NYPD union leader says anyone who questions the arrest of James Blake is 'un-American'

[me b zola]

9. This is why I say that the problem isn't "bad cops"

but rather the institution and culture of American policing. When law enforcement representatives stand up on national television and insist that the filmed wrong-doing of a police officer was warranted this is instructing us on where the problem(s) lie. To put it simply, the police believe that they are correct in behaving in a manner that the citizens do not agree with.

The police have almost unchecked power with little oversight from within, let alone any oversight from the citizens. That needs to change and communities must come together to tell their mayors and police chiefs what their expectations are from law enforcement. We need to confront the silencing tactic of police departments that scream that we are cop-haters if we are critical of something that they did or are doing. It does not mean that we hate the police, it means that we will not sit quiet any longer about rampant abuses against the people that they are sworn to protect. We also need to hold the media accountable when they allow law enforcement officials to say the most hideous things without calling them out.

I'll never forget how I felt watching the police explain away the Rodney King beating. They told us not to believe our eyes, they had their reasons for doing what they did, and a large portion of this country shrugged its shoulders and said that they trusted the police, so that was that. I'll never forget.