Did any one see the video of the little girl comforting her mother in the back of the police car? Absolutely heart wrenching
I didn't watch it, because I didn't want to put myself through that, but I read the transcript.
In the video, which appears to have been recorded just moments after Castile was killed, Reynolds is seated handcuffed in the back of a squad car with her daughter when she shouts an expletive after her cell phone dies. This prompts her daughter to ask her not to scream “because I don’t want you to get shooted.” When Reynolds says she wishes she could take the handcuffs off, her daughter yells, “No please don’t, I don’t want you to get shooted … I wish this town was safer.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/i-dont-want-you-to-get-shooted/531135/
There's a little girl who will grow up believing - with absolute justification, based on her own personal experience - that policemen are murderers and the legal system will not offer any redress.
I can't help thinking about how we teach our kids (in school, and at home), "The policeman is your friend. He'll help you, if you're in trouble."
When my son was 15, a police officer stopped him one night on the street and politely asked for his name and where he'd been/was going to. My son, a bit puzzled, began answering honestly. Then, a moment later, a cruiser drove up, another cop leaned out the window and shouted, "Not that kid! THAT kid!" And he pointed down the street at an equally confused teenager, standing about half a block away.
My son has dark curly hair and wasn't wearing a jacket on that cold night. The same was true of the other boy. There we one major difference, though, which I'm guessing the dispatcher didn't see fit to mention - my son is white, and the other lad was black. When my son left, he said the two officers were chatting with the other teenager. No doubt asking the same questions. Everyone seemed quite relaxed.
We have no idea what that was about, but we were entertained that the boys were evidently interchangeable.
Even when the police chased a drug dealer into our back yard, while we saw a lot of police cars on our street, and officers in tactical vests who politely asked us to stay indoors... we didn't see anyone with a drawn weapon.
I don't think our force is perfect. Far from it. I've heard some disturbing things about the local jail and prisoners not getting treated with courtesy and respect. Also, a mentally ill gentleman died of head trauma during a scuffle with a cop, and that officer is facing a manslaughter charge. But, personally, all of my interactions with the force have been positive, and that's also been true for my friends and family members.
When my daughter was five, she could trust cops and believe that they were the "good guys". This little girl is living in a different reality altogether, and it's heartbreaking.
If you ever need to define the concept of "privilege" for someone - this is it!