Kerem Yucel via Creative Commons
A protest against the police killing of Amir Locke in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Last week, Amir Locke, a twenty-two-year-old Black man was murdered by Minneapolis police performing a no-knock raid of the apartment where Locke was sleeping. Police took less than nine seconds to kill Locke, who wasn’t even on the warrant.
Why must we, as Black Americans, continue to televise our murders in order to mobilize U.S. society to end racist laws?
Locke’s killing invoked a twisted case of déjà vu: Breonna Taylor was killed because of a botched no-knock warrant, and George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis police custody. Both 2020 murders sparked national outrage, leading to a reverberation of protests and institutional promises to end racist policies and to protect Black lives. Yet, the killings of Black people by the police continue.
Racist laws, including the use of no-knock warrants, continue to go unbanned across most states, including Minnesota. And videos of Black people being murdered continue to be widely circulated.
As a Black psychiatrist specializing in the effects of racism on the health of Black Americans, I find it concerning that Locke’s televised murder is continually replayed for all to see. On certain websites, the footage of a SWAT team taking his life began to play automatically, and I had to quickly press pause. On other news sites, the video is embedded in the article, often without an obvious content warning, displaying a traumatic still image of police circling the sofa on which Locke was asleep.
Creative Commons
Amir Locke
I fully support the use of body camera footage as evidence of wrongdoing, and I appreciate that the media is highlighting the disproportionate police violence inflicted on Black Americans. But what also needs to be addressed is the psychological cost to Black people of seeing murder footage circulated so carelessly, and the message that this sends to U.S. society, which has long been desensitized to violent acts against Black people. My colleague had to experience this firsthand, and her situation is not unique.
I received a flurry of text messages she sent me after walking out of another academic talk. The white lecturer showed footage of Elijah McClain being slain, without so much as a warning, as a casual example to discuss ketamine as a sedative. The replay of these videos is re-traumatizing, for sure, but what was equally chilling was how desensitized the white lecturer appeared. It made me wonder: Do these televised murders humanize Black people and galvanize our allies into action, or do they become fodder to dehumanize us further?
It is well-documented that Black people are more likely than white people to have adverse mental health effects from highly publicized police killings of Black people. In fact, televised police killings of Black people trigger days of poor mental health for Black individuals. The lecture that my colleague was subjected to, without warning, triggered days of poor mental health for her, too.
Why must we, as Black Americans, continue to televise our murders in order to mobilize U.S. society to end racist laws? And what message does it send to non-Black America to have a multitude of videos readily available of Black people being brutalized or killed?
I think there is a middle ground.
Video evidence can be a powerful impetus to spur action such as protests and cop watching, but it should be circulated with care. Videos of Black people being murdered could be accessible via a link, with multiple clear warnings that the content may have an adverse effect on mental health. The links should have age restrictions, so that Black children and adolescents cannot easily access these videos without parental permission. This way, video evidence of police brutality could still be collected and made accessible by communities fighting against it while lessening the more adverse effects of its circulation online.
The onus is not just on the media, either. When widely televised murders of Black people occur, workplaces could institute “mental health day” policies so that Black Americans are able to take a day off or reduce their workload to combat the racial stress and trauma accrued. Non-Black allies can be of help during those days by taking on the workload of Black colleagues and offering to cover for them as well.
There should be restrictions on the usage of footage, as well. Academic institutions and other workplaces should not allow employees to use televised footage of Black people being killed without special permission and evidence that the video is truly necessary for their presentations. Because most of the time, it isn’t.
U.S. society should not need to see any more video evidence in order to mobilize against racist laws and fight for Black lives to be valued. We have seen enough.