One among the many things that is striking in some of these recent killings, assaults, etc, of unarmed black young men, basically going about their business, bothering no one, really, is how little sympathy or remorse or regret the police seem to show for their obvious mistakes. Notice how quickly the police brass tend to come out and say that the relevant officers acted appropriately. They issue no apologies for their misjudgments. Show no regret over their mistakes. Whats the message in that? Suppose, for example, you were in a crowded Walmart, talking on the phone to a friend, leaning on a toy gun, and suddenly, out of nowhere, you were accosted apparently from behind by armed police, guns drawn, who directed you to drop the weapon. Would you even know, on first hearing, what they were referring to? Might you not hesitate just a moment, out of confusion and uncertainty that they were even talking to you -- since you have no weapon to drop, after all? And then suppose that the cops take this moment of hesitation as a failure to obey a lawful order and then open fire, letting off a blaze of bullets at you. Then we the survivors later hear the police chief say that his officers acted appropriately. Really? Is there so little obligation on the police to make sure that they size up a situation correctly? Are the lives of citizens really that cheap in their eyes? And have they no regret when they size up a situation incorrectly? I guess the burden is on the citizen to make sure that the cops see him/her for what he is and not for what he is not. Perhaps we are to assume that in the eyes of the police we are guilty until we prove ourselves innocent -- most especially young black men.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 15:42:31 +0000
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