“The head of the Cleveland Police Union is demanding an apology after Cleveland Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins wore a shirt before Sunday’s game that read, ‘Justice for Tamir Rice – John Crawford.'”
Hawkins politely explained on Monday why he won’t apologize.
The most charitable thing I can say about these outraged police unions is they lack a sense of proportion as far as outrage goes. They could use more public relations sense, too. We give cops authority to use force to protect us when necessary. When a cop kills a child playing with a toy gun, we’d at least like them to their mistake. But what we get from cops and their unions is this:
1. Tragic incidents are the victim’s fault.
2. You can’t ask a cop questions.
3. You can’t argue with a cop.
4. You can’t videotape a cop.
5. You can’t criticize a cop.
6. Cops can do no wrong.
If you’re a high-profile athlete and you wear a t-shirt protesting the shooting of a 12-year-old kid by a rookie cop who was sacked by his previous employer because he was considered mentally unsuitable for police work, the head of a cop union calls you “pathetic” person and demands an apology. You would hope that cops, of all people, would possess enough sense of justice to see what’s wrong with this. But it seems that some don’t. Which raises the question of whether they should be cops.
