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Saturday, July 9, 2016

cops and communication

link to Snop Dogg video below
Snoop Dogg talks to cops 

Black lives matter. Yes. This expression was meant to say more than what appears on the surface.


Blacks are harassed, often by the police. And sometimes that leads to the loss of their lives.
Whites are harassed, too, and Koreans and native Americans and people with beards or motorcycles or people wearing hijabs. But black men are harassed more often and sometimes it affects their lives dramatically, leading them to respond in ways that trigger fear or provide an excuse for violence on the part of the security person questioning them.

Saying "All Lives Matter" is a natural response to the slogan above, but it is dismissive. It shoves aside the valid complaint that black lives seem to matter less to some people. Having your situation dismissed causes a slow burn that adds to the problem. Having your slogan overwhelmed by imitators with "Blue Lives Matter" and "White Lives Matter" feels like intellectual piracy.

Sloganeering has brought a serious problem to the edge of catastrophe. It has increased fear on the part of security officers and increased fear on the part of blacks. Frightened people are more likely to make mistakes in potentially confrontational situations. We need to find a way to defuse these situations, a way for people to communicate that reduces fear for everyone involved. Police and other security people are available for training, though this doesn't always work. It would help if there were some way to establish standards for people being questioned by the police as well. This applies to all people, not just black people.

2 comments:

  1. This was well worth your coming out of blog retirement to post. Clearest thinking I have seen on a topic that has generated a lot of noise but precious little reason. Thank you, Anne!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was well worth your coming out of blog retirement to post. Clearest thinking I have seen on a topic that has generated a lot of noise but precious little reason. Thank you, Anne!

    ReplyDelete