Blue Wolves

Remember when a lot of us said we wanted to be police officers when we were 4/5/6 years old?

We were conditioned to view police officers as superheroes very early on in life. This view provides insight as to why so many of us get over-protective, righteously indignant, and choose to protect officers at any cost when their actions and morals are brought into question. We struggle to admit that our superheroes are nothing more than immoral oppressors who become overpowered by their egos.

That is why, even in murder, white folks cannot grasp the concept that their superhero is anything less than perfect.

No Heroes

We loved Superman; because we thought he was indestructible, and we were told that he never killed people even though he had the power to do so. We must understand police officers are not Superman. We must learn not to offer them superhero status.

Once we choose to accept that, it will humanize them, and we will see how dangerous it is for anyone to have as much power as they do. We will understand that our superheroes kill at will and blame the victims; because they know white America will show brief disgust and then go right back to defending them without hesitation. We have to remove this idea that they are any type of savior. We must stop saying that there only a few bad apples.

The fruit is produced by a tree firmly rooted in white supremacy.

Root Cancer

We must stop making arguments that the majority of officers aren’t corrupt just based on the few that murder or who carry out illegalities. Allowing ourselves to accept a majority when there is a consistent minority of officers who perpetuate a constant underlying current of murder and oppression is not only immoral, but it is deadly. Police officers normalize these violent reactions so much to themselves that they can present themselves as the victim within their own eyes and within the eyes of the people that undyingly support them. One murder or illegality is too many and unacceptable.

Justice is nowhere to be found within the actions of those who swore to protect and serve at all costs.

Gentle police reform does nothing to address the problems at hand. This system must be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. Disagreeing with that sentiment only provides evidence that we are more focused on maintaining a status quo that keeps us comfortable when, in reality, that status quo continually leads to atrocities that are carried out against Communities of Color.

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

The public worships police officers, and the white majority heroizes them. Police officers are so revered that they can kill folks out in society, and without any work on their end, be named as the victim by the majority. The system gives police officers so much power that even when white folks think murder is unjust, all it takes is for the police to make statements about a victim’s past. The white majority will then immediately choose to demonize an innocent victim.

Police officers are trained and paid to oppress.

Violence and murder are synonymous with the blue outfit, badge, and gun that is adorned by men and women who enter the force with good intentions. These men and women are quickly jumped into the most dangerous street gang in America. This gang is one that knows how to operate effortlessly and kill under the protection of a system that will always prop up white supremacy at almost any cost.

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Police officers are nothing more than modern-day slave catchers for a system that tells white folks that there is no way we could be safe without a constant flow of brutality towards anyone that does not look like us.

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Previously published on “Equality Includes You”, a Medium publication.

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