The Police
There are few phrases in America today that create more division than the phrase, “the police.” When I was growing up and I heard the phrase, “the police,” I thought about Officer Friendly, my friends’ dads and the people that would save me if the “bad guys” ever got to me. When I got a little older and started to interact more with people who were African Americans, I learned that many of them had a completely different view of “the police.” That phrase to them meant racial profiling, police brutality, and the guys that might lock them up, hurt them or kill them unjustly.
As far as I could tell, it was a Black and White issue. White people admired “the police.” Black people feared them.
However, over the course of the past several years and with the help of digital media technology, many White folks have abandon their traditional view of Officer Friendly. Liberal White folks specifically have turned on “the police.” They now consider themselves allies to minorities rather than allies of “the police.”
This is a good thing, right? Not exactly.
The awakening of White folks to racial profiling and police brutality is good. The response is cowardly.
Many White folks were never really allies of “the police” in the first place. We were bystanders. We knew that racial profiling and police brutality were going on and we did nothing about it. We benefited from our “above the law” status and allowed these inequalities to fester for decades. For example, my friends and I used to ride this motorized scooter down a friend’s block. We didn’t have drivers licenses or even helmets on. No one ever bothered us. One day a Black friend of ours came over. By the time he got up and down the block “the police” were there. Everything worked out because he was with us. We all had a good laugh and went about our day. From “the police” to the parents to the kids. We all just accepted that reality. We liked having separate rules for “us”.
However, now that we see how brutal this reality is some of us want to switch sides. But are the White folks that switched sides now really allies of minorities or are they just bystanders again? I would argue the latter. Why? Because we know damn well that it isn’t that simple. We know that there are great cops out there doing great work. We know that there are cops of color out there stuck between communities that hate them and a country that still doesn’t trust them. We know their job is dangerous, thankless and doesn’t pay well. Yet, we sit at home under the safety of their protection and bash them.
I’ve almost written this post several times since I started this blog, but recently two stories nudged me to my computer.
A few weeks ago, I got a long text from a very good friend of mine. He’s a White police officer in Chicago. He needed to vent so he explained what happened to him that day. He was involved in a pursuit and the perpetrator tried to run over him and other officers. Let me repeat...someone tried to kill him and his coworkers. In the end, they were able to apprehended the perpetrator without incident. All the commotion attracted the media. However, when the media found out that the perpetrator was apprehended without incident, they decided not to run the story. Why would they do that?
For years our society concealed racial profiling and police brutality from the general public to support a narrative. We needed to see it!
Now, police heroics are being concealed from the general public to support a narrative. We need to see it!
We need to stop picking sides and realize that this is a complex issue.
Not convinced? Last week one of my former students was in the national news. When I read the article and saw the viral video my heart almost stopped beating.
By my calculations, I’ve had about 2,000 students in my career. Arthur was one of my favorites. He was an African American kid from Baltimore. His father died when he was young. His mother struggled with drug addiction. When I taught Arthur, he lived at Boys Hope (a community home for children that have nowhere else to go). Through all this, Arthur excelled. He was a special kid with exceptional leadership qualities.
Arthur was always passionate about making the world a better place. Undoubtedly, this is why he became a Baltimore City police officer. Us White folks love stories like this. We take all the credit for Arthur’s success and wonder why other people from similar backgrounds can’t do what he did. But when something goes wrong with the narrative, we abandon Arthur.
We abandon “the police.”
Arthur made a mistake, but he took responsibility for his mistake. He resigned from the police department and turned himself in.
What about us? Do we take responsibility for our mistakes? The news cycle has moved on passed Arthur. It never even stopped and ran the other story. Are we not responsible for the brutal world Arthur grew up in? Are we not responsible for allowing the media to simplify stories we know are complex?
Our blind eye to racial profiling and police brutality is what got us into this mess. Simply switching sides and turning a blind eye to “the police” will not get us out of it.
We can’t go back to the Norman Rockwell painting and my childhood view of “the police” because that view was only for White folks. In 1958 when that piece was painted there were many places in this country where a Black kid couldn’t even sit at that counter. However, how kids of the future view “the police” is up to us. If we continue to simplify the complexity of policing in America then the term “the police” will continue to divide this country.
We all need to come to the counter and paint and new and unified view of “the police.”
As far as I could tell, it was a Black and White issue. White people admired “the police.” Black people feared them.
