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1 - From “Fuck tha Police” to Defund the Police: A Polemic, with Elements of Pragmatism and Accommodation, Hopefully Not Fatal, As Black People Hope About Encounters with the Police

from Part I - Policing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2022

By
Paul Butler
Edited by
Gregory S. Parks  and
Frank Rudy Cooper
Gregory S. Parks
Affiliation:
Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Frank Rudy Cooper
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Summary

Paul Butler considers NWA’s 1988 song, “Fuck tha Police,” as an invitation to think about putting the police on trial for crimes against African Americans. It examines the resonance of “Fuck tha Police” over time, up to and including the George Floyd inspired protests. It will also use the song to analyze how civilians should feel about cops in a democracy. Are they a positive good, as many white people might suggest, a necessary evil, as some people of color might suggest, or an unnecessary evil, as suggested by the “defund the police” movement? Butler also will explore the meaning of the trial metaphor in the song – what would it mean for African Americans to put the police on trial? What would be the crime and the appropriate punishment?

Keywords

racedemocracyGeorge Floyddefund the policeaccountability
Type
Chapter
Information
Fight the Power
Law and Policy through Hip-Hop Songs
 , pp. 21 - 37
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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