> My work has sometimes brought me into a fair amount of contact with the
> police,
> about whom I have very mixed feelings, though I've learned how to work them
> when
> necessary. Actually, I often try to point out to them that their arrogant,
> cowboy
> nonsense really hinders them in their more legitimate tasks, inasmuch as it
> makes
> people distrust and dislike them. The better ones know this. I have a
> friend who
> retired as a detective lieutenant, and who lives ten or so blocks from
> where they
> killed Amadou Diallo. When that happened he said he felt afraid, because,
> as a
>
Two things remain true:
1. Cops are indoctrinated on the job, an indoctrination which, obviously, eschews "class analysis" of anything, glorifies their own role as defenders of (an amorphously defined) "society" from "the criminal element" and vindicates the use (and utter necessity) of violence. Although this indoctrination occurs among all races of cops, it is a white supremacist ideology, evidenced by the treatment of non-white suspects by non-white officers acting under the direction of white officers (witness Philadelphia).
2. Insofar as cops realize racism or classism do exist within policing, their realization occurs only within a context of very light liberalism, inspiring calls for small reforms, greater oversight, maybe sensitivity training...in short, solutions akin to emptying the ocean with a thimble.
--pre-empt. This whole "I know cops who aren't like that" is kind of silly. I have cops in my family, my best friend's dad is a cop, and my experience with all of them backs up what I argue...but that is not the point.
I fail to understand why we should not be focusing our energy on the incident that started this discussion--and the Cincinatti uprising. You can bet your pants that if a white person had a bunch of misdemeanor warrants out, that person would still be alive, even if he had impetuously fled. And you can bet your shirt that the black victim in question felt he had sufficient reason to flee white cops.
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