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Are cops the heroes they claim to be? Do heroes cry over fast food?
Are police heroes who "put their lives on the line?" Or are they jumpy trigger happy scaredy-cats who use their fear to justify killing people?
Let's step back and review how we got here... 1/?
Are police heroes who "put their lives on the line?" Or are they jumpy trigger happy scaredy-cats who use their fear to justify killing people?
Let's step back and review how we got here... 1/?
Hero-worship rhetoric regarding police has trended upward in recent years as a direct response to the BLM movement (2013-2014) & came long after 9/11/2001. Thus this "blue lives" imagery was an overt reflexive white reaction, an attempt to maintain white supremacy. 2/
Post 9-11 there was a similar trend (perhaps initially benign) on behalf of "first responders" interwoven purposely w military propaganda. Which was a deliberate effort to merge 9-11 patriotism with war cheerleading, despite zero connection between 9-11 and Iraq. 2/
Military genuflecting (particularly at stadiums) was a multi-million dollar paid advertising campaign; dramatic performances connecting flag/anthem to veterans. When Kaepernick kneeled protesting racism and police brutality, it was twisted into an offense against veterans. 3/
At the same time, language regarding first responder "heroes" was spliced into the military marketing, as thousands of veterans returned from service overseas and found work as police officers, given preferential treatment on civil service exams. 4/
Employment for returning veterans was a convenient cause across the political spectrum that poll-tested through the roof. So any criticism of the military-to-police pipeline was entirely off-limits. Meanwhile, departments invested heavily in war armor. 5/
Historically speaking, Police Chiefs (even police unions) were longtime supporters of gun control. In fact, the 1994 Clinton crime bill (which was god awful in many ways) married both an Assault Weapons Ban w the so-called "Clinton Cops." It was strongly backed by the police. 6/
Cops also joined with firefighters and other public employees to advocate for larger municipal budgets, support for defined benefit pensions, and opposed right-to-work laws. Scott Walker carved them out of his first attack on public employees in 2011. 7/
Labor oriented progressives must acknowledge that we used uniformed "first responders" as a PR front to maintain political support for pension funds, and we opposed the weakening of public employee arbitration laws that could have disrupted this public employee coalition. 8/
Only post-George Floyd has organized labor moved to disown racist police unions from the solidarity coalition despite the fact that most police unions are not in the AFL-CIO or affiliated federations. (It's important to acknowledge our own shortcomings.) 9/
Most police unions today embrace a rural cultural identity, including support of gun rights. As the nation has polarized culturally, police have chosen their white identity, gun fetish, and xenophobia over the best interest of the cities they are paid to keep safe. 10/
Cities have chosen to deprioritize immigration enforcement in order to encourage community cooperation with the entirety of the public safety apparatus. This strategy has been supported by police chiefs & has come under fire from police unions in the last few years. 11/
Thus the police rank and file are now overtly pro-gun & anti-immigrant. While perhaps not every cop agrees on the entire platform, the union leaders they elect state their opinions publicly. Also, most travel in from far outside the city. Many come from military backgrounds. 12/
Much like the nation as a whole, police are glued to social media. Obscure internet echo chambers and news sources reinforce a sense of fear among the ranks, including stories of an "ambush-style" killings of police in Dallas and Des Moines. 13/
Police began placing their own safety above that of the city as a whole, fueled by a lack of connection to the community and fear grossly disproportionate to the legitimate risk. Newer training "Warrior" training methods (and websites) reinforced this culture within the ranks.14/
To get an idea of how out of whack this fear is, in the posh Minneapolis ward in which I used to work, the ONLY homicide that has happened in over a decade was committed by a Minneapolis police. The officer evidently thought a yoga teacher was trying to ambush them. For real.15/
A year later a Minneapolis cop named Justin Schmidt killed Thurman Blevins in a North Side alley. Schmidt taught a so-called Warrier Training as a side hustle and was scrubbed from the firm's website in the days following the shooting. 16/
Two years before killing Blevins, Officer Schmidt was profiled by a Kentucky public radio station at an NRA convention. This should give you a pretty good idea of what goes on inside the mind of a Minneapolis cop: 17/
"Schmidt is from Minneapolis. He said he believes humans are inherently violent and some lose the ability to control themselves. Such behavior can result from violent upbringings, a lack of family support and desensitization, he said." 18/ https://wfpl.org/national-rifle-association-attendees-talk-gun-violence/
Today Justin Schmidt is (according to his own LinkedIn) "looking to do freelance Instructor work apart from my current job. I have the capability of teaching to civilians, law enforcement and military." 19/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-schmidt-1aa66354/
Last fall police union President Bob Kroll got on stage with President Trump at a downtown arena rally, endorsing a platform of hate, as protesters clashed with armored riot police in the street, who used the opportunity to live out their juvenile Warrior fantasies. 20/
I've been asked, why can't people show just more respect for the police and not start conflict? As a white person, I can only speak for myself. I hope we are all starting to understand why that authoritarian mindset is so difficult for POC to subscribe to. 21/
I would say it's because real heroes don't act like insecure babies. Whining rarely endears respect.
What do you call a whining bully? When they are actually the aggressors and have all the power?
They are cowards. 22/22
What do you call a whining bully? When they are actually the aggressors and have all the power?
They are cowards. 22/22
