Have our police become weaponized?
I’m tired.
Tired of writing about stories like this.
Tired of trying to get people to see what’s taking place in our country.
“Unarmed black man killed by the hands of police”.
Luckily, this story doesn’t end that way.
(Edit: Unfortunately at the time of writing this, a story has gone viral of a police encounter that did end in a death the same day a this story in Minneapolis. Those 4 police officers involved have since been fired.)
Video was posted to Twitter on Memorial Day of a lady, Amy Cooper, threatening to call the police on a man video recording her. The lady was walking her dog without a leash through a section of Central Park where it is posted on signs is not allowed. A man, Christian Cooper, asked the lady to leash her dog to her refusal. He then began to record the incident, and from there is when this incident took a big turn downhill.
Now I can only speculate, but I can imagine Ms. Cooper wasn’t too please as she realized that she was being recorded on camera likely knowing it would be shown online to the masses. If she knew her dog had to be leashed remains to be known(though she was holding a leash in her hand in the video recording), but she was made aware that she was in the wrong. Emotions started to get elevated as she demanded Mr. Cooper to stop his recording.
Then the words were uttered…
“I’m gonna call the cops…and tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life”
It’s not possible to be alive in 2020 and not know that those words are almost a death sentence to a black man. Anyone who is even slightly aware of the social climate in our country knows the tension between law enforcement and people of color. More specifically, police and black men.
Time and time again police have been used as if they are an individual’s personal security detail rather than servants of the collective whole.
Look at that list. It’s comprised of things that all of us have done, and will do. Not one of these things are inherently illegal. Yet repeatedly police are called in situations where police involvement is not needed. In fact, in a few of these cases even police either didn’t come out on the first call, or determined once they got there that their involvement was not appropriate.
So WHY?? Why are police being used like personal bodyguards in instances where they are not needed? It’s because people know that if the police are called on a person of color they will be removed, either peacefully or not. But that’s not what police are for! Many times the person who is calling the police is not being affected at all. Nothing about their life would change if they chose to ignore the situation and move along. But how powerful must it feel to know that you have a police force at your finger tips, that will be there in 3 minutes to handle your displeasures if you just say the right words?
“I’m gonna call the cops…and tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life”
We all knows what happens next. The police are coming in hot. Guns drawn. Ready to act first then ask questions later. It’s like Ms. Cooper knew the words she was saying were gonna be the most detrimental to Mr. Cooper’s well being. “You better stop recording me, or I’m gonna tell the police the worst thing I know to say to make your life a living hell” is basically what she said.
I understand that police have a job to do. If they were to ignore calls from citizens, it would undermine the entire system of why we have them. I wish they would do a little more vetting, if they are not, to determine if their presence is really needed. Even though police are meant to protect the public, for many people of color their presence only escalates emotions in situations. There needs to be a lot of trust mended between people of color and police before we can get to a place of police mediation in disputes.
Until then….don’t be an Amy Cooper. The police are not your private security!
