I have been hesitant to write anything about this topic for a couple obvious reasons. I am not black. I am not a police officer. It's hard for me to weigh in on these topics because I am very aware that I have no life experiences from being a part of either of these groups. Also, I'm not an idiot. I don't suppose to know the details of every situation from the handful of video clips that I've seen on Facebook and the news.
The only stories that make it to social media and the news outlets are those that are most extreme. And it's not their fault. Nobody would want to watch a 5 minute video of someone getting pulled over, given a speeding ticket with no drama and then sent on their way. It would be too boring. And because I'm aware that only the extreme situations make it to the videos in my living room, I hesitate to make broad generalizations about the police actions in the US.
But, there are a few things I can say with some confidence and I am going to approach this situation from a slightly different angle. There are a lot of emotions running high and arguments on both sides of the issue but I just want to point out some logical fallacies that seem to be becoming more prevelant as the discussion continues.
People have developed an "Us or them" attitude when it comes to minorities and police. People have done the same thing in the political spectrums when discussing democrats and republicans. The rhetoric always seems to be posed like every discussion is a zero sum game. People seem to think that for "us" to win, "they" have to lose. The cornerstone fact, that people who think this way seem to be missing, is that we ARE them. There is no division. We are one people, one society, one country.
Being pro Black Lives Matter does not make you automatically anti-police. On the reverse side, being pro-police does not automatically make you anti Black Lives Matter. Everyone should be pro both. There is no logical reason to separate the two. And attempting to do so only further drives a stake into the divide between the two sides and makes progress more difficult to achieve. One group does not win by the other losing.
In fact, thinking of this debate in terms of winning and losing does both sides a disservice. We should be striving toward an acknowledgement of the problems that exist and coming together for a solution. Both sides win by both sides winning. There should be no losers.
This is not an "Us versus Them" issue. Stop treating it like it is.
The other major logical fallacy that I see is people blaming the "character" of the victim. The two most recent and biggest headlines floating around right now are about the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In both cases there have been articles posted about how they were either good or bad people for their past actions. And let me be clear, I am not saying that either of these men were bad or good people. I didn't know them. But in either case, it is irrelevant to the way they should be treated during interactions with police. Our criminal just system is based on the premise that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Each time there is an officer involved shooting the criminal records are released about the victim within hours of their death. But these past transgressions do not make the victims deserving of being shot by police. There are times that deadly force becomes necessary to protect the safety of the officers involved and the safety of the public in general. But those split second decisions should have nothing to do with the victim's past. The decisions made during that split second should be made with regards to the current situation only. Just because a person has a past criminal record does not make them deserving of being killed by police nor should it mitigate the guilt of the parties involved during the incident.
If I were to walk up to a registered sex offended on the street, pull out a gun and kill that person on the spot it would still be murder. Because the victim has a criminal past would not make my actions any more legal or just. That is the purpose of our criminal justice system.
Stop trying to discredit the seriousness of an issue by destroying the character of the victim.
To the police officers out there:
You have an amazingly difficult job. Intellectually people know this, but emotionally I don't think we are able to truly understand without experiencing it first hand. And I believe that the vast majority of you are good, honest, hardworking, and brave people. But unfortunately, as happens too often, a few bad apples spoil the public's image of the bunch. But, I urge you to check your egos at the door and take an honest look at the system in which you work. If there is a problem, it is time to identify it, address it, and fix it. Because you play a vital role in the health and well being of our society and we could not function without you.
John Stewart, formally of Comedy Central's "Daily Show" said it best:
"You can truly grieve for every officer who's been lost in the line of duty in this country, and still be troubled by the cases of police overreach. Those two ideas are not mutually exclusive. You can have great regard for law enforcement and still want them to be held to high standards."
I don't know that I have any solutions to the problems affecting out country right now. I don't know that I understand the problems well enough to even form much of an opinion. But, I just wanted to take a few minutes to illustrate a few pitfalls that we can not afford to trip into if we want to address the issues honestly and arrive at solutions. Emotions surrounding the treatment of minorities by police are very high right now, as they should be. But, I urge everyone to not let the upswell of emotion force you into a position where the response makes the situation worse instead of better.
Broad generalizations and sweeping statements serve only to reinforce stereotypes and do nothing to help identify and repair the broken issues in our society.
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