Can’t train racism out!

Neither can you give a psychological test to detect or assess whether a person isn’t racist? Why do I say that? After viewing the police officer with his knee on the neck of George Floyd as a retired law enforcement supervisor with thirty-four years of experience. Many say it’s a training issue; we need laws to regulate the police, neither of which is true. It’s a sin problem; it’s a heart issue! Training is an enhancer, not a changer, to do your job professionally.

Chokehold isn’t training its murder. My defensive tactic instructor in the academy said, “chokehold is illegal and cannot be used under no circumstance on any person for any reason,” once a perpetrator is down, you decline your level of force. There was no reason for an officer to rest his knee on a man’s neck (the equivalent to a chokehold pressure on the neck by arm or leg) until he ceased to breathe. I venture to say this officer didn’t receive training to perform this tactic. He developed this tactic as a form of control.

Nevertheless, when the man said, “I can’t breathe!” The officer should’ve removed his knee. Cuffed the man and detained him in the back seat of a squad car, he had control over the suspect. No, this wasn’t about restraining; it was about hate! Whether his hatred was for black people or people, in general, he had no business in a people serving field.

Many of my ex-partners pass the necessary training and psychological testing, but they were racist and some sexist. You learn how to answer questions to mask your true identity. Most law enforcement agencies have generalized testing procedures, and the standard for a person of color isn’t the same as your white counterpart. Yes, racism is alive and well! Your white partner knows it; that’s why other officers were standing by and watching while their partner was murdering George Floyd.

The policy’s maybe the same for all within the department. Still, the penalties aren’t the same, which means the systems aren’t the same for people of color. Within my thirty plus year as a black female, I’ve observed a white officer receive leniency for the same thing another officer black gets discharged. We would jokingly call it a white privilege, but what is more disheartening is the black man or woman who believes that once they reach a special status within the department, they share in white privilege becoming a weapon against their race.

Penalties don’t stop people from breaking the law. We don’t need new mandates for the age-old problem of racism. America’s racial issue started when they wanted to enslave people for free labor over 200 years ago. When the time came to free the free laborers (emancipation) they suffered slave owner withdrawal formed a coup called the KKK to control their former property.

The Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:1-5, pray for our government those in authority, but do we? Instead, we complain and criticize; we took God and the Bible out of our schools. We stop putting God first because ain’t nobody else doing it! We blame everybody but ourselves. God said if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land (2 Chr. 7:14). America wake-up the pestilence-COVID 19, ethnic wars nations are rising against nation; these are the beginning of sorrows (Matt. 24:7). Let’s return to our first love. God so loved that he gave (John 3:16).