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My dad wasn't just a cop, he was a police chief. Specifically of a White suburb of a predominately Brown city. He enacted policies in his town that, as an adult, I would argue were segregationist and forms of racial profiling.
Micromanage-y small town shit like speed traps.
Micromanage-y small town shit like speed traps.
I remember being a young teen and sitting in our kitchen, just him and me, and him justifying to me why cops need racial profiling. Giving a story of an officer pulling over an adult black man riding on a little pink bike.
My dad asked me to think of the situation from a cop's perspective; you have a black person in a neighborhood where you don't normally see black people riding a bike that doesn't fit his demographic, so clearly you can infer that he stole the bike.
I hope I don't need to point out that my dad never asked me to look at things from the bicyclist's position.
(Also, sidebar, fucking...if I stole a kid's bike I wouldn't be riding it. Like, what the fuck? Dude was probably just trying to get to work)
(Also, sidebar, fucking...if I stole a kid's bike I wouldn't be riding it. Like, what the fuck? Dude was probably just trying to get to work)
My dad also wasn't a comic book racist, he did everything "right."
He was an early adopter for bike cops, community policing, progressive hiring (he'd brag about never hiring 'cowboy cops').
That was the problem; he was progressive about building a segregationist community.
He was an early adopter for bike cops, community policing, progressive hiring (he'd brag about never hiring 'cowboy cops').
That was the problem; he was progressive about building a segregationist community.
I think a parallel is the Rayshard Brooks killing. Unlike Floyd or Taylor, with Brook's murder...the system could argue nothing went "wrong," because arguably no established rule of governance was broken.
It was "by the books" according to a really shittily written book.
It was "by the books" according to a really shittily written book.
Because no matter what, you still have somebody murdered for sleeping in a Wendy's parking lot.
My dad - the woke progressive cop - made a community that excluded Brown people.
My dad - the woke progressive cop - made a community that excluded Brown people.
My dad would also beat me as a kid. Hell, he'd beat me as an grown adult.
I am very, very, very uninterested in generating sympathy for this fact. This isn't about me.
I say it because I want to illustrate the psychology of a cop.
I am very, very, very uninterested in generating sympathy for this fact. This isn't about me.
I say it because I want to illustrate the psychology of a cop.
I think establishing and enforcing segregationist policy in the community you live in and hitting your own child comes from the same root; you're attacking your home.
And I think the job creates this reflex.
And I think the job creates this reflex.
In the way that you are what you eat, you are what you work.
Your job shapes you. A weatherman looking at a cloud sees something different than a painter looking at the same cloud.
A cop looking at a home - whatever a community or household - doesn't see what we see.
Your job shapes you. A weatherman looking at a cloud sees something different than a painter looking at the same cloud.
A cop looking at a home - whatever a community or household - doesn't see what we see.
There's this Black Panthers conceit that there's no such thing as a "jobless" rate, b/c there's always a job out there. You walk past a homeless dude, that's a job; take care of him!
But, the way our system is set up, nobody pays for that job, so no one does that job.
But, the way our system is set up, nobody pays for that job, so no one does that job.
However, we do pay people to set up and sustain segregationist communities.
You are what you work...so what are you if your work is being a segregationist?
You are what you work...so what are you if your work is being a segregationist?
And, from my experience of living with a cop for 20 years, I think the job poisons you. My dad was miserable, high-key, insecure, binary about rules.
Every cop I've met - and I have a lot more experience than most civilians - was tightly wound and neurotic in one way or another
Every cop I've met - and I have a lot more experience than most civilians - was tightly wound and neurotic in one way or another
I don't want to put out a "what about the white men!?" or "feel bad for the cops!" argument, because they're privileged above everyone else in society.
But I think we need to address the role trauma plays in non-marginalized people's decision to sustain supremacy.
But I think we need to address the role trauma plays in non-marginalized people's decision to sustain supremacy.
When Trump was elected, people would note the paradox that the white women who voted for him likely experienced the type of sexual abuse that Trump represented ("grab them by the pussy") and their choice to empower their symbolic abuser was a part of a cycle of trauma.
But we don't consider the possibility that cishet white men could be acting out of the same cycle of trauma.
What cishet white man isn't reeling with some sort of trauma? Trauma of abuse, trauma of toxic masculinity, trauma of the workplace?
Cops especially. We create a job where we give them guns, no emotional support and expose them to dead bodies until they lose their minds.
Cops especially. We create a job where we give them guns, no emotional support and expose them to dead bodies until they lose their minds.
And so that trauma turns them into tools for oppression.
Both cishet white men in general, and especially cops.
Both cishet white men in general, and especially cops.
That's why it's important to bring up my dad beating me. There's a direct line between his childhood trauma, inspiring him to become a cop, the trauma he experienced on the job and then him assaulting his eight-year-old adopted son.
Oppression begets oppression.
Oppression begets oppression.
In the Black Panthers sense, being a cop isn't a job.
It's not the responsibility of society to create a segregationist community, or to murder people sleeping in Wendy's parking lots. And I think that contradiction creates a spiral that poisons people who work the job.
It's not the responsibility of society to create a segregationist community, or to murder people sleeping in Wendy's parking lots. And I think that contradiction creates a spiral that poisons people who work the job.
My dad would say that policing is "90% boredom and 10% excitement." That 90% speaks to the hollowness of the job.
Ever notice how many cops are just standing around staring at their phone?
Nothing happens on the job because it's a fake, invalid responsibility. It's busy work.
Ever notice how many cops are just standing around staring at their phone?
Nothing happens on the job because it's a fake, invalid responsibility. It's busy work.
I don't really have a point that lands in a loud "thud" here other than that...maybe to show a weakness of the political force of cops.
Where there's possible leverage against the power structures in the goal of police and prison abolition.
Where there's possible leverage against the power structures in the goal of police and prison abolition.
As a call to action, if you're heckling a cop at a protest, here are what I feel are common insecurities of cops you can yell to get into their ehads...as reflected by my experience being around cops for 20 years.
- Your job is boring and tedious as fuck
- Nobody likes you
- Your job is boring and tedious as fuck
- Nobody likes you
- Your co-workers hate you and are clique-y
- You complain about your job to your partner all the time
- Your supervisors don't respect your needs
- You have a substance abuse problem
- You work too many hours
- Your job turns your body into shit
- You're on edge all the time.
- You complain about your job to your partner all the time
- Your supervisors don't respect your needs
- You have a substance abuse problem
- You work too many hours
- Your job turns your body into shit
- You're on edge all the time.
Also, it's my dad's birthday today! Everybody wish him a happy birthday...one...two...three; ♫ Happy birth-
