This Saturday, December 13, there will be marches nationwide
against the recent killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner by police and the
subsequent grand jury investigations that led to no charges being filed against
the police.
I will be participating in the Millions March in San Francisco -
it starts at 2pm at the Ferry Building and I invite you to join me. We
will be marching to City Hall. The organizers of this march have stressed
that it is a peaceful action and that they have planned it to be family
friendly. They also ask participants to wear black.
My thoughts on this issue and the events leading to this march
are complicated and I feel that so much of the discourse surrounding these
deaths is polarizing.
- It doesn’t feel safe to say that I believe that race played a critical role in these incidents because those words get misconstrued to mean that I think all cops are racist.
- It doesn’t feel safe to say that I believe that cops are not adequately trained to deal with racially charged situations because those words get misconstrued to mean that I think all cops are racist.
- It doesn’t feel safe to say that I believe that the vast majority of police officers go into law enforcement for the right reasons and that they deal with so many difficult and crappy situations. Those words get misconstrued to mean that I find no fault with the police.
- It doesn’t feel safe to say that I believe that police officers put themselves in harm’s way almost every day because anyone can be a threat and anyone can be armed. Those words get misconstrued to mean that I find no fault with the police.
I’ve tried hard to use generalized language like “more often” or
“more likely”. I use that language
because these are not either/or situations.
There is significant gray area. I
am sure that many of you could provide individual stories or personal
experiences that will contradict the generalizations that I’m making
below and that my comments are not meant to invalidate the personal experiences you have had.
I will be marching on Saturday because I believe that black
people are treated differently by police officers than white people.
I will be marching on Saturday because a significant part of our
community feels marginalized and unheard.
Yes, I believe that all lives matter, but right now, I think that we
need to reaffirm that black lives matter.
I will be marching on Saturday because I sincerely believe that
if I behaved the way that Eric Garner did before he got choked to death, I
would still be alive and breathing today. I may not have even been
arrested. I believe that the law is
applied differently to different people.
I will be marching on Saturday because I feel that police
officers do not get adequate training on working with different racial
populations. More importantly, I don't believe that police officers get
enough training in identifying and challenging their own stereotypes of
others. And because of that, white
police are more likely to view a black man as a threat.
I will be marching on Saturday because there have been too many
times when an unarmed black man or boy was shot and killed and was denied their
right to due process.
I will be marching on Saturday because the grand jury investigations
have revealed procedures and legalities that truly scare me. It’s not just that there have been no
ramifications for the police officers involved.
It’s that a cop is authorized to use deadly force when pursuing a person
suspected of committing a felony. It’s
that police officers sometimes use intimidation and aggression to bring control
to a situation, but if and when that strategy backfires and serves to escalate
the situation, police are authorized to use deadly force when they “fear for
their lives.” These procedures and
legalities have to change.
I will be marching on Saturday because I'm fed up with the
aspect of police culture that has them blindly stand up for each other and at
times refuse to cooperate fully when investigating possible wrongful death
cases. We expect people to face the consequences of their actions.
Resisting arrest is a crime. Withholding
information from an investigation is a crime. The same holds true for
police officers. If they are being investigated for a possible crime,
their fellow officers need to uphold the values of law and order. If a
fellow officer has acted improperly, they need to face the consequences of
their actions.
I will be marching on Saturday because even though Michael Brown
and Eric Garner had allegedly committed crimes that led to their interactions
with the police and ultimately their demise, they are still afforded the right
to due process. The punishment for selling cigarettes illegally is not
death. The punishment for shoplifting is not death. The punishment
for fleeing a crime scene is not death. The punishment for assaulting a
police officer is NOT death.
And finally, I will be marching on Saturday because I want my
voice to be heard. I want the country to know that I disapprove of these
killings, the police procedures that make these killings legal, and the lack of
training that makes them probable. I want the people of color in my
community to know that I am in solidarity with them and that my actions match
my words.
I hope that you will consider joining me this Saturday.
