the thing about these interactions — which end with an arrest, not death — is they are still incredibly traumatic, still represent a gross abuse of authority, and are fairly common
The reason a single death at the hands of police can produce mass protests is because that death is set against a backdrop of thousands of abusive, oppressive interactions that fall short of lethal violence but nonetheless show the same disrespect for life & liberty.
And I should say that none of this is for *safety*. The neighborhoods where police act as an occupying army are the same neighborhoods where clearance rates for homicide and other violent crime are incredibly low.
The state harasses and abuses you, doesn’t bother to protect you, and oh segregates you away from jobs and opportunity. Hmm I wonder why people get angry.
