A former student “shared” a very interesting Spike Lee tweet on Facebook the other day:

I found myself looking at it for a long time.

I agree.  It is like doing that…  but my thought is “is it WRONG to do that?”

Don’t misunderstand me.  I believe “no means no.”  I also believe that police should be professionals who do their job regardless of the way their charges are behaving.

That being said, shouldn’t we protect ourselves from having bad things happen?

We lock our doors so that criminals don’t steal our cars.  We insure or property so that if things get stolen we can get them back.  We look both ways when we cross a street even if we have the right of way.  We protect ourselves from OTHERS doing wrong to us all the time, so is this really that different?

No one should ever rape another human being… HOWEVER… when a drunk co-ed wears an itty bitty miniskirt with her assets entirely exposed, behaves flirtatiously all night, goes into a room with a drunk 20 year old… and then gets raped…

Is it her FAULT?  Absolutely NOT!   That young man deserves to be punished for crime he committed.  It was wrong!!!   BUT…  she could have protected herself a little bit more…

As for Sandy Bland… and those like her.  Have you watched the full video?  I would suggest it… there is a long lull between the very beginning, but things pick up again at 6:30.

Sandy Bland video

Here’s the thing…  was that officer in the right?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  You can tell that they’re annoyed with one another from the very beginning.

I mean, seriously, who wants to be pulled over for not signalling a lane change?  Annoying, right?

How many times have you been pulled over and thought, “Really, officer?  You don’t have anything better to do than to pull me over for my registration sticker?  How about you go solve a crime…”

But should you SAY that?  Absolutely NOT!!!

You can SEE where he snaps.  She’s clearly giving him attitude through the whole video.  When she refuses to put the cigarette out… He loses it.

Now, it was a dick move on his part… a control move… an “I’m the cops and you’re not” move…

But now she’s dead.

Is it his fault she died?

I think partly it is.  I think he could have handled the situation a whole lot better.  You don’t arrest someone because she’s being bitchy and questioning your manhood…

But it’s partly her fault, too.

Being pulled over by police is NEVER pleasant.  No one likes to be caught doing the wrong thing.  And, let’s be honest, police officers often have a certain attitude…

But I don’t even think this is about being black (and maybe it’s unfair that I say it because I’m white…)  but it’s about knowing how to act in GENERAL.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…