In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and countless other people of color at the hands of the police, I really had to question how do we get here? Why does this keep happening? So I decided to research the origins of policing, particularly in Mississippi and the deep South. What I discovered was shocking, but not surprising. As we see protests around the country against police brutality, this history is more relevant now than it has ever been. The origins of American law enforcement, particularly in the deep South, has its roots in what is now known as slave patrols.