In a recent social media post, a friend lamented the use of the term “a few bad apples” in reference to racist police violence. Many people allude to this when addressing police violence against Black Americans, arguing that we shouldn’t disparage the police because of the actions of a few officers. My friend objected because people failed to acknowledge the second part of the aphorism, that those few, “spoil the barrel” – that the few rogue officers corrupt the entire institution. I appreciate the sentiment but even complete, the aphorism fails to describe the real problem.
Here’s the thing – the problem isn’t the apples, it’s the barrel. The United States has a centuries-long culture of systemic racism perpetrated and enforced by the courts, law enforcement, and the penal system that has oppressed Black Americans continuously throughout our history (https://www.ushistory.org/more/timeline.htm, https://www.womenoftheelca.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Timeline.pdf).
From the foundation of the country on the backs of Black slaves, through post-civil-war massacres, Jim Crow laws, the violent resistance to the Civil Rights movement, to “stop and frisk”, and “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” racial discrimination and injustice has been a continuous mandate of U.S. policing.
(Some people debate whether “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” is an historically racist statement, but that debate is moot. When the sitting President of the United States used the phrase in reference to protests about police violence against Black Americans and thus equated the loss of material goods with the value of human lives, the phrase was, and will forever be, a racist statement.)
We need to recognize and admit that the barrel itself is rotten and no matter how many good apples we put into the barrel, they will continue to be tainted.
There are almost 700,000 full-time police officers in the United States today and the majority of them do their jobs and do their jobs well. It is a very difficult, very demanding, and very stressful occupation. Most police officers probably don’t think of themselves as racist or even as the enforcers in a racist system. The issue with the police really isn’t the individual police officers – don’t get me wrong individual police officers must be held accountable for their actions and there are many “bad apples” to hold to account – but the issues we are facing aren’t about individuals. They are a reflection of the institution itself.
[Okay, as an aside, in case you don’t agree with my premise I’ll still crunch some quick numbers on “a few bad apples.” First, let’s be honest. If you were an overt racist and you believed that White people were superior to other races, that Black Americans were a scourge on society responsible for most of the violence, crime, and civil unrest in your country, and if you really wanted to be a part of the solution, cleanse the country, make it safe for your people – what would you do? You might just join your local police department. Don’t think that’s true? Don’t fool yourself – this happens – police departments across the United States are rife with White supremacists. It is a natural and logical attraction. (Wait. Do I have stats? No, who do you imagine keeps stats like that? Although there is this – https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement) Even so, let’s assume that 99% of police officers are not overtly racist, let’s say only 1 out of every 100 officers is a “bad apple.” That would still mean that 7,000 full-time police officers were overt racists. That would equal 140 racist officers per state, on average. “A few bad apples.” This is a huge problem, but it’s still not THE problem.]
I appreciate the police. I know they put their lives on the line every day. I know they are out there to protect me, my rights, and my property. But I’m a blue-eyed, middle-class, middle-aged, White male who has always been treated with respect by the police. Even when I broke the law.
When I was caught smoking pot as a teen they just took it from me and “gave me a warning.” When they came to the door during a party full of stoned, underage, White kids drinking out of a keg, they just politely asked that we “keep it down.” When they pulled me over for speeding they didn’t ask me to get out of the car or frisk me, they just politely asked for my license. I have never been stopped randomly on the street by police officers. I have never had someone call the cops because I was walking through their neighborhood and I “looked suspicious.” I have no reason to complain – and this is my privilege.
I have listened to countless Black Americans recount their experiences and those experiences bear no similarity to my own. We don’t have to rely on anecdotal accounts – the numbers bear it out. Despite the fact that marijuana use among Black and Whites is about the same (young White adults use it a little more), Black people are almost four times more likely to be arrested for possession, in some states that disparity balloons to 8-times more likely (https://www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers). In New York, even after much touted reforms to “stop and frisk” policies, young Black and Latino males accounted for 38% of stops although they made up only 5% of the population and 80% of them were found completely innocent. Force was used against Black and Latinos over 21,000 times compared to approximately 2,200 times with White suspects. That’s an order of magnitude (10x) difference. Remember, this is AFTER reforms (https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/nyclu-releases-report-analyzing-nypd-stop-and-frisk-data).
