I get the feeling that I’m the only one who watches the whole video when people post the latest “Brutal cop beats upstanding minority scholarship winner/grandmother/wheelchair bound disabled vet/paralyzed sheep dog” videos on the web, particularly Facebook.
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Why do I watch them? Because violence of that sort is fascinating to a writer. Also, given my skills, experience, and training I see things differently. Sometimes that means that I’ll be on the sidewalk cheering when they lead officer stupid to the waiting car in cuffs. Most of the time I see where the judgement call went south but wasn’t too terrible. From time to time I see one that was done perfectly for the cops and the people involved. Other times I see videos that have been manipulated to create chaos and unrest. But I watch them and put them into their little boxes and think about them. Now I’m writing about one of them.
My friend Reggie posted one earlier today that sure looked like a young, white, female cop beat an elderly black woman and slammed her to the ground for no good reason. First glance was really horrible. Camera shook at a vital moment but stuff happens, right?
I watched the video 10 times. By the third scan I was pretty sure my hunch was right. By scan 6 I was positive about what happened. By scan 10 I knew the video was trying to stir up another racially based incident. So, take a minute to watch this 5 year old video that is now being presented on social media as an indictment of the police for brutality. I’ll explain it afterward. (Language alert!)
So, looks awful at first glance. Until you take a breath, watch it start to finish, and observe what happens. If you stop at the first flash of the woman being taken down, you’d blame the cop unless you were listening closely. If you were listening closely you’d hear the officer asking the woman to drop the knife.
Wait: isn’t that an indicator of a threat? Yup. She (the officer) neutralizes the threat. Our rule was pretty much like this: you bring a fist, I bring a stick. You bring a stick or a knife and I bring a gun. You bring a gun, I have all my friends bring guns.
The woman was evidently suffering from dementia and not all there in the incident. But when you face a knife, you face death. One slash/stab from that blade and you can die. There’s no “hit the wrist and get the knife. Why? You’re inside the threat circle and can be killed or wounded by the knife. Taser from ten feet might be good, but …not always a taser handy. So what does the cop do? She picked the middle ground and used martial arts to disarm the woman when she wouldn’t drop the knife and stand still. Beats getting shot.
Now, listen to the bystanders until the end of the tape. Lots of commentary about how she was standing in the lot waving a knife around – that’s why somebody called the police in the first place. She was a threat to herself and others. The cops can’t just say, “She’s old, she’ll tire out soon and go home.” Nope, immediate threat.
So, after watching this and posting my comment on the entry with my analysis, my friend Reggie chimed in: he approved. You see, I’m white, he’s black. But we’re brothers. At the same church. Friends, colleagues, compadres. And that relationship trumps the race-baiting nastiness that seems to be so popular in this country this week.
Two reasonable men, one white and one black, took the time to study the video and came to the same conclusion. The cops didn’t want to do it, they are clearly anguished over the woman’s being hurt. They treat her well once she’s not a threat. No beating, no nasty, no naughty. What they should do.
This weekend as you travel about, try to remove that filter on your brain. Not all cops are good, not all cops are bad. Not all black people are good, not all black people are bad. Not all white people are good, not all white people are bad. But we are all people. Children of the living God. What say we act like it and treat our brothers and sisters well until they prove themselves unworthy. Optics matter. Color doesn’t.
In the meantime, I wonder if Reggie is up for dinner after church? I need to break bread with a man of valor and conviction. A man who values truth over teams.
