It's Not Actually That Hard

I'm not going to dive into the various factions that are trying to hijack the current protests, but rather I want to talk mostly about the police today. The fundamental job of police is public safety. That includes everyone. What's striking about BLM protests is the fundamentally moderate nature of their demands. They want to be treated as equal citizens, not subjects to a police state that finds them expendable. That's it.  Don't kill them. That's hardly a radical demand.

Sure, there are other demands about economic justice, poor health care...but fundamentally, the basic idea is: we are citizens and equals and want to be treated as such.

The more the police clash with them, the more the protests are amplified. To a degree, that's why the various factions trying to hijack these protests are making things worse. Whatever the issue is with looters and vandals, the overwhelming use of force against the protests simply amplify the message that they are trying to convey. We all know how police treat armed white men; we all know how the police treat unarmed protesters of color.

And the thing is: it is actually not that hard to de-escalate most of these protests. We are seeing how police can turn the temperature down. It's not hard. The hair trigger use of chemical weapons and rubber bullets, the various forms of police riots we have seen are absolutely NOT about public safety. They are about the fear and rage polie are feeling right now.

The police are rioting because they are afraid. Probably not of the protesters. On some level, these events are scary and the fear that this time a cop might be hurt (as opposed to the many times protesters and journalists have been seriously hurt) contributes to that fear. The real fear, however, is the understanding that police are losing control of their narrative. The Floyd murder was just egregious, inexcusable.  Increasingly, moments like that are caught on film, like the lynching of Ahmaud Aubrey.

Police rely on generally overwhelming acceptance of their police powers - at least among whites. You can be a peace officer or you can be part of an occupying army; you can't be both. Seeing large, multiracial crowds has to shake their belief in their "hero" status. The undeniable link amongst all the protests is a complete lack of respect or deference to a group of (mostly) white men who have been accustomed to that their whole careers. Beyond the dynamics of the protests themselves, that has to scare them.

If police are not given deference by the communities they purportedly serve, they either have to throw themselves open to reform or become an occupying army. What is clear from the video I'm seeing is that they feel much more comfortable reaching for occupying army than taking a knee or joining the protests.

The tough swagger of some of these officers belies a fragility that is crumbling in the face of widespread disrespect. The question for police is whether they want actual respect or simply more fear.  Right now, they are reaching for fear and that will only make things worse.