People of color are stopped because they are people of color. When they “fit the description of a suspect” it too often just means they aren’t White. Black Americans have a reason to fear the police. They are routinely harassed, physically assaulted, and killed just for being Black.
Why is this happening?
Because the police are here to protect me. They have always been here to protect me. To protect my wealth, my property, and my advantage.
When Black Americans ceased to be the property of White Americans they lost what little protection they had as “White man’s property” and became a threat to their former owners. They became a threat to White wealth and White privilege. They were denied property, voting rights, and jobs. They were scorned, disparaged, and forced to live in areas with poor infrastructure. When they were able to build thriving communities for themselves, those communities were destroyed (https://www.bet.com/news/national/2019/12/17/not-just-tulsa–five-other-race-massacres-that-devastated-black.html). All of this enforced by the police. Upholding the law. When they rose up in protest against the discriminatory laws and policies, Black Americans were beaten, jailed, and killed.
This isn’t ancient history, this is happening every day. Every time a White person calls the police to report a “suspicious” Black person in their neighborhood or an African American bird watcher in the park or Black people in the swimming pool. Every time a young Black man is shot for pulling out his wallet after being asked for his ID.
We can’t close our eyes and pretend that the police protect everybody when two White men jump out of their truck to assassinate an innocent Black man and no charges are filed – until a video of the incident goes viral over two months later. Over two months later. Think about that. The only reason we know about many of these incidents is because they were caught by someone’s cell phone. How many more times has this happened off-camera? I’ve lost count of the number of videos of racist abuse by police that I’ve seen over the last few years. It’s not just George Floyd, or Ahmaud Arbery, or Breonna Taylor – those are just a few names we know from this year.
Are you tired of hearing about it? Are you White? Me too. Now imagine how tired you’d be if you were a Black person and every hour of every day you had to worry about whether your father or son or mother or sister or brother or daughter was going to be the next name on the list.
This is unacceptable and anyone that continues to accept it is complicit.
We, all Americans, and especially White Americans, need to speak up, support our fellow citizens, educate ourselves, and educate those that don’t understand. We need to stand with those that fear for their lives and insist that they too be protected. We need to throw out the “bad apples” whenever we find them and we need to hold up and applaud the few good apples that are brave enough to stand up and hold others accountable (https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/04/david-brown-chicago-police-code-of-silence-copa-cpd-misconduct/), that walk with the citizens in protest (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/police-protesters-together/index.html), and that kneel in support of equal justice (https://www.npr.org/2020/06/07/871751049/d-c-police-officer-on-why-he-took-a-knee-with-protesters). But more than anything, we need to smash the barrel.
Join in the fight for police reform, understand that calls to “defund the police” are NOT cries for anarchy, but an insistence that the institutions that claim to “protect and serve” be rebuilt so that they actually protect and serve. We do not need, nor have we ever needed, a militarized police force that treats our communities like war zones.
Start here https://www.eji.org and don’t stop.
I don’t know that I’m quite at “defund the police” level yet (Maybe demilitarize the police), but I sure wish more people were willing to listen and empathize.
So many of my Right-leaning friends are so quick to change the subject to what they think the real problem(s) might be, and it’s like, “Can we talk about this part though? Can you listen and reflect a little bit?”
There’s a lot we’ve never been taught, or that we’ve been allowed to ignore. Listening to other voices and experiences is the only way I know of to get past the assumption that we have these racial issues and disparities figured out. (and what do you know! The solutions always have nothing to do with me, no real responsibility or burden on my part, just a call for others to sort themselves out on their own).