In a stroke of irony, Western governments including the US and Canada imposed even more sanctions on the Iranian people in the past two months, using the excuse of the protests. The Biden Administration commented that it was placing additional sanctions on the Iranian morality police “for abuse and violence against Iranian women and the violation of the rights of peaceful Iranian protesters” [4]. This is while the case that caused worldwide hysteria was one where it was not confirmed that the police were brutal in any way, highlighting the non-systemic nature of authority abuse in Iran. If this were the case, similar occurrences would be plastered across mainstream media at every possible opportunity.

The US concern about police violence in Iran is ironic considering its own state of issues with brutal policing, and the supposed Western support for the Iranian people against their government should be viewed with suspicion. Perhaps a relevant question to the US is whether its own policing system should be sanctioned for excessive force against both peaceful protestors and even minors simply going about their daily lives.

Police officers in the US continue to kill people at alarming rates according to trends revealing that roughly 1,100 people have been killed by police each year since 2013 ^[5]. US police killed the highest number of people on record in 2021, revealing that black and hispanic Americans are shot at disproportionate rates. The Washington Post tracked 8,015 fatal police shootings in the US since 2015, also finding that data reported to the FBI on police shootings was undercounted by more than a half ^[80]. 

Several studies have echoed the absence of reporting and news coverage on fatal shootings in the US, with one analysis revealing that more than half of police killings in the US are unreported ^[81].

In Canada, acts of colonial violence continue to take place despite governmental officials’ claims to equality and freedom, with both indigenous and black people overwhelmingly overrepresented in police-involved deaths in Canada. The Ontario Human Rights Commission found that a black person is 20 times more likely to be shot and killed by the police compared to a white person ^[79]. This is while the notion of police and security forces being there to serve and protect people does not always apply to indigenous, black or racialized minorities in Canada.