I honestly think that “the talk” that black mothers and fathers have with their young sons is a contributing factor to the resistance to police typified in all these “resisting a LEO” videos/episodes we’re seeing. Honestly, if you are told/reminded regularly, “Now, I want you to watch out when talking to police. You be careful! Don’t you give them a reason to think you’re dangerous. They might overreact just like they did with (fill in the blank),” you are going to be uptight, wondering if your “day” has arrived.
“The talk” immediately puts them on high alert (justified or not) and that will affect behavior.
The other side of the coin is this. When whites walking down the street/in the mall/wherever are confronted by a group of young black youths, they will (these days) have their radar activated (people here talk about having your head on a swivel/be aware of your surroundings all the time). This influences body language. Body language projects outward and people pick up on it. I’ve heard groups of young black males walking in the mall commenting to each other “Did you see how scared that (fill in your favorite epithet here) looked!” I’ve seen young black males walking around trying to create fear in whites as they pass by. This “dance,” while, perhaps, momentarily satisfying for young black males, actually serves to further the separation/intensify the suspicions.
What’s the “gangsta” look all about anyhow?
I honestly think that “the talk” that black mothers and fathers have with their young sons is a contributing factor to the resistance to police typified in all these “resisting a LEO” videos/episodes we’re seeing. Honestly, if you are told/reminded regularly, “Now, I want you to watch out when talking to police. You be careful! Don’t you give them a reason to think you’re dangerous. They might overreact just like they did with (fill in the blank),” you are going to be uptight, wondering if your “day” has arrived.
As a white man, I know that you need to cooperate with police up to answering irrelevant questions. But you must always be respectful, no matter how much of a turd the cop is.
I told my wife, after watching some of these videos of blacks getting shot by cops that I can’t relate to the guy that gets shot. And it’s not because of their race. It’s because of their action. Who the heck runs from police at a traffic stop? Who the heck fights them? Who the heck, after telling the cop he has a gun, reaches down to the gun?!!!
That is just STOOOOOOPID.
No wonder they are getting shot.
Now, the one black guy who got shot that I COULD relate to was the one outside his car, that when the cop asked him to give him ID, he reached in his car for his wallet. It was a reasonable thing to do. However, I learned from that that even then it looks like I need to tell the cop, “I’m reaching for my wallet in the car”, and if the cop says, don’t, I stop and wait for further instructions.
“The talk” should focus on why cops need to be careful and that you need to respect that.
And the Chris Rock video is very instructive.
“There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.... After all we have been through. Just to think we can’t walk down our own streets, how humiliating.” - Jesse Jackson