This needs fixing
Ioverheard my friends talking recently about the preponderance of young black men in our county being killed by police officers. Two of the young men were actively engaged in the conversation, and one appeared to be listening intently. They agreed that it’s crazy and scary and it all just needs to stop.
As young black men, that concern is no doubt deeply personal for all three.
It’s also of deep concern to me, as I’ve known all of these fellows for a long time: one since he was a toddler, one since he was a teen and one for about a decade. I have deep affection and respect for all three. Two own businesses. The other is a salesman.
That some police officers would consider these gentlemen more threatening because of their skin color, tattoos and size, and therefore more apt to be subject to the use of lethal force makes me physically … queasy.
Our nation, quite simply, needs to do better in such matters. We need to see our nation’s police officers less inclined to use guns and chokeholds against those considered potential threats, and many officers need to quit thinking of most young men of color as threats.
I say this as someone who has many friends and former students working in law enforcement. Most cops I know don’t seem to have an ounce of prejudice in their public-protecting bodies. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t officers who shoot or choke first when the subject being dealt with is a young male of color.
My first, visceral reaction to quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protests during the playing of our national anthem before NFL games was to think he shouldn’t do that. When I was a high school sports official in the Imperial Valley, some of my fellow officials were surprised at the gusto with which I sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games. But that’s how I am, a hand-overthe-heart, anthem-belting patriot.
But I have not been through what Kaepernick or other men of color now protesting have been through regarding police harassment.
The only time I ever was harassed by police I was in my early to mid30s. I had longish, curly, unruly hair – what hair I still had left in those days. I was driving back in a crappy car from playing in a basketball game in Brawley and was pulled over by a police officer.
When I asked why I’d been stopped, the officer, who appeared to be a few years younger than I was, said he’d seen me drinking a beer as I was driving. I reached toward my lap – this was in the days before cup-holders – and held up what I was drinking.
“Arizona Iced Tea,” I said as I held up the can and smiled.
The officer called me a “smart ass” and told me to get out of the car. He asked me why I was sweating so profusely. I said, “I was playing basketball,” something he seemed to not believe, possibly because of my un-athletic-looking body.
He continued to grill me for a couple minutes. I continued to provide polite, honest answers.
Finally the officer told me I could go, but said I need to improve my attitude.
In retrospect, I wonder if I had been a man of color, would things have gone differently when I reached into my lap? Would backup have been called when I was told to get out of the car? Would my “attitude” have resulted in me being taken to the ground or otherwise restrained or injured?
I, and we, don’t know the answer to those questions, and that is a problem in our country that needs to be fixed.