against people of color who are quite disadvantaged by the capitalistic and neoliberalism nature of the cities’ economies. As such, the poor and the less privileged in society are exposed to harm and discrimination, such as racism and classism, which encourage racial institutions such as police brutality in areas like the Favelas in Rio and Skid Row in Los Angeles as highlighted by the books.
The economic activities and progress in the neoliberal cities’ springs from the individual efforts and restricted markets in labor and money. The idea is spread across the social aspects of life as well as the geographical structure of the city, and this exposes the ineffectiveness of the city’s governance and its ability to protect its citizens. The Skid Row in Los Angeles and the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro share similarities in the fact that they are home to the poor. The opportunities for income-earning between the rich and poor in the cities are different, and this has affected the ability of the poor to make ends meet. Williams opines that “wage inequality has increased across all boards because wage growth has slowed or reversed in many segments of the population (84). The consequence of this inequality is the concentration of the poor within one area of the city, such as the Favelas and Skid Row. Neoliberalism, therefore, supports wage inequality which leads to the widening of the gap between the rich and the poo
In neoliberal cities, the minority face police brutality from the governance that is supposed to protect them because of the institutions of racism. In the book, The Pacifying Police, the story of Amarildo’s death at the hands of Rio police highlights how black people in the poor areas of the neoliberal cities are treated. The hegemonic representation of black people and their spaces within the city plays a fundamental role in understanding police brutality that is charged by racial differences (Vargas 187). The black spaces are represented to be dirty and unsafe for members of society to live, and this creates a biased within the police who believe that all members of these societies are criminals. Policing in these areas is supposed to protect families from crimes; however, police brutality makes the people more fearful than safe. A study conducted by Camp and Heatherton states that “respondents expressed more fear of harassment by the police than fear of criminal acts” (126). Police brutality in Skid Row and the Favelas make people of color in these communities have little trust in the policing efforts of the governance of the cities. As a consequence, people in neoliberal cities opt to govern and protect themselves as a way of escaping police brutality.
Neoliberalism exposes minority groups in the community to issues of discrimination, which include racism and classism, which are promoted by the governance of neoliberal cities. In neoliberal cities like Rio and Los Angeles, neoliberalism dictates the geographical structure of the city and where black people take up residence, which includes the Favelas and Skid Row, respectively. People in these areas include low income earning families since their ability to earn an income is influenced by the lack of opportunities to earn better wages. As a result, crime in these areas is high, as shown in the books, and policing is required to maintain order. However, police brutality takes center stage due to the perception of the community to the police, and this makes the public fear them rather than feel safe. Due to the racial stereotype and understanding, the governance of the neoliberal cities creates a system that seeks to inhibit and limit the success of the black people in the cities.
Work Cited
Camp, Jordan T., and Christina Heatherton, eds. Policing the planet: Why the policing crisis led to Black Lives Matter. Verso Books, 2016.
Vargas, João H. Costa. The denial of antiblackness: Multiracial redemption and black suffering. U of Minnesota Press, 2018.
Williams, Rhonda M. “Accumulation as evisceration: Urban rebellion and the new growth dynamics.” Reading Rodney King, Reading Urban Uprising (1993): 82-96.