In recent years, millions of people have taken to the streets, speaking out against police terror and murder, and white supremacy. People demanded an end to the wanton and senseless murder of people. Some fought for various reforms aimed at putting an end to this terror. Joe Biden came into office promising “real action” on police brutality and racial inequality. What has this system of capitalism-imperialism actually delivered? Nothing, and even worse than nothing.

Look at what happened in April, when Derek Chauvin, the pig who murdered George Floyd in 2020, was tried for murder. This was a very rare instance when a killer cop was tried and found guilty—and it mainly happened because the Beautiful Rising of people after Floyd’s murder demanding an end to police terror and white supremacy shook the whole country. But even as the trial of Chauvin was going on, the epidemic of police murder continued. In the first two weeks of April, the police killed at least 37 people, almost three a day. And within 24 hours of the Chauvin verdict, at least six people were killed by police, including Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old Black girl, in Columbus, Ohio. Other victims during this time included:

• On March 29, Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old seventh grader in Chicago, died when a cop shot him in the chest early in the morning and then left his body in an alley behind a high school for hours. Two weeks later a video was released showing Adam being chased down a dark alley, then turning around—with his empty hands raised—before he was fatally shot.

• On April 11, cops in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center pulled over Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, for a “traffic violation”—an air freshener on his rear view mirror. A short while later, Daunte was dead. The murdering pig claims she thought she had drawn her Taser, not a gun—which looks and feels completely different than a Taser. This pig is now on trial, boo-hoo-ing on the stand to argue she shouldn’t be punished for a “mistake.”

• On April 20, sheriffs in Elizabeth City murdered Andrew Brown Jr. as he sat with his hands on the steering wheel of his car and then tried to flee for his life. On May 18, a North Carolina prosecutor announced that the police killing of Andrew Brown Jr. was “justified” and that no charges would be brought against the cops involved in the shooting.

The examples here are only a few of the more than 900 people killed by the police this year (as of December 16) with Black and Latino people killed at a disproportionate rate.

Add to these numbers countless instances of police brutality like on January 29, when pigs in Rochester, New York, terrorized a nine-year-old child who was upset and having a mental health crisis. The cops responded to a report of “family trouble” with six cop cars and nine pigs. When they were told the girl was “suicidal,” instead of trying to calm her down and help her, the pigs viciously attacked, handcuffed, and pepper sprayed the young child.

Add to this the number of people killed in custody. For example, at least 15 people have died at the infamous Rikers Island jail and other New York City jails this year—the deadliest count since 2016.

Add to this the pigs who continue to walk free for carrying out murder and other totally unjust violence against the people. Just to name one outrageous example: On January 6, the District Attorney for Kenosha County, Wisconsin, announced that no charges would be brought against the cop who in 2020 shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, in front of his children, paralyzing him from the waist down. Then on October 8, Biden’s Justice Department announced that it would also not bring any charges against this pig.

And add to this what’s happened with the so-called “reforms” of police:

• On June 5, Democrats in Congress drafted the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (JPA), promising “structural change with meaningful reforms.” It was passed in the House of Representatives but blocked in the Senate and is now dead in the water.
• On June 23, Biden announced a “comprehensive strategy” to infuse massive funding to police in cities across the country. The plan explicitly aims to increase the number of cops prowling city streets and neighborhoods as summer begins.
• In the wake of calls to “defund the police,” cities like New York and Los Angeles saw their police department budgets targeted, but have now gotten back any money they lost from such cuts. In New York City, after promises to cut $1 billion from the NYPD’s budget, New York pigs have been given an additional $200 million, and the LAPD was given a three percent boost to their budget. The “defund the police” demand itself is incorrect and actually harmful, for the reasons explained here and here by Bob Avakian; but the point here is that instead of any move of any kind to restrain the pigs, these murderous enforcers are being given more money and, more than that, the backing to cut loose on the oppressed masses.
• The new mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, says he will bring back the plainclothes task force that was disbanded last summer after mass protests and court cases exposed the utter and racist nature of these “stop and frisk” cops.

To anyone who thinks all this can be ended with “defunding the police,” police “reform,” or “sensitivity training”—check out Bob Avakian laying out, sharply and scientifically, why such reformist illusions only do harm, and what the real—revolutionary—solution is. The truth is, this oppressive system needs its cops and sheriffs to maintain the status quo, especially targeting Black and Brown people—through the most vicious and ever-present repression.