Bottom line here is that all sides could benefit from more perspective. The people who think all police are biased and racist have no understanding of the daily risks they take and the decisions they need to make. They also overlook the fact that most are serving for the right reasons and are doing good. Obviously we need police or else we would devolve into anarchy.
Some police also could benefit from additional oversight and training, especially as it relates to race. And I think it makes sense not to send police to certain types of calls where they probably don't belong and frankly don't want to be. No police officer wants to shoot an autistic person or someone who's having a mental breakdown in public. Could some of those calls be handled by mental health experts? Probably. Others probably do require officers in case things go south, or if there's a weapon potentially involved, etc.
While it's true that a statistically tiny number of very public incidents caught on video – some clearly reprehensible, like the Floyd incident and others less clear, like the Blake incident – are (rightly or wrongly) driving a much larger narrative, to me the important point is WHY Blacks and others have latched onto these cases to create a national movement.
The reason is because many or most Blacks have felt unfairly targeted by police at some point. To them, these cases that are public and on video represent the portion of the iceberg visible above water, while what they have experienced is the much larger part out of sight underwater.
And to those who would suggest that Blacks are arrested at a disproportionate rate because they commit crimes at a disproportionate rate, I would ask: Why is that? And what are we collectively as a society trying to do to address and fix it? That in and of itself is a crisis that demands immediate attention.
It's no secret that there's more crime in low-income areas, and nationally speaking, low-income areas tend to be home to a higher percentage of Blacks and minorities. That's the foundational problem. Are we willing to try to fix it?
Some police also could benefit from additional oversight and training, especially as it relates to race. And I think it makes sense not to send police to certain types of calls where they probably don't belong and frankly don't want to be. No police officer wants to shoot an autistic person or someone who's having a mental breakdown in public. Could some of those calls be handled by mental health experts? Probably. Others probably do require officers in case things go south, or if there's a weapon potentially involved, etc.
While it's true that a statistically tiny number of very public incidents caught on video – some clearly reprehensible, like the Floyd incident and others less clear, like the Blake incident – are (rightly or wrongly) driving a much larger narrative, to me the important point is WHY Blacks and others have latched onto these cases to create a national movement.
The reason is because many or most Blacks have felt unfairly targeted by police at some point. To them, these cases that are public and on video represent the portion of the iceberg visible above water, while what they have experienced is the much larger part out of sight underwater.
And to those who would suggest that Blacks are arrested at a disproportionate rate because they commit crimes at a disproportionate rate, I would ask: Why is that? And what are we collectively as a society trying to do to address and fix it? That in and of itself is a crisis that demands immediate attention.
It's no secret that there's more crime in low-income areas, and nationally speaking, low-income areas tend to be home to a higher percentage of Blacks and minorities. That's the foundational problem. Are we willing to try to fix it?
