A Short Note on a Difficult Subject
A society should not be terrorized by a force that has sworn to serve and protect that society. That seems to be somewhat obvious in most places but the United States. At this point, it seems like the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor is something taken as a post-modern ironic swipe against traditional American values. But a closer look shows that blatantly disregarding this oath is as American as apple pie.
A society should not be terrorized by a force that has sworn to serve and protect that society. Whether lawful or not, a protest is the collective scream of the unheard, the fist of the oppressed through the window of those in power, the present memory of past revolutions continuing to struggle against the ruling classes of history and of the present. The voice of a protest must be heard. It must be treated with dignity. When an officer flies in, weapons drawn, gas spraying, protected by the armor of riot gear and supremacy, they are showing that justice is not their aim and that they do not intend to treat the views of dissenters with dignity.
A society should not be terrorized by a force that has sworn to serve and protect that society. When an officer fires tear gas into a crowd of protesters or drives their vehicle into a crowd of protesters, they are inciting a riot. Inciting a riot is the very opposite of serving and protecting a community. To have an officer do so is an abandonment of the supposed core values of the police force. Any violence or chaos that ensues is the responsibility of the officer that saw fit to use unlawful force on protesters. The protesters reaction to said force is nothing more than self defense against a power that has proven time and time again that domination, not justice, is the reason for their existence.
A Society should not be terrorized by a force that has sworn to serve and protect that society. On the day of this writing, there were protest across the country in support of George Floyd, a man who died in Minnesota after a police officer knelt on the back of his neck. The officer was responding to a suspected non-violent offense. Which, as far as I am aware, turned out to be a false accusation. A man lost his life because an officer used unnecessary force on a black man. This is, of course, nothing new. But is interesting to note the surprise I felt when I found out that officer, and the others involved, was fired. That is, of course, the right call. My surprise stems from the fact that the right call is so rarely made in these situations.
A society should not be terrorized by a force that has sworn to serve and protect that society. And society never is. Only a section of society is ever terrorized by the police. Minority populations, especially the black population, have, since the dawn of this country, been more heavily policed than the white population. Which is unsurprising, given that the roots of our modern police force can be found in the slave patrols of early America, who searched for runaway slaves. And these patrols could be hired by those with means and reason (rich white people) to hunt down those in the bonds of oppression. Some days, it feels we progressed appropriately in the 150 or so years since slavery. Other days, like today, it seems like police forces has forgotten that they aren’t being hired (at least not directly) by rich white folks to police those out of power. Old American habits die hard.
A society should not be terrorized by a force that has sworn to serve and protect that society. George Floyd should still be breathing. Christian Cooper should not have been falsely accused; he very well could have suffered the same fate George Floyd did, had the encounter escalated, or had he not recorded the encounter. Breonna Taylor should not have been shot 8 times in her own home. Many Americans should still be alive, but are not, because of the mishandling and abuse of power that American police forces display, and have displayed, for years, for decades, for centuries, against minority America.
Keep breathing, for those who cannot. Hold those in power responsible. Those who do not remove those that abuse power are complicit in that abuse. Use every tool we have: voting, protesting, writing. We are all finding our own way to deal with constant madness, both new and enduring. As a minority-run operation, S&D, like many of you, is also struggling to find a way to put our thoughts in order. This is an attempt. And though this attempt may be disregarded by those in power and those with the privilege that enables them to look the other way, we have to scream. Sometimes, that’s all we can do. And when we can, we will fight, in a way that we know how. And human life deserves more dignity than corporate property.
A society should not be terrorized by a force that has sworn to serve and protect that society.
Ryan De Leon is the founder of Sons and Daughters. He was born and raised in southern California before moving to the U.K. and becoming a neo-modernist. He is back in California, sheltering at home and trying to make sense of the world.
All thoughts in this piece are his own.