9 Events Toward the Environment for America's Police State: Rodney King Beating to 911 to Occupy Wall Street

'Hitler and the Germans Nation and Crime' Exhibition In Berlin.

By Alex Henderson
The August 19 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the protests that followed have focused attention on the militarization of police in the United States. Police overreach, especially in African-American neighborhoods, is nothing new: it was Marquette Frye’s confrontation with California Highway Patrol officers on Aug. 11, 1965, that sparked the Watts Riots in Los Angeles almost half a century ago. But much has changed since the 1960s and 1970s:

American police are a lot more militarized than they were back then, and many of the checks and balances that made the U.S. a democratic republic have been eroded by both courts and politicians.

Here are 10 events of recent decades that have encouraged the growth of a police state in the U.S. and promoted the type of toxic environment in which unarmed Brown was shot six times.

1. Ronald Reagan Escalates the War on Drugs

2. Rodney King Beating of 1991

3. 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

4. Waterboarding and Torture at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base

5. Growth and Expansion of Asset Forfeiture Laws

6. National Defense Authorization Act and Erosion of Habeas Corpus

7. Department of Homeland Security Promoting Militarization of Local Police Departments

8. Growth of the Prison/Industrial Complex

9. NYPD Assault On Occupy Wall Street

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