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http://theabundantwife.com/toddler-tuesday-hammer-time/
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I’ve been thinking about what our country would look like if we all did our jobs the way our police officers have been trained to do theirs. I’m imagining my amazing friend, Erin, who runs a day care. I’m sure many times every day, she has to respond to one of her citizens who won’t put the toy hammer down to sit quietly and listen to story time. Would the appropriate response be for her to gather all of her staff so that they could arm themselves and surround the little citizen? Would that conflict best be managed by barking orders, and then beating him up if he did not obey?”
I’m
remembering how it is sometimes difficult to get the busy surgeons to respond
to my phone calls when I need to clarify an order. It is frustrating to
bear the responsibility of simultaneously protecting the patient’s safety and
efficiently treating them without the information I need from the prescribing
physician. In fact, sometimes I even feel disrespected. I could
solve my problem by enlisting some of my colleagues to go with me and barge
into the OR. We could then pin the doctor in a choke hold on the floor
until he either died of a crushed windpipe or managed to squeak out an answer
to my question.
I am
wondering what would happen if you went to the hair salon and ignored the
polite sign to refrain from using a cell phone. (Because that never
happens, right?) What if, after repeated requests to either put away the
phone or leave, you still refused? Would the hair stylist then be
justified in full-body tackling you, flipping your chair over, and throwing you
across the floor?
How about
if I’m walking down the hall of the hospital and happen upon one of the staff
from Employee Health, who realizes I am non-compliant with TB testing? Maybe I
turn around to run the other direction after she confronts me, making her give
chase. Is she then OK to pull out her duly registered concealed weapon,
shoot me in the back, and kill me? I mean, an employee running around the
hospital with potential TB is a danger to patients, right?
Obviously,
all of these scenarios are completely absurd. (At least I hope it is
obvious to you. If not, we have bigger problem than even I realized.) It
would simply be unacceptable to escalate every problematic situation we
encounter because we are allowing ourselves to overreact to our own bias.
Why then, are any of us willing to accept the same conflict management
strategies from our police? Especially when those strategies make an
already dangerous line of work more dangerous?
Why is escalation the default response to so many situations involving a
non-white citizen? It does not make any
damn sense.
The killing of Tamir Rice affords us another sick and tragic example. It was the police department, itself which escalated a non-violent situation into a murder. First, all the pertinent facts reported to dispatch, such as that it was a kid with probably a toy gun, were not passed along to the responding officers. Not Tamir's fault. Secondly, the responding officers created the perception of danger to themselves, all by themselves. It was an escalation to pull the squad car so close to the scene that the cops felt endangered. Why on earth did they not remain at a more reasonable distance in order to assess the situation for, oh I don't know, any amount of time longer than two seconds? It was not Tamir's fault that the cops swooped in already planning to kill. Those cops left room for absolutely no other outcome than a death. And when I learned they did not even try to administer aid to a dying twelve year old child...
Predictably,
the police in Cleveland are closing ranks to allow these incidents to continue.
After the decision was announced not to indict Tamir's killers, Anthony Hawkins
of the Cleveland Browns peacefully protested by wearing a shirt printed with "Justice
for Tamir Rice and John Crawford III.” According
to several news sources, Jeff Follmer, president of
the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association responded by saying,
“It’s pretty
pathetic when athletes think they know the law. They should stick to what they
know best on the field.”
What appalling
arrogance. Appalling, yet not surprising. This is exactly the kind
of blatant disregard for citizens that we in the United States find
unacceptable from “officers of the law.” What a ridiculous notion that that
regular citizens are not capable of understanding the law. Does Follmer
think all athletes are stupid, or just the black ones? Why would he think we
citizens have no right to express opinion or belief about the laws that govern
our lives? It also apparently escaped his notice that Mr. Hawkins was not
even commenting on the law; he was calling for justice. The two concepts are
very widely separated in this country, especially for minorities. Justice was
in no way served for Tamir Rice or his grieving family.
Mr.
Follmer, I am neither a legal scholar nor an athlete, but let me assure you I
recognize a corrupt system and a miscarriage of justice when I see them. I
stand with Andrew Hawkins when he said,
"I was taught that justice is a right that every
American should have. Also justice should be the goal of every American. I
think that’s what makes this country. To me, justice means the innocent should
be found innocent. It means that those who do wrong should get their due punishment.
Ultimately, it means fair treatment. So a call for justice shouldn’t offend or
disrespect anybody. A call for justice shouldn’t warrant an apology."
A call
for justice does NOT offend or disrespect. A call for justice does NOT warrant
an apology. The very fact that Follmer would dare to disagree confirms he
either has a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept or that he believes
police are not bound by it. Excessive violence does not make the police officers safer. It doesn’t make
anyone safer. It’s time to try something smarter. It’s
time for all of us to stand up and demand better.
