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My perspective of the Seattle protests as a police officers daughter: a thread.
While I love my dad and don’t want to see him suffer personally, I can’t help but be happy that he was impacted, hopefully along with many of his fellow SPD officers.
As a white police officer, my dad will never understand what it means to fear for his life daily. He made the choice to become a police officer, He wakes up every day and makes the conscious choice to put himself in danger. Black citizens don’t have that luxury.
My dad could quit tomorrow if he wanted. He could retire and never wear his uniform again. Black people don’t have that luxury.
He gets paid an exorbitant amount of money to risk his life to protect people, and yet he stands with an organization that came to a peaceful protest dressed head to toe in riot gear.
Last night I watched Seattle police officers victimize and brutalize countless peaceful protesters. With my own eyes. I stood toe to toe with the officers who I have likely walked past in the precinct. Toe to toe people who likely work under my own father.
My friend was pepper sprayed inches from her face. For trying to help somebody up who had fallen while being trampled by protestors fleeing from police violence.
I love my dad, as anybody else loves theirs. I love my dad as a person. He is a good person and he taught me to fight for what’s right. There are good people who become cops but there are not good cops. There cannot be.
You cannot be an agent of a system rooted so deeply in hatred, control, and racism and claim to be doing good work. Or beg to be rebranded as an organization that promotes safety for anybody other than the privileged. That’s something that’s so important to understand.
It takes bravery and vulnerability to step outside of your comfort level and speak your truth, but it must be done. It’s on us, the sons and daughters of white people, and of police officers, and I’m both.
I’m disappointed in my father. I’m disappointed in SPD. I’m disappointed in people everywhere who glorify the chosen work of police officers and invalidate the pain, mourning, and fear that strikes deep in the hearts of black Americans.
I’m disappointed in those who ignore the racism that thrives in our communities, whether those communities claim to be progressive or not. Racism does not go away.
Even if the mindset of the people has changed (it hasn’t. I promise.),the cultural and economic impacts of oppression emit shock waves for generations to come. Overt racism stopped functioning in favor of the system,so in came COVERT racism to silence the voices of the oppressed.
I’m begging my fellow white followers to open their eyes. It is not enough to be not racist. We must be anti-racist. We must have tough and controversial conversations with our families about the state of oppression and racism in our country.
Even if it means we’re scared. Or sad. Or uncomfortable. Even if it means our father wears the uniform of the oppressor. Silence is compliancy, and if you’re not dismantling the system you’re enabling it. There is no excuse. I urge you to speak up.
