Ferguson +

Trying to get a handle on the big picture.

This is America. As we see daily on social media, talk radio, and television, there is no requirement to actually have facts or know what we’re talking about to express an opinion. Facts, real facts, are in short supply, so people on both sides of the equation mutate opinions viewed through their own biased lenses and call them facts. Was Michael Brown a young man on the verge of turning his life around or a punk with a juvenile record? Could he have been both? Where do you stand on the possibility of redemption even if it were the latter? I have no answers to these questions (joining a long list). A young life lost or wasted is always tragic.

Empathy became a dirty word some years ago. Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh mocked the concept. Of course, I think he and his ilk have clearly, and on an almost daily basis,  become eminently mockable themselves. I know John Stewart is grateful for them. I also believe empathy is a crucial attribute if we are to become the society we say we want to be, the society to which we, and our founding documents, aspire. That feeling of empathy cannot be a convenience. It cannot be applied to only one person or group, only for people who look or act like you. Like pregnancy, you either are (empathetic) or you ain’t. (Of course, like empathy, HOW pregnant you are is an ongoing process.)

I’ve known more than a few cops, dedicated and decorated public servants. The SROs I knew at Hancock were good men who cared about the kids (all of them, black and white) and the community. I am proud of the several former students who have taken on the thankless job of law enforcement. It’s not a job I could do, not a job I would want to do. I had enough trouble trying to enforce classroom discipline and hated it when I had to get tough, even out of self-preservation or for the benefit of a larger group, like other kids in the classroom. 

But I absolutely do feel empathy for police officers; I feel even more for their families and loved ones. If you carry a gun as part of your job (not for fun or fear or some misdirected need to demonstrate your rights or masculinity), your job is, by definition, at least potentially dangerous. There are people who will try to do you harm just for doing the job with which you are tasked by society.

Your family, knowing that, will worry about you every minute you’re on the job, and your friends and family will want you to not only be vigilant but to (aggressively?) protect yourself so that you can return home to them safely. That is even easier to empathize with. Hesitating, waiting even a second or two to act, can have fatal consequences, not just for the officer but his/her family. These are human beings making these split-second decisions and their own lives hang in the balance.

But I can empathize, as well, with those who face the consequences of an embattled law-enforcement officer’s (perhaps justifiable) paranoia or instinct for self-preservation. Was there really a threat to the officer’s safety or well-being? Did (s)he over-react, based on that perceived threat? How would we have acted or reacted in those same circumstances. I know only that I do not want to have to find out. However, the answers to those question change nothing for the, I don’t want to use the word “victim” too casually here, person who is on the other side of the equation. 

It is naïve to think that there are no police officers who are overly aggressive. Some are bullies. Some are just not nice people; of course, that is true of every profession and occupation, including my former calling. Some start out that way, others evolve doing a job that requires them to interact, day after day after day, with people who do not respect society, laws, others, even themselves. It is completely understandable that many have developed something of a siege mentality, a feeling that too many in society view them as more of a problem than a solution when they are simply trying to protect and serve some of those same people. That pervasive negative view, and their resulting attitude in response, seems almost inevitable, given the nature and pressures of the job, especially in tougher locales. But let’s be honest with ourselves here, at least a few are closet bigots.

Even I have had to deal with these types, and I’m an old white guy with zero criminal tendencies or even opportunities. As the Ferguson situation erupted and devolved, I couldn’t help but recall a time driving in Dalton, Georgia, as a tourist, confused about which way to turn. I’m sure I was driving a little erratically (not dangerously, there was no one else on the road) when the red lights started flashing behind me. I was treated with courtesy and respect, given directions, and sent on my way. But what if I had been black? Would it have turned out the same way? Pardon my skepticism if I think that’s a legitimate question, and not just in Dalton, Georgia.