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American cities burn again, because police killed a Black man for nothing again. Folks who know such things say whites must share the work. I don’t know as much about race and less about rage but I know this about policing — policing is racist because we make it so. 1/12
Recognize that we — people with power, white people — made white supremacy part of police work. That’s history, not hyperbole. (It was illegal for Black people to be out after dark in most of Seattle & a ton of other cities until the late 60s.) 2/12
https://abhmuseum.org/sundown-towns-the-past-and-present-of-racial-segregation/
https://abhmuseum.org/sundown-towns-the-past-and-present-of-racial-segregation/
Police are the expression of state power. We built policing to protect good from bad, but also to protect white from black. Those structures haven’t consequentially changed. There are ways to know that. The easiest & best is asking Black people. 3/12 https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/09/29/the-racial-confidence-gap-in-police-performance/
Racism in policing is a feature not a bug. We requested it. Cops get the dirty work power wants done but doesn’t want to do. Dude experiencing mental illness too loudly? Call the cops. Tents in a park? Cops. Horrible people being horrible? Cops. Same with white supremacy. 4/12
In Seattle, we’ve gone through the Justice Department babysitting. We’ve got a reform-minded sheriff and prosecutor. Our cup floweth over with good intention. None of that fundamentally changed policing. Black lives don’t matter enough to take the risk. The ghost ship sails. 5/12
If we were serious about policing that served (rather than policed) everybody, would it still be too tough to hire cops of the communities they cover? To put civilians in charge? To pluck bad apples, not stick them in patrol? To tackle the culture of fear? To kill the anger? 6/12
There is hope here. We don’t have to solve racism in America to fix racist policing. George Floyd died because of a man’s bigotry and a bunch of cops’ apathy, but cities burn because of the work of all of our hands, not the hate in any one heart. We made it. We can break it. 7/12
It hasn’t been done often, but it’s been done. Camden, New Jersey, is the famous (w/ people wild for this) example. They recast their police department, cut crime, built community. I’m sure there’s a competing critique, but recall the status quo. 8/12 https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/01/what-happened-to-crime-in-camden/549542/
FWIW, I’ve seen cops do heroic things. Officer chases a boy pointing a gun at her, leaves hers holstered because she judged his fake. Gang detectives console a mom afraid for her son with nowhere to turn. Hundreds of hurt people better because someone was fighting for them. 9/12
Plenty of them would think this is anti-cop BS. It’s not up to them. Policing culture isn’t on the list of nasty jobs we can skip. We’ve tried plenty, because it’s easier, because eventually the electeds need the shield, because we don't care enough. It won't work. 10/12
Know that somewhere in our city is another George Floyd. When they die, could anyone say we did our best? That we really believed bias training sufficient to excise what we let fester, waiting for cops and Black folks to sort it? Should we expect credit for good intentions? 11/12
Don’t get lost in the sideshows. The riots. The police response. The federal prosecutions of activists. Promised half-measures. Police guild freakout. All of it matters. None of it matters as much as ensuring Black Americans don’t have to fear their country, fear us. 12/12
I usually draw on the reporter’s wisdom that no one’s paying for my opinion and it isn’t worth a damn anyway. Seeing Black friends grieving this, hearing neighbors confused by this still being a thing, I opine. We are strong enough to build a country worthy of our children. -30-
