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
 |
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.”
