Sherry Kappel
Jul 22, 2017 · 2 min read

If what those two policemen told me was true, and from everything I’ve read it is, then training definitely needs to change. But I also think it’s applied extremely unevenly, and becomes a convenient excuse/defense when an unarmed black person is killed. But if they can take in Dylann Roof, the Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh, etc. without incident, who they know has killed multiple times, then surely they can do better with a kid in the park or someone pulled for a missing tail light. If they are so afraid of black skin that they’re shooting with more fear than cause, they shouldn’t be policemen. Racism is bad enough in the general population, but we really can’t afford it in an armed force with license to kill.

As for moving jurisdictions, it’s a great thought but, given the wide distribution of cases we’ve seen, I don’t know that there is a “good” venue. People are taught to revere the police from early on, racism is so deeply instilled in even the “best of us” in America, and “reasonable fear” is such a hazy defense.

I also agree that not all cops are bad — by far. I was once in a situation where I got to know quite a few cops up close and personally, and many were great, some were definitely not so great. They’re human beings, subject to the same opinions, misperceptions, strengths and weaknesses as all of us. Maybe it’s asking too much of some of them, to set those things aside on the job. But then what does that leave us with? What does that leave an oppressed population with?!

    Sherry Kappel

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    Looking for the Kind in Humankind. Heart currently Code Blue.