This Norman Rockwell painting is a great depiction
of how I grew up viewing “the police”.
However, over the course of the past several years and with the help of digital media technology, many White folks have abandon their traditional view of Officer Friendly. Liberal White folks specifically have turned on “the police.” They now consider themselves allies to minorities rather than allies of “the police.”
This is a good thing, right? Not exactly.
The awakening of White folks to racial profiling and police brutality is good. The response is cowardly.
Many White folks were never really allies of “the police” in the first place. We were bystanders. We knew that racial profiling and police brutality were going on and we did nothing about it. We benefited from our “above the law” status and allowed these inequalities to fester for decades. For example, my friends and I used to ride this motorized scooter down a friend’s block. We didn’t have drivers licenses or even helmets on. No one ever bothered us. One day a Black friend of ours came over. By the time he got up and down the block “the police” were there. Everything worked out because he was with us. We all had a good laugh and went about our day. From “the police” to the parents to the kids. We all just accepted that reality. We liked having separate rules for “us”.
However, now that we see how brutal this reality is some of us want to switch sides. But are the White folks that switched sides now really allies of minorities or are they just bystanders again? I would argue the latter. Why? Because we know damn well that it isn’t that simple. We know that there are great cops out there doing great work. We know that there are cops of color out there stuck between communities that hate them and a country that still doesn’t trust them. We know their job is dangerous, thankless and doesn’t pay well. Yet, we sit at home under the safety of their protection and bash them.
I’ve almost written this post several times since I started this blog, but recently two stories nudged me to my computer.
A few weeks ago, I got a long text from a very good friend of mine. He’s a White police officer in Chicago. He needed to vent so he explained what happened to him that day. He was involved in a pursuit and the perpetrator tried to run over him and other officers. Let me repeat...someone tried to kill him and his coworkers. In the end, they were able to apprehended the perpetrator without incident. All the commotion attracted the media. However, when the media found out that the perpetrator was apprehended without incident, they decided not to run the story. Why would they do that?
For years our society concealed racial profiling and police brutality from the general public to support a narrative. We needed to see it!
Now, police heroics are being concealed from the general public to support a narrative. We need to see it!
We need to stop picking sides and realize that this is a complex issue.
Not convinced? Last week one of my former students was in the national news. When I read the article and saw the viral video my heart almost stopped beating.
Arthur was always passionate about making the world a better place. Undoubtedly, this is why he became a Baltimore City police officer. Us White folks love stories like this. We take all the credit for Arthur’s success and wonder why other people from similar backgrounds can’t do what he did. But when something goes wrong with the narrative, we abandon Arthur.
We abandon “the police.”
Arthur made a mistake, but he took responsibility for his mistake. He resigned from the police department and turned himself in.
What about us? Do we take responsibility for our mistakes? The news cycle has moved on passed Arthur. It never even stopped and ran the other story. Are we not responsible for the brutal world Arthur grew up in? Are we not responsible for allowing the media to simplify stories we know are complex?
Our blind eye to racial profiling and police brutality is what got us into this mess. Simply switching sides and turning a blind eye to “the police” will not get us out of it.
We can’t go back to the Norman Rockwell painting and my childhood view of “the police” because that view was only for White folks. In 1958 when that piece was painted there were many places in this country where a Black kid couldn’t even sit at that counter. However, how kids of the future view “the police” is up to us. If we continue to simplify the complexity of policing in America then the term “the police” will continue to divide this country.
We all need to come to the counter and paint and new and unified view of “the police.”
Another thought provoking blog. As you say, there isn't an easy answer. I am one of the people that stood by when I heard how black people fear the police. It was 1988 and I was talking to a lovely black mother whose daughter went to school with my daughter. She was telling me how she just gets petrified when stopped by the police. This fear comes over her even though she knows she did not do anything wrong. It was an eye opener for me, who when stopped by the police have no fear at all. The black people know that they are at the mercy of the officers, maybe they will get a rotten apple who feels like being mean that day. There is no way of knowing. It is the same for the police officers who try to keep the peace but might be in contact with a killer, who would happily murder the officer. (They also fear for their lives)
ReplyDeleteIt is true that the media is a big part of the problem. Sometimes the news is so one sided, it is ridiculous. We need integrity in reporting. Too much information is being reported before facts are checked.
Well said Mother. Thanks for sharing your story and thoughts.
ReplyDelete