In light of recent events, Ive been thinking about the concept of my ability to be objective. You know, looking at something purely as it is with no preconceived notion or bias. I like to think of myself as one who generally can see multiple sides of an issue, and though that I am able to draw people together that would normally stay apart. Thats probably more of a God given gift than something I developed. Yet, when it comes to issues like Ferguson, that just fails me. Growing up in Los Angeles, I watched first hand the LAPD and Sheriffs act just as roguish as the gang members I grew up with. And the fear of being shot by the police was just as great as the fear of being shot for wearing the wrong color. I cannot remember the number of times I was pulled over either walking or driving and told I fit the description. Most of you probably dont even know what assume the position means, but every brotha reading this knows what to do when the police say those words. Mind you, I took AP classes, went to church more than every Sunday, was a minor athlete, never got suspended from school and never arrested for more than a traffic violation. Yet, I have been on countless curbs handcuffed. Had my car searched without permission. Even got stopped at the CA border and had the dogs search my car(random, right?). The wonderful police escorts out of Beverly Hills after being asked, what are you doing here? Then there was the judge who figured it would be better for me to spend 3 days on the county jail instead of giving me the one week extension I came to request in person to complete community service for a getting on the freeway in the Carpool lane. I think his precise words were, You people never learn. So Im going to teach you a lesson. So lets say that one was on me, and I deserved to sit in jail for missing 8 of 32hrs. But what about the other run ins with the law where I did absolutely nothing wrong? Thus, when I see a video of Mike Brown stealing from a convenience store, I dont get the thought that, well Mike was a thug, so maybe the cop was protecting himself? Because my experience says, thieves, thugs, and regular school kids get the same treatment by police in lower income communities. Thus, anytime I hear about the police shooting an unarmed individuals in an impoverished community(doesnt have to be a minority), my first inclination is to side with the victim. And thats not because I believe most police are racists. I just think the training of us versus them, puts some officers in the mindset that they are to control the people in the community instead of serve them.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:00:51 +0000
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