Last week’s shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, sparked days of protest and ignited a painfully misinformed national dialogue about police violence, the Black Lives Matter movement and the ethics of violent protesting.
It seems social media has distorted the discussion we should be having with two polarizing ideas.
The first is that, because of the virtue, honor and sacrifice embodied by police officers, they are ineligible for criticism. We are told that criticizing how the police handled a certain situation is like playing “Monday morning quarterback.” We are told that criticizing one aspect of police protocol means we don’t appreciate or value their service at all.
Just as our Congress is not exempt from criticism and accountability, neither are the police. The police are public servants, whose salaries are paid with our tax dollars, and if the public is unsatisfied with the quality of the service the police provide, we are within our rights to demand change.
The second idea is that the Black Lives Matter movement is synonymous with “kill all cops” or is against all police officers.
Just as every group has its faction of immoral extremists, some may claim to be supporting the BLM movement while reveling in the deaths of police officers.
These people are not the majority by any means, and they do not represent the goals of the movement. I encourage you to visit blacklivesmatter.com and read their “Guiding Principles,” which are not the least bit violent or disrespectful toward our police force.
In an article for the Huffington Post, John Halstead wrote, “If you find that the statement ‘Black Lives Matter’ bothers you, but not ‘Blue Lives Matter,’ then the operative word is ‘Black.’”
While true, Blue Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter are not contradictory statements. All lives should matter, which is why we need to talk about how black lives seem to matter less when it comes to interactions with our police force.
A large portion of white people will suggest that black men are killed, like everyone else, because they had a weapon, a criminal record, a mental illness or were on drugs.
But, according to a database by the Washington Post, of the non-mentally ill, unarmed men killed by police this year, 47 percent have been black and only 40 percent have been white, despite whites outnumbering blacks five to one in the overall population.
Of all of the children killed by police this year, half have been black.
Meanwhile, when a man does have a mental illness and is armed, those killed were 66 percent white and 15 percent black — which closely matches the racial demographics of the general population.
In that instance, the police don’t appear to be acting with prejudice. But they do appear to be more suspicious of unarmed, non-mentally ill, black men and are thus more willing to unjustly end their lives.
Lastly, let us not condemn violent protests without acknowledging the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
I am saddened that people feel the need to resort to violence to have a voice.
We need to have better conversations about police violence, but that will only happen if we listen to people of color, instead of telling them how to behave.
thshowal@indiana.edu
@TherinShowalter
