GreenGoo wrote:
I'm all for civil disobedience for what you believe in. But you need to understand and accept the consequences of those actions, assuming those consequences are lawful and proportional.
I'm in total agreement with this statement, however, my friends and family don't always agree with me. I mean, when has resisting arrest ever worked out for someone?
Frankly, I believe our country has it backwards with regard to policemen. These are people that have to deal with all of the violent and terrible situations in our society...and risk their lives doing it. Their pay is not requisite to the risks they face or the shit they have to go through on a weekly basis. They should be the most intelligent, highly-paid, best-trained and psychologically-vetted men and women in this role...but they aren't. Most of them need a second job to supplement their income. They are called for domestic disturbances, murders, robberies, sexual assaults, etc. I'd imagine these situations would make me expect the worst in people in their interactions.
I don't EVER give a cop an attitude...not out of fear...but to respect the fact that I don't need to make their job any worse.
I'm white and was treated (briefly) very rudely while in my mini-van with my seven year-old daughter in a car seat. I had inadvertently entered the wrong u-turn lane from a newly built grocery store in the front of my neighborhood. Of course, the only car coming from far away was a police car. I was able to correctly turn back the correct direction and pulled into the parking lot I had originally was trying to enter. I didn't even know it was a cop car until I had started entering the lot. I was getting out of the car at CVS thinking the cop was going to ask what the hell I was doing, and he shouted "Stay in the car!". I was like, okay, no problem...and a little surprised. He proceeded to rudely ask if I realized I had gone the wrong way and I say, "Yes, I was just not aware that lane was the wrong direction since the sign was angled a bit weird. It's a new cross-over." After asking where I lived (which was in the neighborhood, he again rudely asked how I didn't know this, I pointed to the Grand Opening sign over the HEB and said "It just opened...I never crossed here before tonight". He took my DL and checked it...after that, TOTALLY different personality after that. I don't know if he saw my lack of criminal record or what, but he was all sunshine after that. Keep in mind, I was in dress slacks and business shirt...with my daughter...in a min-van. He was a white cop.
I don't believe they should be given a free pass if they do something terrible. I also don't believe every cop is a minority-killing monster. They're people...both good and bad people.
