We have a problem in America. When young black citizens can be treated like criminals just because of their color, we have a problem. When black teens are randomly handcuffed because they are expressing their disapproval of the treatment they are receiving, then we have a problem in America. When a young teen girl can be “manhandled” by a police officer in America because she protested the treatments she observed, we have a problem in America.
What I find very telling from the above video is the way the “officer” calmly talked to the white teens, while he vigilantly pursued the black ones. The whites seemed to have been presumed innocent, as they confidently and securely looked on, while the blacks had guns pulled out on them. Is it not clear to all America that there is a big race problem that is still not being acknowledged and addressed?
This race problem will require a HUGE dialogue and some serious introspection. It will not be addressed by blind denial or quick bandaids. This will only be addressed when we look at America’s history from the dawn of slavery to the Civil Rights Movement, to the present. America has attempted to give blacks some rights, but America, as a whole, never accepted that blacks and whites are indeed EQUAL and must be given EQUAL treatment under the law.
Right now, it appears that the police, like the police of early America (post emancipation to the present), exists to protect whites from blacks, and not just protect all citizens of the US. There have been some positive changes in some police departments, but the bigger change will need to involve the whole history of America before any real changes are made.