I keep seeing this image shared online and there's something about it that doesn't sit right with me. I understand the intent of it, that it's trying to get people to think beyond stereotypes, but it also plays into a narrative which I think is at the crux of the problems we're dealing with at the moment in terms of understanding the insidiousness of the racism which is rampant in our civil institutions. I've touched on this a few times in the last several days and it is generally referred to as the "rotten apple" argument. Simply put, it posits that the problem is that a few "bad apples" shouldn't cause you to misjudge an entire group or system within which these individuals operate. It exists based on the premise that the culture or the system is not faulty, only a few individuals who misrepresent and appropriate it. This is the lie that sustains the injustice.
This particular image is doubly stealthy because it features a woman of color, someone who is accepted as a representative of the victims being subjugated. But it's a co-opted image. The message is still that the system is not at fault and that it's only the "bad apples" that are creating the problem. "Not all cops are bad". That's the most relevant component of this sign in the current context, but it completely disregards the corruption of the system within which ALL police must function. That system is intricately structured to place people of color at a disproportionate disadvantage. The only evidence you need to consider of that is the vast disparity between the numbers of people of color vs Caucasians currently occupying prisons in the west. Policing, the courts and the justice system as a whole, from the ground floor to the top, are designed as a way to subjugate the non-white population and keep them in a perpetual state of fear and repression.
So don't tell me that there's some "good cops". There were, I'm sure, some lovely Nazis in WWII, fine folk with whom you could have a drink and a chat with about the football game, but here's the thing - THEY'RE FUCKING NAZIS! When der Führer gave the orders, they still fell in line and did their jobs. The same thing applies to cops. Trying to bury this truth in the guise of liberal fairness is a dangerous game in this climate. It de-fangs the opposition and the protests of what's been happening. It pulls the rug out from under every viable argument that needs to be made now.
This principal applies to ALL forms of prejudice and bigotry. It's the same when people say "not all men are sexist". No, they're not, but all men must exist within a culture which has enshrined sexism into its very fabric. There's no escaping it on a daily basis. All men must live in the world where women are second class citizens. All of us are, in some way, complicit in maintaining it. We all stand by while the injustices occur and are repeated, over and over, ad nauseam. We have got to stop making exceptions for ourselves when it comes to dealing with the pervasiveness of prejudice and bigotry.
To get where we need to go, we all have to do something no one wants to do. We all have to admit to our own prejudices. There are simply no angels among any of us. We're all guilty as sin and simply pointing the finger at others will never solve the problem. We have to solve the problem from within ourselves first. I know I have bigotry and bias built right into my social DNA. It's been there from childhood, carefully indoctrinated into me by every social influence which could play a part in shaping my identity. It's so deeply ingrained, I don't even realize it's presence most of the time. It's only occasionally, like when the world starts to burn like it has this week, that I catch myself in the mirror and realize that I'm part of the problem too. Like an alcoholic who's just reached the point where they're willing to admit they have a problem, I'm standing up and saying, this is me and I'm guilty too.
So stop trying to pretend there's not enough guilt to go around. There's more than enough and it's only going to be when you start to own it that there's going to be any hope of change in this horrible, corrupted world.
