We Must Break the Chain Reaction of Hate
1977 Report Detailing Gross Misconduct in Handling of FBI’s Surveillance of Dr. King
“Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction … The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr. in Strength to Love (1963)
“White supremacists are using online platforms for hate. It’s time to change the terms.”
At my last job, using social media, even personal social media, to spread hate would have resulted in disciplinary action, including dismissal. Shouldn’t government employees be held to a similar standard? And shouldn’t government employees who carry weapons and a license to kill be held to an even higher standard?
“The petitioner may have a constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman.”
— Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
On January 6, at least 29 current and former police officers participated in the mob assault on the Capitol, according to the Washington Post. It is becoming increasingly clear that this was preplanned, largely on online platforms.
Security thinking needs a reboot to restore public trust in policing. Cybersecurity offers direct lessons for understanding and addressing white supremacism in policing.
A cybersecurity breach starts with an undetected virus and expands quietly, piggybacking on the strengths of the host systems, before erupting into visible attacks. Even after suppression, the virus continues to persist; only by identifying and removing infected components can health be restored to a system. But best practices assume that the infection is never entirely eradicated.
White supremacy can be considered a virus in cybersecurity terms, with white supremacists as “threat actors.” We should respond accordingly.
In cybersecurity and in policing, the greatest threats aren’t external, but internal bad actors. Once an infiltration occurs, the malignant code exists throughout a technology system. Human security systems are the same: the greatest threats are internal. Once bad actors enter and are allowed to remain, they proliferate and become pervasive in a system. Online platforms allow hate to spread with the speed of computer viruses.
On January 6th, the world watched a violent, armed white mob stroll past a vastly outnumbered and under-equipped Capitol Police force. They infiltrated easily — at some points helped by officers who opened barricades and stood aside — and overpowered those who tried to fight back as warning systems failed to bring reinforcements.
The U.S. Capitol Police have already suspended 3 officers and are investigating at least 17 others for participation in the deadly anti-democratic riots last week. Police chiefs nationwide are on high alert as they determine which of their members attended, or have shown extremist tendencies, and respond accordingly — while these officers may have made up a small portion of attendees at the Capitol Building, any non-zero number is too many because any internal threat is severe.
It should be no surprise to New Yorkers that this threat extends to the NYPD. James Kobel, the commanding officer of the NYPD’s Equal Employment Opportunity Division, responsible for preventing and investigating employment and harassment claims was recently determined to be the author of racist, sexist, and anti-semitic online posts. Why did it take a City Council member to discover this?
The standards of conduct and accountability within the NYPD need to be fundamentally reevaluated and modernized.
The City also needs a Digital Bill of Rights, which includes the City’s obligation to protect the functions of our government and community in terms of cybersecurity.
The NYPD website asserts that the NYPD: “Maintain[s] a higher standard of integrity than is generally expected of others because so much is expected of us.” It’s time to amend this to incorporate the Change the Terms definition for hateful activities: “those that incite or engage in violence, intimidation, harassment, threats, or defamation targeting an individual or group based on their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”
The mission of the police is to ensure safety for all members of a community. And if the community believes that officers harbor hate, then the community can no longer trust in its police.
One of the fundamental tenets of a democracy is the control of the armed forces by the civilian elected leadership. So I am pleased that the Biden administration promises to reinstate “pattern and practice” investigations into policing. I am also supportive of the NY Attorney General’s investigation into the NYPD practices during protests and her call for a Federal monitor to oversee policing of future protests.
In New York City, we must
Restore funding to the Civilian Complaint Review Board to a minimum of the City Charter requirements and propose making it a semi-autonomous agency, much like the Campaign Finance Board;
Enact changes to the Code of Conduct, including Insubordination and Hateful Activities, that can result in disciplinary action including termination; and
Remove the NYPD Chief’s sole discretion on disciplinary actions with Mayoral and community input.