truthdogg:">Praising a mom for beating her son suggests only violence can discipline black kids. And she doesn’t feel heroic VIDEOI’ve seen a lot of commentary suggesting that the police chief just doesn’t get it, that in praising this mother he missed that fact that she was actually protecting her son from him.
But I think that was his point.
We hear over and over that “if you don’t resist, you won’t be shot.” Yet resistance is not a capital offense, or at least it isn’t supposed to be. This is a shaky peace enforced by terror– another way of saying the same thing is “if you resist, we will kill you.”
That–the latter statement–is the message communities are hearing from police all over the country, and the message that about half of this nation endorses and repeats. That is the message the police chief was reinforcing when he praised Toya Graham. She was protecting her son by stopping his resistance, and therefore saving him from what the chief implies is a suitable police action.
“If you resist, we will kill you” is the clear message that led Toya Graham to protect her son. It’s the message that Freddie Gray’s death, Eric Garner’s death, Mike Brown’s death, and thousands of others–many known, many not–sends to their communities. That’s not an accident, or a by-product of a separate problem, that’s the overarching idea that is being enforced and the message that is being deliberately broadcast.
The chief had to know that Toya Graham was protecting her son from police. The problem, the disconnect that police forces around the country are showing us, is that too many police believe that killing is their right and is a necessity.
The hideous white hypocrisy behind the Baltimore “Hero Mom” hype: How clueless media applause excuses police brutality
Praising a mom for beating her son suggests only violence can discipline black kids. And she doesn’t feel heroic VIDEOI’ve seen a lot of commentary suggesting that the police chief just doesn’t get it, that in praising this mother he missed that fact that she was actually protecting her son from him.
But I think that was his point.
We hear over and over that “if you don’t resist, you won’t be shot.” Yet resistance is not a capital offense, or at least it isn’t supposed to be. This is a shaky peace enforced by terror– another way of saying the same thing is “if you resist, we will kill you.”
That–the latter statement–is the message communities are hearing from police all over the country, and the message that about half of this nation endorses and repeats. That is the message the police chief was reinforcing when he praised Toya Graham. She was protecting her son by stopping his resistance, and therefore saving him from what the chief implies is a suitable police action.
“If you resist, we will kill you” is the clear message that led Toya Graham to protect her son. It’s the message that Freddie Gray’s death, Eric Garner’s death, Mike Brown’s death, and thousands of others–many known, many not–sends to their communities. That’s not an accident, or a by-product of a separate problem, that’s the overarching idea that is being enforced and the message that is being deliberately broadcast.
The chief had to know that Toya Graham was protecting her son from police. The problem, the disconnect that police forces around the country are showing us, is that too many police believe that killing is their right and is a necessity.