Al Jazeera Discovers Police Brutality Exists (Outside America)
Al Jazeera reports on widespread protests in Brazil following police raids that left at least 119 people dead, casually labeled as fatalities from 'drug gangs.' This framing conveniently bypasses the systemic police violence, often targeting impoverished, Black and Indigenous communities, that's historically normalized in Brazil's favelas – a cycle of state power crushing dissent under the guise
of 'crime fighting.' One might wonder if mainstream US outlets would frame similar events on American soil as 'protests after police raids on alleged gangs,' or if the 'unfortunate incidents' would be rebranded as 'maintaining law and order' and 'combating urban crime,' perhaps with a dash of 'officer safety concerns.' The brutal consistency of state violence against marginalized communities is a
global problem, only the media's lens changes. When will we hear about police violence without the 'drug gang' preface?