I disagree to an extent. It isn’t about stereotyping the police, but understanding that as a group they all suffer from the same biases as the general population. The general population has been shown to have high levels of implicit associations (subconscious biases) between Black and bad or Black and crime or Black and dangerous. These biases affect people of all races, and they often come from our larger culture. Media, social groups, and casual interactions reinforce the biases for everyone, even the most devote anti-racist. Many black people also are biased against black people as shown by the Implicit Associations Test (if Googled, you can take the test yourself at Harvard University’s website).

The officer in St. Paul is witnessed by others not to be a racist. He is a star law enforcement student whose professors cannot believe would be racist. I’m sure many of the officers who have taken a black life, a disabled life, or a Native American life (the three most threatened) are not consciously aware of their biases. When they end up acting on them, I’m sure they are surprised at their own behavior. That is exactly what I read from the video Diamond Reynolds courageously took. We have to realize that any officer is that potential “bad” apple, because of implicit racism.

Of course, racist police officers are a problem in their own right.