It is easy to say the rioters should be arrested and charged for the damage they did to police property and for the injuries they inflicted on officers. Such an assessment, however, is too simplistic.
Inner-city people often complain that police use excessive force against them. It is a regular part of arraignments in court to hear attorney’s representing accused people allege torture by police. Many believe a fair amount of these accusations are true.
The society consents to this behavior by officers because it wants to be kept safe from the ‘bad people’. But such behavior has consequences.
The Bahamas could be a few days away from its third homicide record in four years. There is much fear. However, when police officers use heavy-handed tactics as the norm in inner-city communities, and they use these tactics without reasonable discrimination, poor people get angry.
This anger usually escapes during moments of perceived injustice.
