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Police Aren’t Racist — Everyone Is
Racism is pervasive throughout American society, and, if we’re going to rip it out by the roots, it starts with addressing economic inequality.
I’ve heard people describe police officers in the most malicious language they can muster, and, to a degree, I can sympathize with the sentiment. I’ve had police search me on the side of the road for no apparent reason. I’ve had a police officer call me a “bitch” and a “faggot” and draw his gun on me without the slightest reciprocation of provocation — and I wasn’t even an adult yet. I’ve heard countless stories and watched innumerable videos of police officers committing atrocious and unwarranted acts of violence. As a white and Hispanic individual, I can’t even imagine what fear and animosity police engender in members of America’s Black community.
The title of this article is a little bit misleading, because many police are in fact racists, and every piece of the criminal justice system, from policing to sentencing, is racially biased. What I mean to say is: Of course, police are racist — everyone is. If you took a hundred police officers, and switched them out with a hundred random Americans, you’d end up with the same racial bias.
