It’s Time for Us to Police the Police
We must admit it’s time. Like some who came before and made change happen well now our turn in line has come up. Especially those of us largely shielded from the truth of this in the past.
With the gun and badge and legal powers bestowed comes the requirement that this power is subservient to the will of the people in a just fashion. we tell them where the red lines are. Like how “Police/Deputy/CCW holder/armed home owner shoots unarmed…” shall always be a red flag. With the power and the gun goes great scrutiny. Deal With It.
The system has failed us. Or perhaps it’s finally been given a chance to assert the truth we didn’t want to hear: black lives don’t matter as much as others to those in power. And that truth has been writ large this year. It has been underscored by the sheer unbelievability of the circumstances under which black men and boys may be killed without consequence. Without justice. Without even so much as a trial to shed light on the murky corners of witness retellings and police misremembering … even if only to exonerate wrongly accused good cops.
Lethal force for non-felony offenses? No problem. Illegal use of lethal force on an unarmed man? No problem. Lack of clear and present mortal danger? No problem. It is officially open season and even with a camera in your face recording you killing another human you’re safe from justice.
These faces of black boys killed by cops in this country haunt me. They’re my face at 15, 19, 21 and maybe even now.
But for some of us, maybe it doesn’t feel that personal. So I want to know what we will all do when it is not somebody else’s black boy or man, but yours. Your best friend. Your first love. Your husband. Your bi-racial son. Your godfather. Your co-worker. Your boss. Your professor. Your exceptional negro. Your pedigreed, successful, totally approachable, fairly reasonable wouldn’t hurt-a-fly black men.
Ron J. WilliamsRon J. Williams, Chief Detective at proofLabs (prooflabsgroup.com), is an entrepreneur and speaker. He is obsessed with making human networks work better.
More: The System Isn’t Going to Fix Itself—It’s Time for Us to Police the Police