The increasing problem
with police-citizen interactions is not solved by speaking truth to power but
by changing the cultural and social norms that support violence
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Boston police facing activists
during an anti-war demonstration |
The
Only Truly Compliant, Submissive Citizen in a Police State Is a Dead One, says
Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead. Providing anecdotal evidence of victims
of police violence who were compliant and still ended up being injured or
killed, Whitehead concludes that being compliant with a police directive
doesn’t necessarily mean someone will come out of an interaction with a police
officer unscathed.
The solution to the problem, he suggests, is to “adopt a
different mindset and follow a different path if we are to alter the outcome of
interactions with police.” He says, “... history shows us a different path, one
that involves standing up and speaking truth to power.”
Speaking truth to power in its most basic sense—saying
something to those in authority they don’t want to hear— is important and
necessary. But concurrently, and most importantly, it requires a paradigm shift
in the way we think about those in authority. It requires a fundamental shift
in the way we view violence. In other words, we need to adopt new sets of
values and expectations.
Likewise, actions and behaviors of police only reflect what
we are culturally and socially as a nation. Police are like us, and influenced
culturally and socially like us. The reason police take a military stance, using
excessive force in interactions with citizens, is that they don’t know what to
expect. In America, there is a prevalence of guns, violence, and disrespect
commonly followed by some form of violence, so when push comes to shove a
police officer tends to shoot first and ask questions later.
Collectively, we share the power to influence those in
authority, and we have the power to influence the laws and forces that inculcates
acceptance of violence as a cultural and social norm. But only if we put our
hearts and minds to the task can we facilitate change.
So, in order to alter the outcome in police-citizen
interactions, to solve the police problem, we need to change us. That's the
hard problem, but the only viable solution.
Copyright © 2015 Horatio Green
