“I’m all for #BlackLivesMatter, what happened to George Floyd was absolutely horrendous; but, I’m not for all this all cops are bastards thing, like... remember how these men helped in 9/11?”
I get it, you are able to see both sides -- you know some cops, and you understand them; and you know some black people, and you understand them too. You’re running around being the Aristotles of our generation, debating and thinking in a heartfelt internal moralistic conflict. You know that you firmly stand with the Black Lives Matter movement, because you are all for human rights, but you know that you seeing cops be disrespected just doesn’t sit right with you. You know all these things, and it's great -- not everybody can be you, with your indispensable ability to feel -- why can’t we all just get along?
Just like I know that you know nothing about what is going on and the idealistic world you live in -- which is full of peace signs and bubbles and white babies hugging black babies -- is a fantasy of how sheltered you are from the reality of our world. There is no “playing both sides” here; you are about as useful as an independent voter -- and if that reference went over your head, I know that you know even less about how America works. Through you “being for the protestors” and “being for the oppressors,” you are just showing me how clueless you really are. You are officially an inbetweener, and it’s great -- because inbetweeners don’t exist, there is no in-between on this matter -- why can’t we all just be educated on American history?
Let me share a few examples of what inbetweener might say:
Soft, pathos-filled words, trying to get their audience to really understand that “but some cops are good.” Rooted in love and respect for the men who are there to “protect us.” But, by saying this, you are as righteous as Carol Baskin, painting herself a super godly humanitarian woman, when she is no different from Tiger King -- and we can see it clear as day. By saying “but I see both sides,” you are compensating for your obvious obliviousness to the Black Lives Matter movement. You were quick to say Carol “killer her husband whacked him” and I will be the first to say “you killed my people, attacked them; can’t convince me that it didn’t happen.”
To even say “respect the police” and “George Floyd’s death was bad” in the same breath is an absolute oxymoron and it shows how you just don’t get it.
9/11 threatened the lives of all people, white people included -- so not only did the NYPD act in response, but so did President Bush, so did republicans, so did democrats, so did liberals, and so did conservatives. It is shameful that you would throw 9/11 around to make a point, because it was that big of a deal.
What is happening right now is the killing of black people -- which should be that big of a deal -- but since white people aren’t affected, it’s not being treated as a big deal. And it is shameful you would throw black lives around to make a point about your love for cops. To put it plain and simply, it's just racist. That in-and-of-itself should be enough for the inbetweener to get what’s going on -- but since you don’t, let’s continue…
What happened to George Floyd was caused by a police officer. Sure, not specifically the “respectable” police officer the inbetweener has in mind, but still a police officer. Dear inbetweener, if you are so understanding of black people’s struggle, but your generous heart just hates seeing cops be disrespected -- then why wasn’t this same generosity extended to the Chinese -- who you were so quick to attack -- when COVID was deemed the “Chinese virus”? Where was this same energy when you killed all of the Native Americans -- yet, you seem to love telling folktales about Sacagawea?
Further, why is it that white people are so quick to eliminate people and things that could kill them, yet you expect black people to be understanding? Your kids had peanut allergies and now none of us can eat peanuts at the lunch table -- you think I didn’t notice that? It came out that black people were disproportionately dying from COVID, then you pulled back on social distancing guidelines -- you think I didn’t notice that?
Blacks and the police have never gotten along.
Firstly, since the creation of the police force, blacks have been presented in the media as criminals, and the police have worked in every way against them. Did you ever play Cops and Robbers as a kid? The whole point of the game is that the two groups don’t get along. So in America, how is it that you create the word “criminals” to be synonymous with blacks, and then turn around and bewilderedly ask: “why aren’t blacks and the police getting along?” And then proceed to blame blacks for what is happening.
Secondly, the creation of the police force was an act of racism. The earliest form of American policing was slave patrol in the Antebellum South. The modern police force is a direct descendent from this, as it’s essence feeds off the same desire to use law enforcement to police the behavior of blacks. Take the creation of the NYPD as an example:
“One of the most concrete ways to think of order is through the use of law enforcement. Among the first cases of order studied in this course was the creation of the New York Police Department (NYPD) in response to the 1840-1850 New York City environment. During this time, there was increasing population density and growing anxieties about the increasing heterogeneity. New York City experienced the massive influx of immigrants which brought an erosion of social deference, the collapse of the urban artisanal labor system, and the proliferation of “masterless” man, who was said to cause a degradation of labor. This brought about concern for the disrespectful working classes and their offensive social customs, such as public drinking. Between the old and new citizens came ethnic conflict with nativist riots sparking in the city. Additionally, this fear manifested in violence and the discrimination of new immigrants.
