This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism

Lemon turns his focus to how the police directly enforce White supremacy and how historical bias and the media maintain it. The Dylann Roof and Kyle Rittenhouse stories are the starkest examples of how police officers treat Blacks differently. Over-policing communities of color heightens distrust and turns any altercation into a potentially deadly incident, but White suspects receive a softball treatment. Lemon notes how George Floyd and Eric Gardner instinctively cried out for their mothers before passing.

Lemon outlines the reasons why “Defund the Police” and similar slogans became a rallying point during the 2020 protests: The police are distant descendants to slave patrols, they have extraordinary legal protections, and their culture prevents reform and punishes officers who speak out. Breonna Taylor’s death showed how body cameras—a popular reform after previous protests—can be conveniently off in questionable circumstances, and the fact that the courts didn’t even try the case shows the difficulty of convicting police officers. Activists in cities nationwide turned areas such as the Minneapolis intersection where Floyd died—now called George Floyd Square—into virtual police-free zones. Progressives saw the areas as spaces for community organizing and criminal justice reform, while others saw them as enabling rising crime rates (Goyette, Jared. “Amid Complaints of Violence, Minneapolis Moves to Reopen Intersection Where George Floyd Was Killed,” The Washington Post, 18 March 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/18/george-floyd-autonomous-zone-open/. Accessed 23 July 2021).

However, Lemon believes that the slogan “Defund the Police” is ineffective because it offers a “snap-of-the-fingers” solution to a complicated problem (80). He points to a political advertisement the Trump campaign made shortly after the phrase gained traction in which a woman who calls 911 is greeted with an automated response as a burglar breaks into her home. The premise was flawed—911 is separate from police departments, and better appropriating department funding makes conservative sense—but it played to the fears of his base.

Lemon understands the police’s perspective. Police officers handle not only criminal activity but also traffic violations, domestic violence, homelessness, and other complicated issues. Lemon believes the solution is slow, incremental progress such as Ras Baraka’s work as Newark’s mayor. As a Black man who has lived under stop-and-frisk policies, Baraka understands the problems with policing and implemented reforms like a civilian review board that, despite resistance, ultimately make policing safer. Costly civil lawsuit settlements force the financial burden onto police and ultimately taxpayers, who can voice their disapproval in elections. In addition, Congressional Democrats are debating bills such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would ban no-knock warrants, limit legal protections for police officers, reduce access to the military-grade vehicles prevalent in the crackdowns, and tie federal funding to reform compliance (Gomez, Henry J. “Here’s What the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act Would Do.” NBC News, 21 April 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/here-s-what-george-floyd-justice-policing-act-would-do-n1264825. Accessed 23 July 2021).

The George Floyd protests sparked a campaign to remove statues and rename buildings honoring Confederate leaders, which Lemon unapologetically supports. Cities erected many of these monuments during the Civil Rights movement to enforce a social hierarchy. They lack historical context, such as General Whickman’s reluctant support of secession, and officials slow-tracked his descendants’ efforts to remove it until protestors made the decision for them. Jared Yates Sexton notes that a Black person who enters a courthouse and sees a monument to a Confederate principle knows that he won’t receive equal justice and that the US is the only country that honors “treasonous traitors who have held people in bondage” (123). He also points out President Woodrow Wilson’s role in romanticizing the South as a historian and hosting The Birth of a Nation as the first film screening at the White House.

Because this film exemplifies early innovations in cinematography, film history classes still discuss The Birth of a Nation, which dehumanizes Black people and depicts the Ku Klux Klan as divine agents. As Lemon comments, this shows the difficulty of separating problematic works from America’s artistic canon. While growing up, Lemon related more to Leave it to Beaver because White shows were allowed to have multifaced characters, and even stories that Americans typically consider progressive for their time, like Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird, do not treat their Black characters with dignity. Hollywood’s perpetuation of racist imagery limited opportunities for Black talent such as Lena Horne and Hattie McDaniel to play roles that showcased their full abilities. Nevertheless, their work matters because it paved the way for future creatives. Lemon discusses how Tyler Perry, best known for the Black grandma stereotype Madea, is using his fortune to give other creators of color a platform.