America’s top cop
had an opportunity to say America needs police reform. He blew it. Instead, he defended racist cops and killer cops.
“FBI Director James Comey used a speech at Georgetown University on Thursday to comment on the contentious debate over race and criminal justice in America …. Comey said the United States is at a crossroads in how it approaches policing and race relations.”
No, we’re not at a crossroads; we’re in a crisis.
“He suggested both minority communities and law enforcement officials have to confront a series of ‘hard truths’ to make progress in repairing the frayed bonds of trust between cops and the communities they serve.”
No, the innocent people being killed by cops don’t share in the fault; their deaths are 100% the fault of the racist cops who profiled them and gunned them down.
“He highlighted research showing that people in a majority-white society react differently to black people on a subconscious level.”
It doesn’t take high-falutin’ research to know that cops are profiling and picking on black people. Just ask the black people. For example, ask the 70-year-old retired Metro bus driver who was arrested, handcuffed, and thrown in jail by a white female Seattle police officer for standing on a street corner minding his own business.
“‘If we can’t help our latent biases, we can help our behavior in response to those instinctive reactions, which is why we work to design system and processes to overcome that very human part of us all,’ he explained.”
Huh? We? Our? Where did the plural pronouns come from? … And then Tonto turns to the Lone Ranger and says, “What you mean, we, white man?” (If you don’t get this joke, post a comment, and I’ll explain it.)
“He suggested that, in areas where a majority of crime is committed by non-white residents, police officers can be conditioned to more closely scrutinize members of minority communities – a tactic some would label racial profiling. Comey described the practice as a ‘mental shortcut.’ ‘Those of us in law enforcement must double down on fixing biases,’ he added. ‘We must resist shortcuts and laziness.'”
No, profiling isn’t a mental shortcut or laziness, it’s racism. Let’s call things by their right now.
“He also offered a defense of law enforcement officers, though, saying most of them are not racists, and that they entered the police force to help the community, regardless of race.”
We’re not complaining about good, decent cops — the vast majority of cops — who do their job properly. That’s not what tens of thousands of fed-up citizens are demonstrating about. They’ve had it with the bad apples. That’s who I’m talking about here, too, and in all my other posts and comments about America’s bad cops and police abuses.
“‘Racial bias isn’t epidemic in law enforcement any more than it’s epidemic in academia or the arts,’ he said.”
But it matters more when you carry a badge, a gun, and have arrest authority, and hold in your hands the state’s power to alter or destroy lives. Trying to deflect criticism away from racist cops by claiming professors, artists, and dancers are racists, too — without any evidence to back that up — is bullshit. We, the public, are tired of hearing bullshit from cops. We want the profiling, the killings, and the abuse of citizens to stop.
“‘In fact, I believe law enforcement overwhelmingly attracts people who want to do good for a living – people who risk their lives because they want to help other people. They don’t sign up to be cops in New York or Chicago or [Los Angeles] to help white people or black people or Hispanic people or Asian people,’ he said. ‘They sign up because they want to help all people, and they do some of the hardest, most dangerous policing to protect communities or color.'”
Thanks, we’ll keep those cops, and we appreciate them. Now, what are you going to do about bad cops?
“His comments marked the first time the FBI’s top leader has opined so publicly and candidly on the subject of race and law enforcement.”
What took him so long?
“Several other top law enforcement officials have also waded into that debate in recent months, but their efforts, more often than not, have engendered controversy. Both Attorney General Eric Holder and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio commented on the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York City, but critics said their input unfairly maligned the law enforcement community.”
Those “critics” are mostly police union officials who generally speaking are unrestrained in making known their contempt for President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Mayor de Blasio, demonstrators against police racism and violence, and pretty much anyone else who criticizes cops who bully and kill citizens instead of enforcing the laws fairly and impartially. Why should anyone listen to them?
Director Comey clearly isn’t listening to the citizens. President Obama, fire his ass. Now. And then put someone in that position who understands that America is facing a policing crisis and will use his office to help create solutions to that problem.