Under Arrest
On the anniversary of prolific police shootings in America, Hasan looks at the broken police system currently plaguing the United States of America. The Ferguson shootings were so prolific infact, they made headline news the world over. Since then, various movements including Black Lives Matter have taken a definitive stand against police practices in the hope of social reform. As we learn, courtesy of Hasan Minhaj’s impassioned words, police are given special rights and a separate legal framework that helps shield them from prosecution. Most of this begins with police training which instructs officers to be on their guard at all times and not hesitate to shoot first or risk a fatality. It’s shocking stuff and certainly paints a grim picture of the current policing problems America are facing. From Dave Grossman saying that killing is “not that big a deal” to the legal framework set up to prevent police from being sued, it’s clear that police appear to be playing by a completely different set of rules. Qualified Immunity is one such rule and thanks to some informative graphics and information, Hasan talks us through what this means. With no national database for disciplined police officers and police unions given an unwieldy amount of power, we’re shown first-hand through archival news reports in Chicago that allow their officers to review video footage that could be held against them, allowing them 24 hours to put their story together. Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom as the end segment here show some people are trying to change the way policing works in the US. In Minneapolis, they’ve banned warrior training and new reports show clear racial bias in Ferguson too, where 76% of tbe population have outstanding arrest warrants and 96% of those people are black. With a noticable drop in slapstick comedy this time, Hasan bows out Volume 4 with an episode focusing on police corruption. It’s clearly a topic Hasan is passionate about too and this 25 minute episode does well to bring the current struggles America is facing to light. Quite where the resolution lies remains to be seen but with such wound-up officers and clear racial bias, America is a country in need of radical change. Whether people will be willing to embrace this or not though is another matter.
