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William Barr Wants Us to Blindly Respect Police
On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr suggested communities who don’t show police respect don’t deserve police protection.
It’s unclear what Barr’s idea of showing respect for police looks like. But suggesting police protection be contingent on whether communities show blind support for police is problematic at best. Especially when speaking to a room full of cops at a Justice Department ceremony honoring police officers. This type of rhetoric only helps to further instill the “Us vs. Them” mentality that infects our law enforcement apparatus today.
“But I think today, American people have to focus on something else, which is the sacrifice and the service that is given by our law enforcement officers. And they have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves — and if communities don’t give that support and respect they might find themselves without the police protection they need.”
The entirety of his statement is a clear dog-whistle because we all know which “communities” he was speaking of. If you’re not sure, let me explain, he was talking about the inner-cities. Where people of color are routinely oppressed by law enforcement at an astounding rate in comparison to other, less diverse communities. In other words, he doesn’t want anyone protesting or…
