Police beating antiwar protestor, NYC

Part I of a series, in which I explore the nature of policing in modern society.

Every week we read at least one account of police officers assaulting or killing some unarmed person, usually (but not always) a person of color. If I tried to recount all the stories I’ve read or the brutal videos I’ve seen in just the past month, it would more than fill the rest of this blog post.

Many people have asked whether the cops more violent than they used to be. My personal experiences lead me to think they aren’t—the difference is that citizens can now film the action on their phones. The two incidents described below occurred when I was in my early 20s, almost 50 years ago.

1) I’m riding the New York subway to work. A skinny young black man in a bottle-green suit is asleep on one of the seats opposite me. I think he’s probably nodding out after a fix. A huge cop enters the car, sees the kid, grabs him, and throws him violently to the floor. “Excuse me, ladies and gents,” he says to the mostly white passengers. He drags the kid out onto the station platform. I’m too scared to move. I don’t see what happens next.

2) I’m working in a welfare center where indigent people have lined up to apply for aid. A cop tells a tall young white man to move along. The young man’s back is turned, and he doesn’t budge. The cop knocks him to the ground and starts to beat him. The old man standing next to the youth shouts, “Don’t! My son is deaf!”

But the police can also be kind, helpful, or even heroic as they were after 9/11. One snowy day a few years ago, my wife and I saw a nearly naked toddler walking down the street, alone. We phoned for help, and a policewoman showed up. She did a little investigation, discovered that the boy had wandered outside while his grandparents slept, and took him back home.

What makes the difference? To be continued…