Police and Racisim
I watched President Obama’s excellent
speech at the memorial service for the Dallas policemen. The major issue is race relations. Racism is very much with us and it doesn’t
seem to be improving in spite of all the attention and money given to it. I must admit that I personally have done
nothing specific to improve race relations. I have always shown respect to
persons of color and treat them cordially.
I have trusted in our Federal government and state and local officials
to deal equitably with all peoples and provide whatever public support is
available. What can I/we do at the present time to improve race relations?
I think back to Rodney king
25 plus years ago. I watched that video
of him being beaten by white police officers.
“Why are the police beating him up in this fashion? If he has committed some serious offense, put
him in the paddy wagon and take him to jail.
What is accomplished by beating him up?”
I think the police were meting out their own punishment as a lesson to
Rodney as well as any other black youth that might be watching. We saw this same approach in Ferguson,
MO. Pulling black youth over for minor
auto infractions is the same as beating up Rodney King. I see a pervasive negative ATTITUDE between
both the black youth and the police.
Each believes the other side is the enemy. These attitudes have become embedded in our
society. Here is what Swindoll says
about Attitude:
“Attitude is more important facts. It is more important than the past, than education,
than money than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other
people think or say or do. It is more
important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company, a church…a home (or a country—my
words). The remarkable thing is we have
a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. We cannot change the past…we cannot change
the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is
our attitude. I am convinced that life
is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our
attitudes.”
