A recent Justice Department report concluded that "systemic" racial bias in the Minneapolis Police Department "made what happened to George Floyd possible." During the three years since a white police officer brutally murdered Floyd, nationwide discussions of systemic racism have extended well beyond focusing on law enforcement to also assess a range of other government functions. But such scrutiny comes to a halt at the water's edge — stopping short of probing whether racism has been a factor in U.S. military interventions overseas.
Hidden in plain sight is the fact that virtually all the people killed by U.S. firepower in the "war on terror" for more than two decades have been people of color. This notable fact goes unnoticed in a country where — in sharp contrast — racial aspects of domestic policies and outcomes are ongoing topics of public discourse.
