It pains me to say this, but what the hell did they expect?

[liberalmuse]

101. Not all cops are bad.

I have to admit, my experience (rare firsthand, plenty of second-hand) with cops as a law-abiding white female has been less than encouraging. I can't even imagine what it must be like for people who are specifically targeted because of skin color. I'm sickened about the deaths in Dallas. I'm sickened about the deaths in MN and LA. These men did not deserve to die at the hands of a self-proclaimed executioner. Nobody does.

When you take an oath as an officer, you know there is a possibility of your dying in the line of duty. Your wife or SO experiences a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the possibility. These were human beings that were loved, and who will leave behind widows and fatherless children. This is a tragedy on all accounts. Then there is the fact that they chose this line of work, not truly believing that they will be the ones to get gunned down during an altercation. As a police officer, you go through training and then are handed a gun and a badge that represents a helluva lot of power to enforce the law using both your interpretation and the legal interpretation, and if you fuck up, the odds are overwhelmingly on your side.

On the other hand, there are people born melanin-rich who are targets without their consent. They are trying to get by in a society where they are 1,000 steps behind at birth, and where most people have no fucking clue what it's like. Their moms also experience a lot of sleepless nights and are almost resigned to the fact that their sons will not live to give them grandchildren. They did not choose this. And not only do they have to worry about institutionalized racism cutting down their offspring, but they deal with denial and apathy, because a large number of white people refuse to even recognize that there is racism and that racism is ingrained in their minds from birth.

The solution is that we all need to recognize and stand up for what is right. We all know skin color or uniforms don't make the human being. We need to stand up to people who think they do, and let them know without any reservations that they're fucking wrong.