Like African-Americans, Cops Should Not Be Painted With Broad Brush

 

Wrong is Wrong and Right is Right


A person close to me once said that when cops get killed sitting in their patrol cars or walking the beat it is because they basically deserved that fate because they probably just finished harassing someone.


I thought that was one of the most ignorant things I had ever heard in my life and I don’t look at the person with the same respect anymore.  

 

But some people are ignorant enough to protest when a cop shoots an unarmed civilian with no provocation, but then condone it when a civilian kills a cop in an unprovoked attack.


Likewise, for those who support Blue Lives Matter but do not support Black Lives Matter, the title of ignorant goes to you too because a police officer’s life is no more valuable than a Black civilian’s life.


Cop killer Alexander Bonds was known for making inflammatory remarks about police officers on social media.


His rants turned to deadly rage on Wednesday when he assassinated 12-year police veteran Miosotis Familia in the Bronx, N.Y.


According to the Associated Press, there was no evidence that Bonds’ attack was racially motivated.  Bonds was Black and Familia was Black and Hispanic, with family from the Dominican Republic.


Unfortunately, like all African-American men I have been harassed by police officers for reasons like playing basketball in a friend’s driveway as a middle school student, not driving six car lengths behind the next vehicle in bumper-to-bumper traffic and living in an affluent neighborhood with a golf course in my back yard, so I understand the fact that many do not see the police as friends.


On the real, I often see the police like I often see a politician, a necessary entity that I try to avoid all contact with.


Nevertheless, I have met officers who seemed to be genuine people who listened to my plight and likely would have given me the shirt off of their back if they were in street clothes.


Those encounters proved the common sense reality that no one should judge an entire group of people based on a few bad apples.


All African-Americans should not be viewed as criminals even though African-Americans are often portrayed in mass media as just that.


All White Americans should not be viewed as racist simply because many African-Americans experience systemic racism and discrimination from the majority still to this day.


And all Latinos should not be viewed as drug dealers and illegal immigrants, no matter what stereotype President Donald Trump harbors.


What happened to New York City police officer Miosotis Familia is heartbreaking and abhorrent, no matter the reasoning of the attack.


Civilians should not view all cops with one broad stroke.


Likewise, cops should not view all minorities with broad brushes.


I have acquaintances that are police officers that have virtually justified the harsh way in which some officers treat African-Americans because they think most criminals are African-Americans.


A person with that type of ignorant mentality does not deserve to be on the force and does not deserve the respect of the community they serve.


Unfortunately, it is often the heroic cop who is killed in a senseless way.


Familia might have been that heroic cop who just wanted to see her community safer and more prosperous.


Many officers dedicate their lives to make our lives better and safer.


They should not be attacked.

 

They should be applauded at every opportunity.


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