I want to look at how some things got to be the way they are. In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued an edict. "The Pope asserts rights to colonize, convert, and enslave. Pope Alexander VI issues a papal bull or decree, "Inter Caetera," in which he authorizes Spain and Portugal to colonize the Americas and its Native peoples as subjects. The decree asserts the rights of Spain and Portugal to colonize, convert, and enslave." Of course, this edict was also applied to Africa and Asia.
This concept of theft and enslavement was affirmed in 1823 by the US Supreme Court in what was ridiculously called "the Discovery Doctrine." "The discovery doctrine or doctrine of discovery is a concept of public international law expounded by the United States Supreme Court in a series of decisions, most notably Johnson v. M'Intosh in 1823. Chief Justice John Marshall explained and applied the way that colonial powers laid claim to lands belonging to foreign sovereign nations during the Age of Discovery. Under it, title to lands lay with the government whose subjects travelled to and occupied a territory whose inhabitants were not subjects of a European Christian monarch. The doctrine has been primarily used to support decisions invalidating or ignoring aboriginal possession of land in favor of colonial or post-colonial governments."
We know that the Supreme Court later extended these outrageous injustices when it decreed that enslaved African-Americans and later freed African-Americans had no rights that a "White" [sic] person had to respect.
We need to ask deeper questions. How did the former commons land in England and other countries become the "property" of the king and the nobility? Well, they stole it and had the power of both church and state to enforce their theft against massive popular resistance. Why do you think Proudhon wrote that "property is theft"? He wasn't talking about your tooth brush. Theft, also known as "primitive accumulation," is the bedrock of modern society.
Note that all this continues today. Trans-Canada Pipelines tried to seize the property of Native Americans for their pipeline. They used police and attack dogs to try to enforce that seizure. A court just ruled against that theft, but there are many more thefts, historic and contemporary.
The entire basis of modern society is based on theft and violence. Let us remember that one of the driving issues of the American revolution was that the colonial power, England, was trying to prevent colonial settlement beyond the Allegheny mountains. Armed settlers ignored that, crossed the line, and seized land from indigenous people. In preparation for the removal of the British ban, title for the land beyond the Alleghenies was distributed among the wealthiest of American colonists even before marauding colonists arrived there.
What property rights did freed African-Americans have when, to name only two examples, violent mobs massacred them and drove them out of Wilmington, North Carolina (1898) and Tulsa, Oklahoma (1921).
We can extend this further. One of Israel's many false propaganda points (hasbara) is to say that they deserve security and have to defend themselves. What about the Palestinians? Do they not deserve security? Do they not have the right to recover their property stolen since 1947 and continuing to be stolen today? Should they not enjoy basic civil, democratic, and political rights? The Israelis instead follow the edict of Pope Alexander VI.
The crimes of our police, whose slogan should be "To Maim and Kill" rather than "To Serve and Protect," are rooted in these historic and contemporary injustices. The police are charged to protect and extend injustice. That is why it isn't enough to attempt to reform the police. We have to change what they are charged to do. That will not be easy. The racist and unjust behavior of police is ingrained by years of policing and training. Still, if this moment of massive uprisings can be maintained long enough and converted into political power, we can begin the process of changing the mission of the police from "To Maim and Kill" to "To Serve and Protect."
