What is Racism?

I am only a soon to be retired street cop hoping to start a writing career, so I went to Webster for the answer.

Webster defines Racism as:(A) belief that some races are by nature superior to others – Discrimination based on such belief.

I’m not a rich man so that definition is from the 1968 printing of “The New Merriam Webster Pocket Dictionary”- I don’t believe the definition has changed drastically since then unless, of course, you are a member of the media or an unscrupulous politician. There are others who accept the media’s version of racism and, unfortunately, riot and tear down statues to voice their displeasure.

In my job as a police officer a minority woman I was dealing with accused me of being a racist. After awhile I responded, “Why would you say that? I have been nothing but kind to you. I have answered all of your questions and treated you with respect. Why are you calling me such a nasty word?” She responded immediately, with a straight face and completely serious tone, “Because you are White.” I asked, “Are you saying all Whites are racist?” She answered, “Yes, all Whites are racist, everyone knows that.” I tried not to let the irony of her statement show on my face, she was calling me a racist and backing what she said with a racist statement. I would joke that maybe a new definition is being written, but it appears that may be the case.

Racism is evil, but is every White cop who has a violent encounter with a minority a racist, while Black cops who have violent encounters with White offenders are just doing their jobs? In Atlanta recently a White cop lost his taser to a minority subject he and two others were attempting to arrest for DUI after speaking with him and conducting field sobriety tests for several minutes. The minority subject who was actively resisting arrest fired the taser towards the police officer with the prongs going over his head. (Tasers are considered deadly weapons in Georgia).

The subject was killed after firing the taser at the officers and the officer who shot him is being charged with capitol murder- death penalty eligible.

Georgia officials interviewed after the incident had interesting comments, one said that the officers could have easily parked the subjects car and called him an Uber. This is true. It is also true that there is a case in which a police officer determined that an off-duty officer from a different jurisdiction was operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The cop who stopped him parked the off-duty cops car and arranged for him to get home safely. Some time later the officer who was given a break was involved in a fatal DUI accident. In that investigation the previous stop came to light and the officer who gave another officer a break was fired.

The DA in charge of the Atlanta case said a taser is a less than lethal weapon (After correctly calling tasers lethal weapons when a different officer aimed a taser at a subject and was brought up on charges).

I have already planned to retire. I am happier about my retirement with every one of these cases I see. If a cop is wrong he should be punished. It appears to me, however, that there has been a rush to judgement against police officers. I believe, from what I know, that the Minneapolis police officer was wrong- I have not heard anyone disputing that. I can’t understand what a cop is expected to do when he has just been shot at with a deadly weapon. Recently a New York police officer was stabbed in the neck while on duty. He did not die of his injuries, but the offender took his sidearm and killed two responding officers with it. Had that officer been hit with that taser the New York scenario might have been repeated.

As a cop, here are some things I would like you to consider.

Police are given “qualified immunity” (A doctrine that grants government officials immunity from civil suits unless their actions are shown to be a violation of clearly established constitutional or statutory rights) because they are expected to run towards the gunfire. There is now serious talk of taking that away based of the allegations of police racism.

A Wall Street Journal study found that there is no “Structural Racism” in U. S. policing (The basis for the protests and riots). They point out that 19 unarmed Whites were fatally shot by police in 2019 while 10 unarmed Blacks suffered the same fate. The article also shows that Blacks were responsible for 53% of the homicides in 2018 (The most recent year that such records are available) and 60% of the robberies while they only represent 13% of the population.

Police have 375 million annual contacts with the public. In 2019 ten unarmed Blacks (9 men and one woman) were killed by police.

Tucker Carlson of FOX NEWS said that 48 cops were killed in 2019. That was more than the total number of unarmed people of all races killed.

Seven thousand four hundred and seven Blacks were killed in 2018.

For every unarmed Black man killed by police in 2019 approximately 700 were killed by non police.

Saul Alinsky wrote, “If you repeat a lie enough, it becomes the truth.” I suspect that is what is being done with “Systemic Racism”

What are your thoughts on this? Please follow me if you like this article. Please comment if you don’t like the article. I would appreciate your input.