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blimixLately, people (thankfully not too many) have been popping up in my social media streams, complaining about protesters, activists, and all the other random folks who take stands against police brutality, against racism, and against wanton mass murder.
It is you, the "Shut up about the police already!" folks whom I would like to address. Imagine, for a moment, that your best friend's child was recently murdered. A month later, they make a Facebook post about how they're struggling with the shock and grief. You respond, "Whatever. It's just a kid. They probably deserved it anyway. Get over it already and stop complaining."
You wouldn't do that, would you? Even if you were so emotionally messed up that you didn't care one bit about the kid or the murder, and were sick of hearing about it, you would still know better than to respond that way. Right?
And yet that's what you're doing. White people are finally noticing things that people of color knew all along: That many police officers are dangerous sociopaths who would sooner club you or put a bullet in you than give you the time of day. I'm not going to ask you to care. You'll care about what you care about, and if you don't give a shit about police brutality because it disproportionately affects ethnicities that aren't yours, and it doesn't bother you that HUMANS are being murdered on a regular basis by the people whose job it is to protect them, then I won't be able to change your mind.
But I will ask you to recognize that those of us who value human lives are grieving. And as long as the murders continue, the grief cannot stop. The illusion that we live in a civilized society is crumbling by the day. I have friends -- good people, people whom I love and would do anything for -- who could at any time be murdered by the police because of the color of their skin. That thought is terrifying and heartbreaking.
Don't tell me that mass murder fueled by systemic racism is not a problem, or that we should shut up about it. Whether you think it or not, for the same reason you wouldn't treat your hypothetical, grieving friend insensitively, you should know better than to say this out loud.
Don't tell me about looters. Protesters in Ferguson have been protecting stores from looters, and the police in Ferguson have been assaulting protesters. So whose side are the police on?
Don't tell me that some police officers are good, and risk their lives. Those can be counted on one hand because they get driven out, and they don't excuse murder. You're just changing the subject.
The times are changing. The first step in fixing the problem is recognizing that we have a problem, and a lot of people are finally doing that. If you want to keep your eyes closed, cover your ears, plug your nose, and pretend that we aren't living in a barbaric police state that terrorizes a large portion of its own population, go for it. Life with your head in the sand is pleasant; I understand that. But don't get in the way of the good people, the people striving for justice, the people who know that equality requires more than a pretense at colorblindness, the people who want to change the world for the better. We have work to do, to make the world a better place, and we have bigger fish to fry than you pissants who just want to hold us back for the sake of your comfortable illusions and your racist status quo.
It is you, the "Shut up about the police already!" folks whom I would like to address. Imagine, for a moment, that your best friend's child was recently murdered. A month later, they make a Facebook post about how they're struggling with the shock and grief. You respond, "Whatever. It's just a kid. They probably deserved it anyway. Get over it already and stop complaining."
You wouldn't do that, would you? Even if you were so emotionally messed up that you didn't care one bit about the kid or the murder, and were sick of hearing about it, you would still know better than to respond that way. Right?
And yet that's what you're doing. White people are finally noticing things that people of color knew all along: That many police officers are dangerous sociopaths who would sooner club you or put a bullet in you than give you the time of day. I'm not going to ask you to care. You'll care about what you care about, and if you don't give a shit about police brutality because it disproportionately affects ethnicities that aren't yours, and it doesn't bother you that HUMANS are being murdered on a regular basis by the people whose job it is to protect them, then I won't be able to change your mind.
But I will ask you to recognize that those of us who value human lives are grieving. And as long as the murders continue, the grief cannot stop. The illusion that we live in a civilized society is crumbling by the day. I have friends -- good people, people whom I love and would do anything for -- who could at any time be murdered by the police because of the color of their skin. That thought is terrifying and heartbreaking.
Don't tell me that mass murder fueled by systemic racism is not a problem, or that we should shut up about it. Whether you think it or not, for the same reason you wouldn't treat your hypothetical, grieving friend insensitively, you should know better than to say this out loud.
Don't tell me about looters. Protesters in Ferguson have been protecting stores from looters, and the police in Ferguson have been assaulting protesters. So whose side are the police on?
Don't tell me that some police officers are good, and risk their lives. Those can be counted on one hand because they get driven out, and they don't excuse murder. You're just changing the subject.
The times are changing. The first step in fixing the problem is recognizing that we have a problem, and a lot of people are finally doing that. If you want to keep your eyes closed, cover your ears, plug your nose, and pretend that we aren't living in a barbaric police state that terrorizes a large portion of its own population, go for it. Life with your head in the sand is pleasant; I understand that. But don't get in the way of the good people, the people striving for justice, the people who know that equality requires more than a pretense at colorblindness, the people who want to change the world for the better. We have work to do, to make the world a better place, and we have bigger fish to fry than you pissants who just want to hold us back for the sake of your comfortable illusions and your racist status quo.
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-17 01:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-17 01:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-03-17 02:34 pm (UTC)Imagine, for a moment, that your best friend's child was recently murdered. A month later, they make a Facebook post about how they're struggling with the shock and grief. You respond, "Whatever. It's just a kid. They probably deserved it anyway. Get over it already and stop complaining."
How DARE you compare innocent children to the violent criminals rightfully killed by police officers, often in self defense?!
How dare you?
(no subject)
Date: 2016-03-17 04:46 pm (UTC)Those victims were human beings. They had families and other loved ones, who miss them dearly every day, and would give anything to have them back. Just like murdered children. Some of them were upstanding pillars of their communities. (The last thing Eric Garner did, before the NYPD murdered him, was to break up a fight. He was a good man.)
People who support mass murder try to justify themselves by dehumanizing the victims and by pretending that it is deserved. You are doing this by labeling them "violent criminals". That label is false. These victims are human beings, and they deserve the same rights and respect that you would give your own family.
If you have something reasonable to say, I invite you to do so. If all you have to offer is continued bilious, dehumanizing, and (lets face it) racist attacks against the victims of systemic oppression and murder, it will be taken as trolling, and unceremoniously deleted.