Comments on: Is the Man in Blue Still a Friend to You? https://www.cbcfinc.org/thevillage/2013/11/21/is-the-man-in-blue-still-a-friend-to-you/ Real People. Real Talk. Fri, 14 Aug 2015 19:40:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2 By: Troy https://www.cbcfinc.org/thevillage/2013/11/21/is-the-man-in-blue-still-a-friend-to-you/#comment-31073 Sat, 23 Nov 2013 20:42:10 +0000 http://www.cbcfinc.org/thevillage/?p=821#comment-31073 That minivan incident was absolutely justified. What did the woman expect when she fled the scene, then resisted arrest? She’s lucky that neither she nor her son were killed. You don’t get to run from the cops, then fight the cops with impunity.

As for George Zimmerman, he may well be guilty of domestic violence, but he’s not guilty of murder. That’s why he was not arrested until the good preachers Al and Jesse forced the state to manufacture charges against him. In the Trayvon case, George became a victim of racial discrmination.

]]> By: Elsie Scott https://www.cbcfinc.org/thevillage/2013/11/21/is-the-man-in-blue-still-a-friend-to-you/#comment-30688 Thu, 21 Nov 2013 18:19:21 +0000 http://www.cbcfinc.org/thevillage/?p=821#comment-30688 The late 60s and early 70s were periods when there were very poor relationships between the police and the black community. After the “riots” of the late 60s and some of the confrontations of the 70s such as confrontations with the Black Panther Party, there was a move to recruit black police. Many of the black police that were recruited had a different perspective than many of their white colleagues. As these blacks moved up in the ranks, you had the development of community policing.

Programs still exist where police work with community groups and with young people, but many such programs have become victims of the trend toward budget-cutting of all social programs. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, many big-city police departments were forced to shift their emphasis and their budget priorities to fighting terrorism. If taxpayers don’t demand that community policing programs be retained and if the crime rate continues to decline, you will continue to see the trend of fewer programs that connect police officers to the communities they serve.

Just like we do not want all black men to be stereotyped as violent, we should not stereotype all police officers as brutal. The media will not show police officers doing good things, just like they do not show the good things happening in our communities.

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