Bad Apples
Not all cops are guilty of racism or using excessive force or abusing their power. Many police officers really do try to make things better and use their authority to help their communities. None of that matters right now though. Here’s why:
Imagine a school with 100 teachers. Imagine that 10 of those teachers sexually abused children on a regular basis. Now imagine that the other 90 “good” teachers, who did not abuse children knew about the abuse that the children were suffering at the hands of their colleagues but said nothing... did nothing.
Imagine that those 90 teachers did everything else right. Aside from their conspicuous silence and inaction they otherwise acted in the best interest of the students within their own classrooms.
Imagine that the administration was also aware of this abuse and they also said nothing... did nothing.
Imagine that for some reason the abusers overwhelmingly abused little black and brown children while your white children were typically left alone and received a generally good education.
Now imagine that the public started to catch wind of the daily abuse that was happening to the black students at the school and the black (and many white) parents started to call for wholesale change.
Would you choose that moment to come to the defense of those 90 teachers who watched the abuse for years and said nothing about it... did nothing about it?
Would you share pleasant and heartwarming photos of those “good” teachers and extol their virtues with captions like “not all the teachers at the school are bad” and “there are only a few bad apples, don’t paint them all with the same brush”? (By the way, the rest of the “few bad apples” saying that is so often mobilized to point out all the “good” cops out there is “A few bad apples SPOIL THE BUNCH”.)
Would you point out that your children had always received a good education and that the teachers were a necessary part of the community?
Would you point to photos of some of the “good” teachers comforting a black student after they were raped by one of the “bad” teachers as evidence that some of the teachers really do care, despite the fact that they didn’t tell anyone about the rape or call out their colleague for having committed it?
If so, would you still come to their defense if it were your children who were being abused? Would you defend and commend the teachers who watched your children being raped and said nothing... did nothing?
No? Then please stop coming to the defense of the “good” cops right now.
When the police start calling out their colleagues for actual instances of abuse of power, racism, and excessive force whenever and wherever they see them (as opposed to nebulous calls for change or condemnation of their colleagues’ actions after the public finds out about them and gets upset.) When they refuse to be a part of unions that protect their murderous coworkers from the consequences of their actions. When they make the changes that are necessary for the police to actually start protecting and serving all of our citizens instead of just some of them. Then we can all come to their defense as good cops and good humans. Until then, I really don’t want to hear about how “good” so many of them are.
I understand the tendency to want to protect your friends. I understand the idea that snitching is a shameful act and should often be avoided. But just as a teacher who said nothing of the ongoing abuse of a child would share in the blame for that abuse, so too do the police who watch their colleagues abuse innocent citizens and say nothing. When we charge you with the education of our children, you give up the right to put the protection your colleagues’ misdeeds ahead of the well-being of your students. Similarly, when we give you a badge and a gun and charge you with our protection, you give up the right to put the protection of your colleagues’ crimes above the good of the general public.
No more excuses. No more equivocation. You can start calling them good cops when they start truly deserving the title.
