Is there a connection between racism, police brutality, and the education level of police officers? Charles Ellison discusses.
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Some years ago during a phone riff on the root causes and consequences of police brutality with a corrections officer turned activist, the conversation took an unusual turn when the advocate spit passionately about the education level of cops.
“You want to know one big reason why cops beat Black folks up?” they asked. “They aren’t the most educated bunch.”
Meaning most — especially on beats or making rounds along prison corridors — don’t have college degrees. It may have seemed trivial at the time, but there’s a point in it. The act of police brutality against people of color might seem like senseless violence triggered by irreparable racist insanity, but that’s letting the cops who commit the acts, the police departments who train them and the governments who fund them get off light.
Hence, are we really being all that smart and thoughtful about how we respond to grisly, nonsensical acts of brutality by police organizations? It’s not a trick question: what happened overnight in Ferguson, Missouri offers some quick answers. While the beatings, chokings and killings of unarmed Black men and women continue stacking up, it’s not like we’ve seen any noticeable drop in the incidents. In protesting the brutality, we see the typical wide range of reactions based on who’s reacting: if it’s the traditional civil rights community, everyone’s pissed but telling those affected to stay calm; if it’s you at your screen, you’re more than likely fuming at tweets and hashtagging with everyone else; and, in some cases, if you’re Black, poor and powerless in the vicinity of some random tragedy, some of you occasionally pursue creative or destructive means by which you shake shit up, as is the case with Ferguson.
While these reactions might, in some way, help soothe the soul with the chicken soup of immediate emotional gratification, it’s not like it truly resolves the issue for the long term. We instinctively know it will happen again. The usual set of suspects racing to the scene of the crime — whether it’s a battalion of Black preachers or a legion of talk show hosts looking to hit a trend — might make some immediate dent in the crisis, but that often amounts to nothing more than crowd control. Some tweaks are made in departmental procedures, some officers are suspended or disappear into anonymity (if not rarely jailed) and commissions are formed.
The typical move is to prosecute the officers and call for more cooperation strategies between police agencies and local communities. But, maybe we’re not seeing any progress on this issue because we’re going down the wrong rabbit holes or not considering some crucial questions.
A Department of Justice analysis found that 82 percent of local police departments only require a high school diploma for employment, 16% require a college degree, including 9 percent of the second sample requiring merely 2-year associate degrees. In addressing the growing problem of police violence and brutality, shouldn’t we be asking that question: does the education level of a cop influence a tendency towards violence?
About Charles Ellison
Charles D. Ellison is a veteran strategist and Chief Political Correspondent for UPTOWN Magazine. He’s also Washington Correspondent for the Philadelphia Tribune and a frequent contributor to The Root. He can be reached via Twitter @charlesdellison
The line between the police and military is getting thinner and thinner with cops being trained to see “civilians” as the enemy. This mindset needs to be eliminated, along with government supplying police departments with surplus military hardware. On a more practical level, what would happen if cops were refused services in stores, restaurants, and other places because of police brutality? Or their children were denied from going to certain schools? It is a powerful, non-violent way to get the point across. If that fails, it is time to shoot back.