Toward a Broader Movement Against Policing

Abstract

It’s been three years since the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020. The release and spread of the video capturing Floyd’s killing triggered a truly massive wave of protests and riots across the country. Scenes of militant confrontations with police, burning of police stations, the deployment of the National Guard and more dominated local and national news stations for weeks. For many observers and participants, it felt as if the country were on the brink of a radical movement that could mount a substantial challenge to the status quo. Today, that movement has receded, if not vanished, leaving only remnants of symbolic change. While it has become common to see major corporations pledging support of Black Lives Matter, the movement’s larger goals around police accountability have been frustrated in many areas. Political scientist Cedric Johnson’s new book, After Black Lives Matter, offers some desperately needed critical reflection of this movement. Reflecting on both the theoretical underpinnings and organizing framework of current movements against the carceral state, Johnson offers potential pathways forward toward building a broader coalition that can strike at the root of the policing crisis. In his view, the failure of Black Lives Matter to build a broader movement against police brutality rooted in political economy has produced many morbid symptoms. Johnson charges that the lack of a specific constituency and coherent program has produced an amalgam of “irresponsible brokering, hustling, foundation seeding, do-gooder delivery service.” The recent scandals involving the Black Lives Matter organization’s multi-million-dollar real estate portfolio are one indication of this. While acknowledging that the political perspectives of those under the banner of Black Lives Matter are varied, Johnson claims that any anti-capitalist politics