When A Police Officer Comes Out Of The Closet

The one full of racial skeletons, that is.  Or, perhaps you missed hearing or reading about this.

It's hard to know which aspect of this is worse:  the fact that the officer in question will not be disciplined in any way for his unbelievably egregious behavior, or the fact that both he and his superior officer attempted to treat that behavior as an attempt to "de-escalate" the situation. Beyond the fact that there was no evidence in this case that the situation was one that required some degree of "de-escalation," there's a more blindingly obvious question:  in what universe do you use racial "humor" to calm things down?

One is forced to wonder how this would have been handled if a black officer had made some attempt at racial humor in stopping a white driver.  Or, for that matter, if the same officer had said something similarly offensive to a black motorist.  Of course, in that latter example, the officer would clearly have been more inclined to draw his gun rather than try to "de-escalate" the situation in any way at all.  For that matter, not only would he have been inclined to draw his gun, but to use it--even without any attempt of the part of the motorist to "escalate" the situation.

This is obviously an indictment of the Cobb County police.  But it's also an indictment of Cobb County, and who know how many other cities and counties throughout the country, as well as their local police departments.  Who really knows how prevalent the mindset of the offending officer is among the members of those departments?

Actually, there's a pretty easy way to answer that question.  Just ask any African-American, anywhere in the country.

You'll find out very quickly that any African-American has either, personally or through family or friends, experienced some degree of police harassment.  They have been made to feel guilty of the crime of being black in America, even though they are part of the only ethnic group in this country that is not here as a matter of choice.  The history of slave-owning and slave-hunting segued into the history of discriminatory policing without missing a beat--or a beating.

And the police, just as in the Cobb County case, are never truly held accountable.  They are always let off the hook, usually after a slap of the proverbial wrist.  Which leads to more distrust.  More unnecessary violence.  More victims.  And a cycle that never, ever seems to end.

The Cobb County officer at least did us a small favor.  He broke the blue wall of silence.  One can only hope and pray that it will ultimately do us all some good.