Do Not Defund The Police Without Educating Our Black Boys
“Do not wash your hands to sweep the ground.”
It’s a Haitian proverb that has a special place in the way I structure my life. That proverbial logic can also be the center of police brutality conversations. Actually, I don’t know if it’s a Haitian proverb, but I’ve first heard it in Haiti.
Education, in the black community, is a grave problem. One might even conclude that our credulity has caused us to be manipulative. It saddens me to see African countries at war for no apparent reason. Ninety-Five percent of the Haitian population is African descent, but still facing a lot of social and economic problems. Wouldn’t you think a country with 95% Blacks could be able to compromise? No. The simplest reason is that Black People’s priorities are backward.
In 1804, 216 years ago, Haiti had become the first independent black country in history. Imagine an enslaved black nation, with no army training, that fought the powerful French Colony army, kicked them out of the island, and then claimed its independence. And today, Haiti doesn’t even have access to electricity. There’s oppression, for sure, and there’s a coexisting problem — a black people problem.
Obama is the first black president of the free world, but he didn’t visit Haiti during his Twenty-Second Amendment. How symbolic and reassuring this would’ve been? Or is it that the unity ideology isn’t vital for black people?
The moment a race stop questioning its purpose is the moment it ceases to exist. We stop asking questions because there’s comfort in not knowing the answers.
Let’s say we want to avoid pronouncing statistics because they are all over the internet. What if we were going to make some passionate arguments?
Before everything, let’s make sure that we underline the problems with the police force. We have seen videos where some police officers have used excessive force until they murdered innocent black people. One time is too many. They need to bring them to justice and pay for their crimes. There should be no pass — no excuses for using your privilege to kill. We should not allow the Union to defend once all evidence is on tape. Police officers are to enforce the laws. No one is above the law. We sure understand that we need to bring all crimes to light.
Now, let’s cut to the chase. Defunding the police is not the answer. Politicizing ‘the call to defund the police’ is another problem. Although defunding the police needs political back-up, yet it should remain a social handicap.
History won’t be happy with our stands for police brutalities. No governmental entities were never serious about any reforms. The police unions always back them up because they need to keep or renew their contracts. Instead of going after the police force as a whole, we should focus on the police unions. They are the ones kneeling on our necks.
We should be clear about our intentions and what we want. Police officers need protection too. They are employees like the rest of us. However, police unions need little or no influence when officers are being prosecuted for unlawful conduct. In other words, Qualified Immunity is strangling this black-generation.
We can defund or reform the police force as much as we want, but the corrupt police officers will never be out of the streets. Defunding or Reforming the police won’t stop them from being racists, aggressive, and lawless.
“Defunding the police” will not be helpful without conversations. We need to have conversations about police encounters with our black kids. We talk to our kids about sex because we deem it necessary. So why not having conversations about police interactions?
Conversations about police interactions are as meaningful as sex. Police interaction’s dialogue is a matter of life and death. Some people have premature sex, make mistakes, but still catch a second chance later in life. But I’ve never heard or seen a black person killed by a police officer coming back to life for a second chance. Let’s put our priorities in order. What would be the appropriate age to start talking to our kids about police brutalities?
Conversations with kids about life issues are scary. But it all depends on the messenger. Sex education is an uncomfortable subject for parents. Yet, we still find ways to institute it. We have to make police brutality part of our parenting practices.
“I know my right” can quickly escalate a situation and cost us a black kid’s life.
When you know your rights, you remain calm. When you know how powerful you are as a civilian, you do not resist. Take it easy and sue the said police department afterward. I’ve talked about bringing resources together in my article “ The Misconception Of The Black Lives Matter Movement.” African-American Attorneys need to form a coalition to protect us. We will force the police force to reform after winning countless lawsuits. No institutions in America want to be sued, repeatedly. I don’t know any businesses that are in the getting-sued-industry.
As much as we are promoting Black Lives Matter, we need to prevent hideous Interaction With The Police.
We can’t expect them to make all the efforts. As black parents, we need to play our parts. The Democratic party and the government can do so much. At least, last time I checked, none of them cares about us.
What about us, black parents? What are our roles in the Black Lives Matter Movement? Are we going to let the system take our black boys away? We already know challenging the authority of a police officer isn’t working for us. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather stand in court than in church.
Black Parents, let’s converse with our kids.
We can’t call for defunding the police without educating our black kids about their rights and how to interact with the police. A shady police officer will not change his ways, no matter how far we go with defunding. Our black kids will never come back to life. Aggravating an arrest is a free pass to corrupt officers to exercise their malice. Do not feed them more black-bodies.
Education starts at home. We all can agree we have learned principles from our parents that have never left us. We need to educate our black boys and the black community about the causes of police brutalities. We need to be smarter when tackling our problems. Knowing your rights have nothing to do with resisting arrest or challenging authorities.
My point is not to give police officers with an agenda more reasons to kill us, or our kids. Sometimes, there’s nothing in the world that can prevent a police officer from killing us no matter how prepared, woke, and nice we are to them. Some other times, it can be avoided.
Calling out all Black Parents in America; Let’s Do Our Parts.
