Respond to Outrage by Painting Cop as Hero
The flip side to blaming the Black victim is painting the white cop as a hero. These two actions work in tandem on the American psyche. Just as intrenched racism inflates the threat posed by young Black young males, the public is primed by images from movies and TV of the brave heroic cop who puts his life on the line in the name of justice.
Sunil Dutta, an adjunct instructor at Colorado Technical University and police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, discusses his version of this narrative in a Washington Post Op-ed titled, “I’m a Cop. If You Don’t Want to Get Hurt, Don’t Challenge Me.”
Dutta writes, “Officers are rarely at fault. When they use force, they are defending their, or the public’s, safety.”
“Here is the bottom line,” he continues, “if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge.
“Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking toward me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?”
What is so outrageous about Dutta’s viewpoint is that it implies that Brown and other victims of police brutality had to have wronged the offending officers in some way. They must have, because cops are so impeccably trained, would never stray from protocol and most certainly would not murder people, according to Dutta.
However, this view is contradicted by the video released last month of the Staten Island police officer using the prohibited chokehold maneuver that lead to the death of 44-year-old Eric Garner.
Garner, an asthmatic, was pinned to the ground – not arguing, screaming or threatening – just pleading to be allowed to breathe.
