doom letter #15

What do you get when you combine a police officer, a bitter old harvard professor and a racist neighbor?

National news.

It shouldn’t be funny, because people around the country (now including me) are talking about it. There are serious problems with our place here in the universe people. I do not think that the event is all that interesting. Police are overzealous and don’t take kindly to people that stand up to them. Bitter old professors are famous the world over for temper tantrums and a total lack of tact. And neighbors are neighbors. My guess is that it was an older white lady that was looking out the window to make sure her gardener wasn’t stealing anything when she saw, gasp, two black men with a pry bar. Clearly she felt threatened and unfortunately she was connected to the telecommunication grid so she had to waste the time of the police.

There are three ways this problem could have been avoided.

1. The professor could have socialized with his neighbors. I have lived in my current apartment for 6 months and pretty much everyone in this complex knows me. You don’t have to particularly like your neighbors, just go outside and act nice once in a while. This effort would have eliminated the problem because the person who called the cops would have recognized the old black man with the cane as her neighbor. Problem solved.

2. The police officer could have put himself in the professor’s shoes. You get home, you are locked out and have to break in, a cop shows up and starts asking questions. The only time I want to see a cop at my door is if he is raising money for something. Police are entirely too inquisitive. He could have diffused the situation verbally by realizing that this anti-social elitist asshole professor was having a bad day. It is called compassion mother fuckers, look it up.

3. The professor could have chilled the fuck out. I understand the frustration with a cop showing up at your door asking you to identify yourself. It is fucking bullshit. But he could have said to himself “one of my racist neighbors probably saw two black men with a prybar and probably had to change their skivvies before phoning the authorities.” No one should be more familiar with latent racism than an African-American Studies professor. He could have calmly told the officer that it was his house and he understands that he has racist neighbors and that the cop can bugger off.

But we all now know that did not happen.

Like I said, not all that interesting. I am sure it happens all too often, just most of the wrongly accused black males are not Harvard professors. The interesting thing to me has been the reaction from everyone. First, I have not heard or read anyone say something about the ignorant racist that called the cops in the first place. This whole event is really their fault. Black men, just like all other varieties of humans are allowed to utilize tools in whatever manner they wish on their own home as far as criminal law goes.

Second, I have found it very interesting that no establishment type has had the fortitude to say that the cop was way beyond his duty when he arrested the professor. Dear Police, just because someone calls you names while you are harassing them does not give you the right to arrest them. Get the fuck over yourself. Police should not automatically be respected. They should automatically respect the citizens who gave them the job in the first place. We pay police to be PUBLIC SERVANTS. If someone who has obviously done nothing else wrong is belligerent, that is their right. Conservative commentators are particularly outraged with the way the professor berated this cop. It is sad to hear supposed adherents to “rugged individualism” come off so fucking submissive when it comes to a person’s rights while they are on their own property. At some point in the past the ridiculous notion that all activities by police are beyond reproach (particularly when dealing with liberals) has been subscribed to by the talking heads on the right and in the center. The left’s reaction has not been much better. It seems that just about every one is too weak-kneed when it comes to the police to say anything that may paint them as anti-law enforcement.

Since I have already written my note to the authorities, here is one for the rest of you.

Dear Citizens, Police are not your friends. Most I have met are mildly mentally-ill and not too bright. All police activity should be treated with suspicion until they prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that what they are doing is not only necessary, but a benefit to you. They are your employees, so treat them as such. If you are a professional with a group of people working for you, you don’t let them walk all over you. NO, you demand their respect. Your relationship with the police should be the same way.

As is usually the case when I take a few seconds to open my eyes and look around at what is going on in this country I am disappointed. Let down, but not surprised. I know that the American people are broken-down and weak in the face of authority. It is in our programming. And it will take a lot of effort to celebrate the fact that someone stood up to a cop that was acting outside of his duty. We will all require a lot of decompression time to process it all and distill it down.

We are so fucking screwed,

mike