How unconscionably outrageous and tragic that there is an “I can’t breathe” sequel. From Eric Garner on Staten Island to George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A few takeaways.
Police forces have to police their own. Everybody knows who the “bad cops” are. They are few in number, but disproportionate in their impact on black lives and the reputation of the rest of the force. That’s not fair across the board. Targeted people die unnecessarily and cops are unfairly stereotyped and demonized. As a result, community policing is undermined and society suffers.
Second, isn’t it about time that police departments flat out ban the use of chokeholds and other neck restraints? Cell phone footage of de facto executions is a horrific reminder.
Third, Tampa’s recent experience with rioting and looting–and a resultant curfew–was put into perspective by Black Lives Matter Tampa. The organization helped plan an East Tampa rally against police brutality that helped make the case without making mayhem. They brought in dozens of trained legal observers, safety marshals in orange and yellow vests and a team of medics just in case. “We don’t condone any lawlessness,” said BLMT in a statement that helped offset the “No Justice, No Peace!” zero-sum mindset of some demonstrators.
Fourth, amid the moral imperatives there is pure pragmatism. Protests that result in looting and shooting and setting fires are counterproductive to the cause. That Champ’s Sports store that was burned to the ground or the Saigon Bay Vietnamese Restaurant that was damaged had nothing to do with racism and murder. But the owners–and their employees and patrons–are paying an outsized price for their location of proximity to rioters. The upshot: Riots only help the hard-line, “law-and-order” elements with their white nationalist rationales for racial double standards.
“Every time a riot develops, it helps George Wallace.” That was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. And those words still pragmatically resonate. Even more so during these racially divisive Trump years.