This story brought tears of outrage to my eyes. It is the story, which just occurred, of a five year old boy African-American boy berated into tears by a police officer--yes, African-American woman police officer--in the still racist, former slave state of Maryland. The boy's crime? The boy walked out of school, presumably to go home or just get out from a place already oppressing him. All captured on video.
This hit home to me because, in 1998, or thereabouts, in the first ten days of The Son's first year in school, i.e. kindergarten, The Son decided, on his own, to walk out of the school during lunch recess-- and walked home. Luckily for The Son, we lived really close to the school at the time. He walked right up to our house door, rang the house doorbell, and, again, luckily for him, The Wife was home, as she was a stay-at-home mom at the time. The Wife brought The Son back to school, where the school administration apologized to her for not noticing till just that moment when she returned with him that he had left. Why did The Son walk out of the school? The Son, who had been brought up by my hippy wife, and was in a pre-school of Jewish hippies, unluckily landed a martinet for a kindergarten teacher--and he was miserable.
The next day, I took time off from work to march into the school, and got immediate access to the principal. I introduced myself, said I was the lad's dad, and then said, "Look, this child is miserable. And I figure there are two types of kindergarten teachers: hippies who let the sunshine in, and martinets who drill rigor and order into the youngsters. I know there is already more than one kindergarten teacher here, and if there are two, the other is a hippie, right?" He nodded and laughed, but said he would not phrase it that way, though he understood my meaning. I continued, firmly and clearly, "Good! Now, I also figure, there is already a parent complaining to you about his or her kid having the hippie teacher teaching their kid to be free--and they don't want that. So, here's my proposal: I propose a Prisoner of War exchange, as we are dealing with compulsory education. My son goes to the hippie teacher and the martinet teacher gets the other kid."
The principal immediately tried to assuage me with the usual professional-managerial class (PMC) language of why that can't be, which led me to immediately say, with my trial lawyer voice firm and strong: "Look, my Dad was a teacher, my sister is a teacher, my wife has her teaching credential, my wife's sister is a teacher, her brother is a teacher, and her mother is a teacher. My mom works at another elementary school here in this district. I know what I am saying--and you know what I am saying is correct. We need this prisoner exchange now. There's no wait and see on this. As I say, my son is miserable--and now I am angry." The principal sighed and said, okay. It will be done this week. And it was that very week, maybe, if I recall right, in about two school days.
Now, after one reads the linked-to story and compares it to my above story, does anyone who doesn't want to punch the police officers in the face here--not just sue them--not yet see how white privilege works?
The difference between what happened to this five year old boy in the former slave state of Maryland and my then five year old boy in then-largely white suburban Orange County, California is stark. The difference here should outrage every human being everywhere. What happened in the still racist, but former slave state of Maryland isn't ultimately about the individual police officers, though retribution and accountability against the officers are a must there. This videotaped incident is a real life example about how our society criminalizes African-Americans from the time they are children, and criminalizes and marginalizes poor children in general. And this incident is an example of how the police are precisely used to ensure this happens systemically. Punishment is the order of the day, even for a five year old African-American. This incident is on all of us, and I'm talking about white liberals as well as the usual suspects--so no, "To Kill a Mockingbird" tut-tutting.
This child has been terribly traumatized, and we should all feel shame and outrage that this happens so much and so often.
