The Long Standing Relationship Between US Law Enforcement and White Vigilantes

Kyle Rittenhouse, left, with backwards cap, walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, with another armed civilian. Prosecutors on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020 charged Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois in the fatal shooting of two protesters and the wounding of a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake. Source.

Tamir Rice, Geraldine Townsend, Tyre King, Breonna Taylor. These are just a few names of the many Black Americans who have been fatally shot by law enforcement for carrying a toy weapon, or doing almost nothing at all. 

In contrast, police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, were seen thanking a group of armed white men. One of these men was 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse, who carried an AR-15 style rifle. Rittenhouse was later filmed shooting this gun at multiple people, then walking towards police, who then let him go home with no suspicion. He was not arrested until the next day. 

It seems illogical that Rittenhouse, who allegedly shot at multiple people moments before approaching officers, was less threatening than a 12 year old boy with a toy gun or a woman in her seventies with a BB gun. The one difference that most explains this variance in threat perception is race. The injustice that emerges from this can be seen throughout all of American history. 

The institution of policing was built with the sole purpose of maintaining the racial hierarchy the United States was built upon. The Carolinas created the first policing institution of the American South by introducing a slave patrol in 1704. These patrols spread rapidly across the rest of the Southern states, terrorizing and intimidating enslaved people to deter revolts. As years passed and slavery was outlawed, white vigilantes became prominent throughout the country with a goal of carrying forward the brutal racial violence of the plantation. Almost all of these vigilantes were affiliated with white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. They continued to terrorize all people of color, but particularly Black Americans, through lynchings, enforcement of Black Codes, creation of “Sundown Towns,” and more. Rather than protecting the lives threatened by these groups and affiliated vigilantes, official law enforcement officers throughout America joined them and protected their members from any possible form of retaliation. 

The relationship between white supremacists and police officers has continued into the present day. In recent years, many officers have been suspended or fired after they were found to be members of the KKK or other alt-right groups. Over the summer, many positioned themselves in opposition to the movements against police brutality and racial injustice in the country. Law enforcement officers focused almost solely on controlling BLM protesters, while armed counter protesters were not condemned and, in some cases, were supported. These anecdotes exemplify the dangerous level of permission that is given almost exclusively to white vigilantes. However, their collaboration can be seen on a much larger scale. 

According to research done in 2017, over seventy percent of extremist related deaths in the past ten years could be attributed to alt right or white supremacist movements. These groups use the same recruitment strategies as terrorist organizations outside of the US, such as ISIS, and are responsible for many more attacks. Despite all of this, there is currently no national strategy to combat these groups. In fact, many known leaders and notable alt right members are not identified as threats at all. Instead, their behavior is justified as simply exercising the right to form a militia or to believe and say what they want. This tacit is offered by law enforcement officers, probably in part due to the many ties that exist between these vigilante groups and police. 

Rittenhouse is not the first and will most likely not be the last white person whose suspected murder is no cause for suspicion to law enforcement. White vigilantes have proven to be a deadly force whose violence is propagated by their ties to police in the United States. The safety and wellbeing of citizens should be the top priority of the officers hired to protect and serve. Yet, countless examples of exemption like these pervade any actual justice. It is past time to erase the ties between white supremacy and policing.