Following the recent tragic events in the USA regarding police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, the term ACAB has been growing in prominence. The term – an abbreviation of “All Cops Are B*stards” has quickly become mainstream, especially within the younger generations. So, what does ACAB stand for and why is it so important?
No one can argue that there is no corruption in the American police system; George Floyd’s murder fuelled protests that broke out across 3 different continents to protest police brutality and racism. The system is fundamentally flawed and is in desperate need of attention. For this reason, “ACAB” has become a popular rallying cry. It does not mean every single police officer in North America is corrupt, “ACAB” means that the system is one of which every officer is complicit, and that system actively devaluates people of colour. Whether or not all cops are bad is immaterial when the fact is bad cops have murdered 215 black people in North America from January to October 2020.
‘To serve and protect’- the phrase adopted by law enforcement agencies in the US. The irony of this is most visible when compared with the protests attended by million all over the USA in support of the BLM movement. Overall, US law enforcement committed approximately 125 human rights abuses towards protesters. There were 89 incidents of “unnecessary use” of tear gas and “unlawful use” of pepper spray between 26 May and 5 June from state and local police officers according to Amnesty International. The excessive and unnecessary use of weapons by police officers is essentially a symptom of the problem that caused these protests to start with.
“ACAB” seems to be an extreme phrase with many negative connotations, but is defunding the police really a bad idea? The American police force was built upon systematic racism. To end police brutality and racism in the police force, the system needs to be intentionally uprooted and replanted; there is no other way to permanently root out systematic racism in the force.
Obviously, there are good police officers who do truly want to serve and protect their communities. However, defending the individuals means fundamentally undermining the protests against racism and police brutality. There are of course many admirable police officers whose actions deserve nothing but respect and gratitude, but it is dangerous to start revering officers for not being murderers. When people start to go out of their way to combat this fight, the current problems with policing are then perpetuated. Not all cops are bad cops but, as the known proverb says: “one bad apple spoils the bunch”.