In response to this was the founding of the NYPD. With social unrest came the need to promote order. Future decades would bring the implementation of prohibition, which could not have been feasible if it was not for the emergence of this new form of law enforcement. What is interesting to note here is that, in the name of order, came the policing of “offensive habits,” such as public drinking and so many others performed by the “undesirables.” Meaning that the NYPD was responding to the behaviors the white elites deemed of the unpopular group: immigrants and the working or lower classes. Pre-prohibition many elites had already stopped drinking as an outward sign which detached themselves from the apparently undesirable culture of lower-classes. Suggesting that ideals of order are often determined by what is convenient and comfortable to the white upper classes.”
The NYPD was created because there was a more diverse society -- and white people were scared. White people were so uncomfortable with other people coming into “their” space, that they created the NYPD to deal with this. Meaning, the NYPD was literally created to be racist, as it was made to appease and listen to the request of white people at the expense of others’ wellbeing.
The NYPD, birthed out of white people wanting it just to be white people, is in its foundation a racist department. Remember a couple of weeks back when the NYPD was exclusively arresting blacks for not socially distancing, while whites weren’t? The NYPD is inherently flawed -- this is why the whole thing needs to be defunded and thrown out. All of it -- not just picking out the “bad cops,” when the “cops” is the bad part.
If an apple fell from the tree of forbidden fruit and had a bruise, would you cut off the bruise, and continue to eat the apple, because that is the only bad part you can see? Or would you recognize the whole apple is bad, because you can see where it came from?
Today, when blacks are protesting the killing of black people, it is only right that we “disrespect” this whole racist department. We recognize where it comes from. Black people can see that when something bad happens and it affects white people, the police will step in, but when something bad happens and it affects black people, the police won’t step in. And half the time, the police won’t step in because they are too busy being the ones who are doing the bad thing.
The police force was made to protect white people, not black people. So the “greater good of the public” is whatever white people think is the greater good. If white people think the protests are too crazy, then the police will come and shut it down. But if black people think that black people should not be killed, the police aren’t stepping in to make sure that happens. Read that line again.
By “feeling bad” for the police, or saying “cops are getting too much hate” right now, you are literally throwing a pity party for grown men whose job it is to do their job, like to protect the 1st Amendment -- the right to protest -- as they did so well earlier this year when white people protested social distancing guidelines.
Dear inbetweeners, who are acting like “oh no, these poor men are being disrespected” -- do you know how long black people have been disrespected? Do you know what is going on here; did you forget that black people are being killed?
Do I need to go over the Cops and Robbers point again, the creation of the NYPD? The United States’ police departments and their men are compensated so that they will deal with us. And I don’t mean deal with our protest, I mean deal with us.
What more do you need to hear? Should we cover the crack epidemic, stop-and-frisk, planting bricks?
And if you still believe that cops have any other job, remember in the case of the protest now they aren’t even doing the job that you are making them out to have. They aren’t protecting protestors who have the right to protest. The NYPD is repeatedly not doing that. What did I say before? If white people think the protests are too crazy, then the police will come and shut it down. This is the inherent flaw.
Just as many inbetweeners probably don’t realize they are racist -- because they are so drowned in their own privilege -- I would argue it is very likely many policemen don’t realize they are doing the dirty work of racism. These men are literally sent out -- to be racist; because the police force was made to deal with us in order to keep whites comfortable. When I said “why can’t we all just be educated on American history?” this is what I meant.
Just as the American education system covered up slavery and thought “maybe they’ll never read a book or talk to any of the black people we forgot to kill.” The police department did the same thing, but there comes a day when the web of racist lies will come crashing down with all its members attached.
And if you still think blacks are being too aggressive, let me re-phrase.
Your big inbetweener heart, that is spouting with endless love, feels offended by all of this, I get it.
You think it’s too aggressive to call out the inbetweeners, but I feel like it’s aggressive to go to another continent, trick people there into trusting you, give them diseased blankets, try to enslave them, realize they are dying too quickly, go to another continent, kidnap those people, make them believe you were gonna eat them, bring them to a new continent, and then enslave those people, so I guess we have different definitions of aggressive. And you thought I was talking about black people at first, when I was talking about Native Americans, because that’s how many people you tried to enslave.
400+ years of being enslaved, being sold, being raped, being slashed, being whipped, being skinned, being lynched, being put on display in zoos, in museums, I could go on but do you still not get it? 400+ years of white people building themselves up at the expense of black lives -- so that white people can build up the country they stole, so that white people can be rich, so that white people can have nice things, so that white people can put in place the police force.
And you all have to say “respect the police force, respect the police force, respect the police force.” Tuh -- I’m getting bored.
special thank you to Toni Woods for contributing to this piece