The Issue Is Real

Alfred Hitchcock, famous for making so many scary movies, was once asked who or what frightened him.   His answer: a policeman.   The police can take away your freedom in a moment, even in a relatively democratic society.   A recent CNN documentary made it clear that being a young black male in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn automatically makes you much more likely to have that freedom taken away, with "stop and search" operations advanced by past mayors and police chiefs and still being practiced in many police precincts.   The tale of the tape in the New York killing of Eric Garner and the lack of any repercussions for the policemen involved reinforces the idea that it is easier to "indict a ham sandwich" than a policeman in our legal system.  Whether or not the police acted appropriately, these cases continue to hit a nerve in the minority community and spark a backlash among many whites who are uncomfortable about the whole discussion and deny a racial divide even exists.

Even some conservative commentators say the Garner video shows a troubling scene where cops should have eased off when the victim repeatedly said, "I can't breathe."   Now comes the outrageous claim by people who clearly have no real desire to have a conversation over what is a national issue: "If he could keep saying he couldn't breathe, he could still breathe."  The New York police union actually made that claim, and it got repeated across talk radio.   All I hear are talking points from people trying to prevail in an argument.   In failing to blow the whistle on bad apples in the ranks and denying a problem even exists, what does that get us?   We should do all we can to support those who use that police power wisely.    What makes an open society great?   It's not because our people are perfect.   It's because we air grievances and controversies.   A free press is part of the solution, and not the root cause.  Those who deny at least some validity to a racial divide and wish "those people" would just behave are fooling themselves.   Civil rights made great strides since the sixties because injustices were exposed.   Those changes are not done.