Dear White People: We Need To Stop This Insanity

Last updated on: July 7, 2016 at 12:50 pm by Kerry Connelly

Dear White People: We Need To Stop This Insanity 2016-07-07T12:50:59-04:00 Kerry Connelly

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If You Care About Cops, You Should Care About Black Lives, Too.

Listen to me: I am not anti-cop. So before you all start saying Blue Lives Matter, just stop. Because that is such a topical and defensive response to a very deep and systemic problem in America, and it is your place of privilege that allows you be so topical and defensive. When you’re white in America, you don’t have to dig too deeply into these issues because they don’t really affect you, except maybe to take over your CNN or Fox News headlines for a day or two.

And if you are truly a member of the Blue Lives Matter camp, then you should recognize that a system that consistently turns out fear-filled, panic-stricken cops who become so trigger happy in tense situations with people of color that they shoot three or four times before they ask any questions is not a good system for cops, either.

I believe that most cops are good people. In fact, I believe that many cops — not all, but many — who have shot black people are good people. But they are products of a racist system that has instilled fear and panic deep into their psyches, and that fear has turned them into murderers.

And I don’t think most people want to be murderers.

While I know sociopaths exists, and that some of them are cops, for the most part I don’t think you can be human and kill someone and not have it haunt you forever. So if you’re really pro-cop, if you’re really going to insist that Blue Lives Matter, than you should be insisting that something be done. You should be insisting that police are better trained to deal with situations like these, and trained specifically to be aware of how their perception of race might be a factor in the response time of their fingers. If you won’t do it for the black families being ripped open in grief, do it for the cops you say you care about.

Be willing to recognize that our system in inherently broken, that this system is churning out a police force that is ill-equipped to deal with the black population without making the choice to become a murderer.

And here’s the thing: they do have a choice. But they are being trained to think that the choice is the life of either the person they’re dealing with or their own. Sometimes that’s true. But it’s been shown over and over and sickeningly over again, it’s not. So if you really care about cops, demand that they be trained to make better choices.

Read More —–> If you’re white, you’re a Person in Power and you need to stop saying “All Lives Matter”

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