The Origins of Black AND White Mistrust of Authority in America

Different Authorities, Different Reasons, Same History

It is commonly understood by both black and white America that African-American communities have significant trust issues with the police. It manifests as an unwillingness to cooperate with investigations, cynicism towards the justice system, and an overall disdain towards anyone perceived to be trying to establish law and order in our communities. From the African-American perspective this distrust is fully warranted due to issues of racism, police brutality, and other discrimination against African-Americans being intertwined with the history of law enforcement in America.

From the perspective of anyone not living in African-American communities it is one more way in which we tend not to fully participate in, or appreciate the efforts of, broader America to improve our condition. While it leads to exasperation and confusion amongst well-meaning liberals, it is also fodder for more malignant racist narratives regarding some inherent connection between African-Americans and crime. For too many white Americans African-American distrust of the police is one more piece of evidence suggesting that we neither understand, nor want to be associated with, what they understand to be America.