I've known cops. I've dated a cop. I am not anti-lock. What I am, is anti anyone in a position of authority being on a power trip, whether it's a kindergarten teacher or an older sibling or a prison guard. I am not anti-kindergarten teacher, anti-older sibling, or anti-prison guard.
Right now there are protests, and riots, all over the country bringing attention to the FACT that black people are killed at a much higher rate than white people during what should be simple interactions with police. For what it's worth, I dont believe that the protesters are rioting, nor that the rioters are protesting. I think that anarchists, vandals, and thieves will use any excuse to hide in a crowd and do their thing. I do have one big question, though.
Why, during a time when police brutality is in the national spotlight and everyone has video cameras and access to upload on their person all the time, are there cops out there doing the horrible things that we see on the news every day now? Pulling a protester's mask off to pepper spray him from 6 inches away. Pepper spraying a child. Shooting a man in the face with a tear gas canister. Pulling people stuck in traffic out of their car and beating them. Knocking elderly men to the ground. Tear gassing people as they stand on their own porch. Smashing peaceful protesters' water bottles and milk jugs (for rinsing teargas out of the eyes) on the ground. Shooting members of the press with rubber bullets.
And they know they're on camera. They know there will be documented evidence of their behavior. And they keep upping the ante. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of protesters who were lying on the ground with their arms up, posing no threat. Why? Why would they not even try to hide this behavior?
