Turn the Beat Around, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

November 1, 2015 Victor El-Khouri 2 Comments

Look out.  The old white lady is going to talk about race again.

Not only race, but also the kids today.  If there are any lawns you don’t want to get off, this might not be the column for you.

Over the last week or so, our conversation on race has shifted in a way that, to me, indicates that The Powers That Be are making certain assumptions about race and crime with which I don’t agree.  For example, the director of the FBI thinks that crime rates are rising because of what he calls “The Ferguson Effect.”  He posits that, because some police officers have been videotaped using deadly force on unarmed African-Americans, all police are afraid to do their jobs.

First of all, crime is not rising.  Some places have seen increases in some crimes.  There is no evidence whatsoever to demonstrate that more crimes are being committed because police officers are afraid to do their jobs.

Second of all, it is not the job of the police to kill unarmed suspects.  If the sight of an African-American man is so terrifying that you think you have no choice but to kill him, you are a racist and should not be a police officer.  The police are there to keep the peace, to protect lives and (lastly) property.  They are not judges, nor jurors, nor executioners.

I understand that there have been police shot by criminals.  This is a great tragedy.  It does not, however, justify police acting in the same way.  At the very least, we should expect our police to behave better than criminals.

Not all police think that every single African-American is a killer.  Many also think that black people are more likely to break traffic and other laws.  Many many many many more black people than white people are stopped  “on suspicion” when they drive their own cars in their own neighborhoods.  Gee, I wonder what makes the police more suspicious?

This week’s horrific video moment came when a police officer in South Carolina was shown knocking a high school student to the floor and dragging her out of her classroom.  She had been using her phone in class, and her teacher told her to leave the room.  When the student refused, the cop was called in.  He’s being fired for using excessive force.

Why would he do that?

I’ve heard people defend the policeman’s actions by saying the girl “sassed” him.  They say she is at least somewhat responsible for provoking his behavior.

Bullshit.

I said a lot of crap when I was in high school.  Hell, I say a lot of crap now.  I might have been punished with extra chores, or the revoking of privileges, or just shunned by whomever I sassed, but no one ever raised a hand to me.

The purpose of school in general and, I’d argue, high school in particular is to help children learn about the world and how they fit into it.  To do this, we need to know facts, of course.  We need to know how to read, and how to use numbers, and how to memorize the imports and exports of Thailand.  We also need to learn how to talk to and listen to other people.  We need to learn the cause and effect of our interactions.

We need to learn these things because we aren’t born knowing them.  Knocking a kid over and dragging her across the floor don’t teach her self-respect nor respect for others.  From that, she learns fear and resentment.

Being a parent has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life.  Every day, my child taught me something new about love and life and how to see the world.  He continues to do so, even though we aren’t in the same household anymore.  I get to have that experience because not only is he one of the world’s greatest humans, but I’m white and middle-class and no one would get away with beating me up for having an opinion or making a mistake.

Black parents aren’t so lucky.  That’s terrifying.

We aren’t going to end racism and other kinds of bigotry just by retraining the police.  But it’s a start.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, hopes she has no leftover Halloween candy.