I recently made a post, but this has to be shared. I also recently made the mistake of commenting on a political-leaning post on Facebook, reminding me why I use this as my outlet instead of Facebook. The post I commented on involved a Black couple talking to their child about how to interact with police. They essentially were telling him to be submissive to police, put his hands in the air and do as the officer says, even if the child (teen I would guess) does not understand what the officer wants and to not question if he becomes confused. I made the comment that the parents should be teaching their child to start with respect for police and that should help in most situations. While I understand this could sound naive, it feels more like a solutionist (if that wasn't a word before, I'm making it one) answer, than total submission EVEN IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND something the officer has said. I feel that is just as likely to lead to disaster than finding a way to politely ask the officer to repeat or clarify their statement. This does not invalidate, or deny that there are bad cops out there who are not worth their badge. If the officer is worth their badge they should be willing to work with people so that there are no shootings, there can be miscues from both sides though. Total submission without questions or even trying to stand up for your own rights is not going to change the situation, and more likely to put the officer on edge. I ask you, the reader (assuming you exist), to place yourself briefly in the shoes of the officer, the shoes that seem to me to be the most ignored. You are trained to read body language, and to look for threats because you need to be able to respond in a quick manner to protect yourself and/or others involved. You see a person, pulled over for broken tail light, place their hands up as if you are already pointing the gun at their head, or they remove themselves from the vehicle and lay on the ground with their hands on the back of their heads. What does this tell you? They aren't asking any questions, not even the standard "what seems to be the problem officer?" Do you try to reassure them? How do you go about it? Do you become suspicious because this person seems to be acting in a guilty manner? This is not saying that racial profiling isn't a thing, but does it only come from the officers? Does it come not just because the officers are biased, but because parents truly do have that type of conversation with their children and the person you have pulled over for a broken tail light believes that you are going to treat them unfairly, and possibly shoot them for something they probably didn't know about, and had no control over? Did this person's friends and family instill such a fear of officers that they immediately fear for their safety and are dong this in an attempt to get home alive? Cooperation is one thing, but submission seemed to be the message. I couldn't find a good wording to search for this picture, but I'm sure if you try you can find it. I'm sorry I don't have it in the post.
As stated in previous posts, I used to work in therapeutic group homes (I now work at a hospital), and the large majority of my group home kids were Native (I live in the Western US, this is our main minority group, followed by Hispanic/Latino). These children were taught practically from birth that police were bad, it caused them to be more defiant with officers, or to be terribly frightened of them. They would look to us the staff before interacting with the officers, as if they needed to know that it was alright for them to say anything.
What I want people to try is respect first. If the cop is worth his/her badge, that officer will work with you, regardless of race (I would hope, I understand this isn't always going to be the case), and if they are not worth their badge, they would probably have given you a hard time, no matter what you did. I hate to think that there are that many police officers who are not worth their badge, but we all know that the media is about the most biased thing outside of Congress. Spread respect, I know that it's slightly different for everyone, but try some general kindness like please/thank you, if you have to reach for something in your purse/wallet/glove compartment, state what you are retrieving and try to keep your hands as visible as possible. Also, for anyone, try to have that type of stuff out before the officer reaches your window, It can help you remain calm (or hide your fear as is more likely, cops are scary and getting pulled over is never fun) and helps to make the stop shorter so there is less time for a situation to escalate into violence for either side. Most officers are men and women just trying to do their jobs and keep people safe, this includes you.
I found the picture, here it is:
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