December 8 is the anniversary of The First SWAT Attack in 1969. It marked the beginning of a new form of militarised police force.

SWAT is an abbreviation for Special Weapons And Tactics. The awkward sounding name is a remnant of their original name “Special Weapons Assault Team”, that more accurately conveys the purpose of the unit. It was changed quite early on because it was a little too on-the-nose. The stated purpose of the team is to use military hardware and techniques to overcome heavily armed and dangerous criminals, such as terrorists or hostage takers. The product of the famously racist LA police chief Daryl Gates, who once said casual drug users “ought to be taken out and shot”, the real truth behind its creation was made clear on this day.

The targets of course, were The Black Panthers, a political group composed of black socialists. The FBI had been spreading propaganda about the Black Panthers, and the police were eager to start raiding them. On this day, over 350 policemen descended upon Black Panther headquarters. There were only 13 Panthers in the building at the time, and in response to a large group of men shooting and tossing grenades at them, they fired back. Thousands of rounds were fired, and the police even brought in a tank. Several people were wounded, but amazingly enough, nobody died. At their trial, the Black Panthers successfully argued that they acted in self defence, and were acquitted of most charges.

The whole thing was a farce. They obviously didn’t have much reason to raid the Panthers, much less bring in military equipment. But the fact that armed black people existed was terrifying to the whites in power. They had previously enacted gun control laws to disempower the Panthers. When that failed, their raid, resembling the rifle clubs of the previous century was the beginning of a new era.

Today, SWAT teams are employed by nearly two thirds of police departments in the country. In over 95% of cases, they are used against similar targets, rather than the dangerous criminals they are ostensibly for. The military even has a special program to provide military equipment to police departments. They still disproportionately attack black neighbourhoods.