Kate Weisburd
89 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1357
The year 2020 was a year of reckoning. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with the protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against police violence toward unarmed Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples, revealed our collective, but also differing, vulnerability to violence, sickness, death, and economic harm. Meanwhile, the #metoo movement claimed a victory in the conviction of Harvey Weinstein for sexual assault and has further spurred discussions of “toxic masculinity.” To be sure, the pandemic meant that even some privileged white Americans experienced what it is like to be unprotected by the State, as they saw friends and family succumb to the virus. But for so many others, the impact of police violence, the hypermasculinized nature of policing, and the unequal impact of COVID-19 on low-income people and communities of color reflected our country’s ongoing failure to meaningfully address longstanding race, gender, and class-based inequities in American life.
The intertwined legacies of slavery and patriarchy underlying police violence are the themes of this year’s Symposium, Addressing the Crisis in Policing Today: Race, Masculinity, and Police Use of Force in America. The themes are especially timely as the country engages in much needed conversations about the proper role, if any, of police. Of course, scholars and advocates—including those who are part of this Symposium—have long debated the role of police, as well as the history and culture of policing. But this year of reckoning offers a unique window of opportunity.
