Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I agree with your son. Mr. Rogers and his advice to seek out the “helpers” no longer applies.
OK, so you won't be calling the police if someone breaks into your home? You won't be calling the police if you see or hear a neighbor beating his wife? You won't be calling the police if you drive by your elementary school, and the windows are smashed in?
I demand justice for George Floyd. But I'm also not such a hypocrite as to say that all police = bad when I know damn well who I would call if I were robbed at gunpoint again, as I was four years ago.
Here’s the thing: I will call the police if I have to. I have had relatives, friends, and co-workers who were and are police officers that I’ve trusted with my life and well-being. But, having said all of that, I will never know, when I call 911, if the officers responding will be Officer Friendly or Officer From Hell Willing to Murder Me Nonchalantly While His Colleagues Watch. The key, for me, is that while many can be reasonably sure that a police officer will help them, or at least not deliberately hurt them, I have the deep layer of risk that’s associated with having to find out the hard way.