This
long, thoughtful piece by a former military
officer with a good education, published in National Review, could
have been helpful. Instead, it merely adds to the problem.
For all his
education, Johnson forgot one simple rule: put yourself in the other
fellow’s shoes.
His
conclusion that there is widespread racism in the police ranks is
based on his own arrest.
He has
black skin. He was pulled over. He was questioned, handcuffed and
jailed.
No one
likes being jailed. But let’s look at the details.
One
important detail he left out was the location. Was it in a high crime
area where many crimes had been committed by black people?
As one
officer noted, their suspicions were increased by the fact he was
smoking a cigar. Smoking “blunts” – cigars containing marijuana
– is common, and illegal.
So officers
were doing pro-active policing. When they see someone black, in an
area frequented by black criminals, doing what black criminals often
do, they use a legal means to stop him and check him out. There is no
reason for the police to stop and question an 80-year-old Asian woman
driving to the grocery in broad daylight in a suburban neighborhood
with a low crime rate.
Unfair?
Perhaps. Except that he would have been sent on his way if he had a
valid driver’s license.
The
alternative then was this: police could ignore all suspicious
activity, or possibly just suspicious activity by black citizens, and
not arrest people for violating the law, if they are black.
Does that
seem reasonable?
For all its length, most of which
dwells on slavery without ever making a connection with today’s
events, Johnson’s article is remarkably short on solutions.
Stop and question no one? Stop and
question only white people? Arrest no one for failing to have a
driver’s license. Do not arrest them if they “forgot”?
If the cops making the stop have the
same color skin is that racist?
Johnson was
placed in handcuffs because that is standard policy, for the
protection of officers.
All you
have to do is watch the Cops reality TV show, before it was banned,
or countless YouTube videos showing citizens, black and white,
attacking police officers while being arrested, and sometimes killing
them.
Another
thing you will see on those videos is black
drivers refusing to comply with legal orders to provide a
driver’s license, proof of insurance or other information. They
have been told, overtly or covertly, since birth that they are
oppressed and the police are their enemy.
So they
choose to argue or fight rather than help the officers do their duty.
There is a
lot of data about deaths during interactions with the police. But one
important data point does not seem to be readily available: How many
citizens have been injured or killed while NOT resisting arrest?
Statistics
list “unarmed” deaths, but that term isn’t really relevant when
the unarmed person is large, powerful, fighting violently and trying
to take the officer’s weapon, as in the Ferguson case, which still
is shrouded in myth.
In a study
published last year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 89
percent of 211 people killed by the police were armed, and 83 percent
were physically assaulting the officers or someone else.
In rare instances a police mistake
results in a death, as in the George Floyd case. In that case, there
was almost instant justice. Cops were fired and arrested.
Johnson has
the background and education to understand, if he could put aside his
own bias and look at the crime problem through the viewpoint of those
trying to protect him and others.
Many police
agencies invite citizens to ride with officers. It can be eye-opening
for those willing to open their eyes.
