Behavior or Intent?
Let me help clarify...the intent of the officer can be debated, the behavior cannot .... so the question is why the behavior? The earliest iterations of Policing in America came out of Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, this gave rise to Slave Catchers & “Bounty Hunters” who would make up reasons to be suspicious of Free Black People (see 12 years a Slave) so they could take them back or sell them to plantation owners to collect a reward. After Emancipation in 1877 Black Codes and Pig Laws came into being, essentially criminalizing being Black so that they could be arrested based on a little known clause in the 13 th Amendment that legalized slavery as punishment for “criminals” and enslave or re-enslave them as part of state run prison labor ( Peonage ), where the prisoners were often leased back to plantations replacing the slaves who were emancipated. This labor force was also used to build many of the municipal and factory buildings in southern cities through the tur