Holding Hands With The Police May Kill Us

Stories of a Black Lives Matter protest that turned into a barbecue with the police in Kansas went viral just after the police shooting in Baton Rouge. Shortly after the murder of Alton Sterling, a video of a Black man dancing with a Canadian police officer made its rounds. Pictures of Black children hugging police were shared widely after the uprisings in Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown — and seem to arise after nearly every moment of increased cynicism around the police.

And this week? Police in Virginia videoed themselves pulling over terrified Black residents only to give them ice cream. These moments, inasmuch as they are a collective response to police violence, send the message that a few kind words and carefully scripted hugs can save us.

But these snapshots of “reconciliation” with the police aren’t just ineffective at ending police brutality — they can actually make our conditions worse.

By creating and perpetuating these “good cop” moments, there is an attempt to salve wounds and relieve ourselves of fear; if we tell ourselves the police are on our side, perhaps it will — somehow — become true.

In reality, the police were created to maintain “order” within poor and marginalized populations, with much of modern policing coming out of the tradition of slave patrols in the south.