Haters Gonna Hate

By Laura Dekle

 

Last weekend, I was at Monterrey’s enjoying some excellent Mexican food. It was great. Then three cops came in and sat at the table next to mine. I got a little jittery, because I associate policemen with being in trouble. But then I remembered that I wasn’t in trouble. I was just eating chips and salsa and waiting on my quesadilla. There was nothing to be afraid of, because I was doing nothing wrong. 

 

Some people, when in proximity of policemen, do have things to be afraid of because they have done something wrong. And there are some people who have done nothing wrong but do have things to be afraid of, because people are awful and assume the worst in others based on their skin color.

That’s not as much of an issue for me. I’m a small white girl who is afraid of everything. The only kind of discrimination I experience is that of people thinking I’m a sorority girl, which isn’t true, but also isn’t harmful to my well-being. 

 

I don’t know what it’s like to be an African-American male. I don’t know what it’s like to be a policeman – of any race or gender. I am in no way an authority on the matter of police violence and racial discrimination. But I am an authority in respect. And I don’t think that respecting each other will magically cure everything wrong, because it won’t. But it will result in an environment of safety and trust. 

 

I have great admiration for the police officers who have continued to care for our communities, even though other areas of our country are rioting against their presence, and more locally they are being blatantly and vocally disrespected. An article published last November by John Wihbey said that, “Americans of all races ‘give relatively low marks to police departments around the country.’” 

 

The people on our police force have done bad things. They have been more than imperfect at their jobs. All of them, not just those who have injured and killed innocent or undeserving people, are guilty and broken. They have made decisions that have negatively affected our country. But they have also made decisions that have positively affected our country. They’ve stopped the bad guys in their tracks. They’ve saved women and children from human trafficking chains. That is a big deal. 

 

In every pocket of the world are people who make awful decisions. That does not mean that the whole pocket has evil intentions.  In an article discussing whether police officers are bigoted or not, and one wise commenter said this: “Some police officers are bigots; others are sadists; but most are normal guys.”

 

 Here’s to the normal guys.