Tagged: black lives matter

Saying BLM Doesn’t Mean you Hate All Cops

Supporting Black Lives doesn’t mean hating all law enforcement officers or opposing “Blue” Lives.

Supporting criminal justice reform; for excessive force, for for-profit corporate contracts, for over-militarization, for more, longer & better training, for excessive incarceration, and yes- for systemic, institutionalized racism does not mean you’re “anti-police.”

Wearing a mask in public & being careful & concerned about Covid is not a “liberal” thing, it’s certainly not a hoax.

Opposing & criticizing Trump isn’t anti-American or sour grapes for a Democrats. Republicans, including President Bush, & several Generals & former Secretaries of State- most Republicans, a few Trump appointees oppose him.

Sharing our positions & opinions and responding to, disagreeing with, and even calling-out errors in each other’s opinions DOESN’T mean anyone hates you or you’re “bad,” or that you’re dumb or always wrong about everything. It means you’re in community. If you love your community, you want it to improve. You want it to be the best it can be.

I have several former students who are cops. I carr about their safety & well being. One of them is one of my dearest friends. I had an uncle who was a cop. I always admired him. I also have a nephew who protested recently. I’m tremendously proud of them.

I also have lots of former students who are Black. Some of whom are are very dear to me. I’d say at least one of them is another of my dearest friends. And several friends in inter-racial marriages. I cannot ignore their fears and concerns and the experiences they’ve shared (and how many they’ve never shared).

These are difficult times. Please be patient & kind with each other. Maybe be even MORE kind & patient with those you disagree with. They don’t hate you, they aren’t attacking YOU. They’re passionate about their beliefs. They’re resisting your positions & opinions, not you as a person, not everyone like you or EVERYTHING you know, believe in or stand for- just what you embrace that they see as hurtful, hateful or divisive.

Isn’t that what you think you hate about them? Not THEM, but some of their ideas? Not WHO they are but a lot of what they seem to stand for that you disagree with or are afraid of or that makes you mad or doesn’t make sense to you. Right?

Two things to try: Ask yourself WHY are hey so passionate about their views? WHY are the opposed to my views? Now ask WHY am I so bent outta shape by what they support? And WHY exactly am I so zealous about what I think. Is there ANY chance whatsoever that maybe either of us don’t know everything?

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Dear White Friends

Police chiefs in Virginia & in Flint Michigan JOINED protesters. Police chief in Santa Cruz, California took a knee. Not all cops are racist, but we do still have a problem as a nation with systemic inequality in our criminal justice system. And SOME cops in some departments definitely have a problem with excessive force.

It’s not as simple as choosing to “support the blue line” or join “black lives matter” and assuming everyone on the other side is completely wrong, evil or un American.

Now before you hate me, I’m not writing this post to start an argument and I’d rather you unfollow me or mute me than unfriend or block me. I try not to comment on every post I ever disagree with from people.

Part of our problem is assuming that every issue only has 2 sides.

I have friends (former students) that are cops. My uncle was a cop. But that doesn’t make every single cop perfect.

I have a lot of Black & Latino friends & friends in inter-racial marriages. (again, mostly former students) and they are scared for their children. They tell me racial profiling is real. I believe them. I’m too white, male & middle class to have experienced it myself.

Looting & vandalism is wrong, but so is being calloused and blind to real problems. We’re all a little racist, which is also wrong.

Somehow we all need to figure out how to be patient, kind & humble enough to allow each other to disagree without hating and dehumanizing each other.

I’ve read way too much MLK to be trying to tell people to calm down and be patient who are angry and want justice.

Perhaps I’m appealing more to the white people and rural friends & neighbors I know who have no patience or pity for rioters. 400 years of discrimination and abuse that we’d like to think was resolved & forgotten 50 years ago doesn’t just go away.

Just as we want to know that not all cops are racist, guess what? Not all people of color are looters, vandals, rioters or even protesters.

And remember people didn’t like peaceful, non violent forms of protest like taking a knee at the National Anthem. That was not anti-military, anti-veterans, or anti-America. It was supposed to draw attention about racial inequality in the criminal justice system. What if we had listened & encouraged that kind of protest? I wonder if there’d be the crisis there is in cities all across the country this week?