Supporting the Police Doesn't Contradict Opposing Racism

Garrett Rolfe and Rayshard Brooks moments before the fatal shooting (CBC)

Barry Goldwater, the late conservative Republican senator from Arizona famously said, ‘Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice’. That was in response to criticism over his defense of the John Birch Society which was a far right wing advocacy group many considered extremist and possibly racist. That comment became the theme of his run for the Presidency in 1964. In which he was trounced in the election by then incumbent Lyndon Baines Johnson.

But I understand Goldwater’s point. Which is that some ideals are worthy of extreme measures in order to get them accomplished. And that liberty is one of them. But I see extremism for any cause to be counterproductive. Because inevitably it can have devastating consequences.

The early rioting that took place during the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests may very well be an example of that. While the ideal that motivated those protests is noble and most protesters were peaceful - the violence, looting, and damage to property that accompanied it at first was anything but noble. 

The fact is that those protests, legitimate though they were, generated it. I should quickly add that most of that violence was done by outside agitators who came with their own agenda. But there was surely a lot of pent up frustration and anger in the black community built up over decades of racism. It is possible that more than a few legitimate protesters participated or supported that violence at first. Although most of the people protesting condemned it. 

Which brings me to the police. If we are to maintain an orderly society of laws, we need a mechanism to enforce those laws. Without such a mechanism, there is chaos. Left unanswered chaos will destroy civilization.

If anyone wants to know what chaos looks like, all they have to do is see the early images of looting and destruction that  took place during early stages of those protests.

That kind of thing can never be allowed to prevail in a civilized society. We need an effective police force to maintain the public order. Law and order are not ‘dirty words’. They should mean keeping the peace (order), protecting the public, and assuring lawbreakers are caught and punished – as long as the punishment fits the crime.

The last few weeks have seen an explosion of sorts in police brutality. Just last week another black man was murdered by a cop. Rayshard Brooks was shot in the back and killed while running away trying to avoid arrest.  

Incidents of race based police brutality have been popping up all over the media. Enough to make anyone outraged. There is no question that this has to stop. Racism should no longer find a home in any police department. Any cop that harbors it, must be removed. All policing of the future must be colorblind. Whatever it takes. Education, accountability, and severe consequences for any race based discrimination must be part of any future police force. A colorblind approach to policing must be the standard of the future. The unjust ‘death by cop’ of a black man must never be allowed to happen again.

That being said, there is a perception that the the problem of racism is systemic. That somehow there is a racial bias that is part and parcel of the policing in America. A belief currently being promoted by a lot of black leaders and exacerbated by the media.

I do not believe that is true. If it were, there would be no such thing as a black cop. Of which there are plenty in most big cities. Some of them in leadership positions. What is true is that while most cops are not racist at all there are a significant number of them that are. But the public does not currently have a chance to see it that way. They are heavily influenced by the nightly news. Which has been saturated with repeated images of George Floyd being murdered by a Minnesota cop. And more recently images of Rayshard Brooks, another black man being killed by an Atlanta cop. 

Saturation coverage with these images constantly being repeated on the nightly news leaves the impression that racism is systemic. That has generated calls all over the country to defund the police and to transfer those funds to social service agencies that will replace them. 

I can only imagine what all the good cops with not a racist bone in their feel like. They are basically being told that their services will no longer be needed. As though all they ever did was racist in nature. As though all their hard work - having put their lives on the line daily to protect life and property - never happened..

Police all over the country must be demoralized. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be wearing blue these days - and  being seen in the public eye as bunch of racist bullies with guns.

I for one support the police department. I am not going to allow the current anti police spirit to diminish my respect and admiration for what they do. They are the first respondents to crime scenes. They run towards danger to protect us. Not away form it. We should be celebrating them. Not talking about defunding them. You don’t throw out the good with the bad.

I have always made it a point to go over to any cop I see on Shabbos parked in front of a Shul to tell them how much I support what they are doing for us. And that I honor their service.l. Sometimes that cop is black. Sometimes it’s a woman. Sometimes it’s a black woman. It doesn’t matter. They are there protecting me, my family, my home, and the lives and homes of all the Jewish residents of the neighborhood.

I think we all have an obligation to do that. Especially now when their morale is surely so  low. Yes. Protesting racism to the extent that it exists is vital to society and to our moral well  being as a people. But that does not contradict the appreciation we should be expressing which most cops deserve.