It’s that time of year again…
Bonfires under the star-lit night sky.
Easy to remember chants echoing through the air.
And you can never go too long without a joke being made about pigs in a blanket.
Not summer camp silly, “mostly peaceful protests“!!!
Protests for Police Reform
As the media begins to remember mass shootings and police misconduct happen almost daily in a country of three hundred thirty million people.
One common narrative is thrown out more than any…
Racism!
From the deranged acts of a mentally ill sex addict. To the poor judgement cops have with handling naked men as they trip balls in the snow. Our media knows how to make the most horrific incidents work as a building block for the narrative of racism.
The Media’s Race Narrative
Even as I write this article the media is manipulating the issues many Americans of Asian origin or descent are going through. I’m not saying that there aren’t dangerous or hateful people in this world.
But, the point I want to make in the next few minutes is that people can use these incidents to break through divisive issues instead of breaking apart over them.
There is a common trope among conservatives that “facts don’t care about your feelings”.
This is silly on its face as facts don’t have the capacity to care about anything. When it comes to systematic racism the fact is that this country has no laws meant to single out a specific race or creed.
Truly, police as a whole can’t be racist if they hire officers who are of a racial minority and arrest people for hate crimes against minorities.
In Reality Many Don’t Feel Safe Around the Police
Yet, the fact is that a growing number of African Americans feel marginalized and discriminated against by the systems we have in place. Many don’t feel safe and are trapped because the police may be too afraid to enter the neighborhood they live in until a dead body shows up.
If a large enough group of any population is feeling discriminated against, those feeling are facts.
You can believe the opinion that the protest over police brutality was driven by media and not the feelings. I mentioned earlier but that is based on nothing more than a feeling because the fact is none of us can control minds.
All the media does is biased reports on incidents of police misconduct or unconstitutional yet legal behavior and label it as racist.
The narrative of racism they spread only agitates the wounds that many Americans already have.
Groups who have remained active consistently now get newfound traction to take advantage of. I ask that you think back to when thousands protested the Killing of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor last year.
If those two stories are the only reasons you think of when you think of the protest… then you let the media decide for you. Regardless of your stance on the issue.
Feelings Can Be Facts
That statement should not be misinterpreted to assume that just because you feel a certain way that it must be a fact. Charles Manson felt pretty strongly that The Beatles wrote the White Album for him after all.
If a certain party feels unsafe or discriminated against and claims that it is the consequences of the actions another party too. This would easily be grounds for a civil suit.
Yet, if your community doesn’t have a police presence that makes people feel safe, but instead uses you as a paycheck for non-violent crimes, then yes. I can understand you feeling discriminated against.
The fact is that some populations in our country feel discriminated against, marginalized, or ignored by the systems put in place to protect them. Police reform isn’t as simple as taking your local coffee shop to court for refusing your service to the restroom.
The Toxic Narrative of “Racism”
Instead, the narrative of racism engulfs the conversation about marginalized populations and the unconstitutional treatment of citizens.
To the narrative, the feelings of a mentally deranged sex addict or religious zealot have nothing to do with the actual motive to their heinous crimes. Making the narrative just as heinous.
To the media, it’s not that the police who as a system favor the elites need to have their power checked. Instead the actions of a single officer represent the thought crimes of them all.
A More Compassionate Narrative
Unlike facts, the narrative does have the capacity to care. The narrative cares about division because the narrative needs it to survive.
Most Americans care about racial equality to the extent that we can say, virtually all Americans do.
Virtually all Americans want the police to treat everyone equally and fairly.
Virtually all Americans feel that the narrative claiming our nation is racist is wrong.
The media that portrays the death of Daniel Prude as racist. Wants us to ignore the negligence of the police and how a system of policing that views the safety of citizens as secondary. Is possible in the best place to live on earth.
The court ruling in favor of the officers can be used as “proof” our system is racist and not flawed in general. Nobody would want to have their brother or child be handled like a rabid dog while suffering from excited delirium (which is a medical term for a bad trip).
Yet these were completely legal actions. Surely, they thought this was OK when writing the constitution.
If I go back to the facts, one that is unarguable is that virtually no Americans can say the incident that I just mentioned should have to happen to anyone.
So why is it a race thing?
The Police Exist to Keep Everyone Safe
A lot of people:
- have issues with no-knock warrants.
- have issues with with the ways police are allowed to use force on citizens.
- Want the police to be able to do their job and keep everybody safe.
The media and some of our elected officials. Try to use the narrative to hide the fact that a lot of people care about their fellow Americans.
The problem with going along with the narrative is our facts ignore how our actions make others feel.
When the media and elected officials start banging on the war drums of racism. Remember that just because somebody supports the police doesn’t mean they don’t care about others feeling safe.
When somebody is speaking about the way the police make them feel. There is a reason that they feel that way and it may be personal to them as well.
No matter how you view the term “systematic racism” you can see the narrative is only a way to prolong division. The way we live our lives isn’t black and white so why should our most important issues be?
At the End of the Day: Police Reform is Not Black and White
The national debate over police reform and the recent light shed on individual cases of police brutality are important for our future.
Not because minorities feel like they are being hunted down as the narrative would state.
Many of our black youth have less trust in the system than previous generations who like to see police presence in their communities. Despite your opinions on the need for police reform or if systematic racism exists.
We can all agree that if the presence of police does not make you feel safe, one side is doing something wrong.