Differences in White & Black Policing
Police Brutality
There is a whole segment of our society that is in denial regarding how Black people are treated by the police. That segment includes police officers. The majority of officers don’t even realize how much more they feel they can get away with when dealing with a Black person as opposed to dealing with a white person. Then there are the civilians who believe that if you just do what an officer says to do, everything will be fine. Allow me to rephrase that, then there are the White civilians… People of color know that is not true but when you live a life of White privilege you don’t really believe others have a different reality.
The Reality is Everywhere
I have two videos below that are currently making the rounds again on social media. The incident with the Black man happened in March. Sacramento police and deputies thought he was the person that was wanted on a warrant. It turns out, he was not the person. He was just some innocent man who had been out having lunch. Regardless, a Sacramento deputy immediately resorted to police violence by first, tasing the man who was complying, then kicking him in the back. Even though they attacked and abused a person for no reason,the man was arrested for Resisting Arrest, the go to cover-your-ass/retaliation charge frequently used by police. I guess people are supposed to just stand there and take a beating for no reason, without reacting. The article indicates the deputy was found to be guilty of violating policies but by law the Sheriff’s Office cannot release personnel information so we don’t know what kind of discipline he got. Did someone wag a finger in his face and say, ‘bad boy’? Or maybe he got a 1-day suspension with pay, in other words, a day off. We don’t know, which is another problem in the system.
Then there’s the video of the White man. He’s beligerant, continually cusses at the officer, throws his I.D. on the ground and even threatens to kill the officer and as far as we can tell, nothing happened to him. These are not one time incidents. I can make these comparisons repeatedly with the same results, overreaction when the detained person is Black, astounding levels of patience when the detained person is White.
Black in America
I thought all you had to do was comply and you wouldn’t be shot or brutalized by police. ???????? pic.twitter.com/b1lVsuRx5i
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) August 28, 2020
White in America
Is this noncompliance?
We were told, noncompliance is a death sentence. I need an explanation. pic.twitter.com/x3GeMG41Rs
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) August 29, 2020