is so instructive.
It might be racially motivated. But...
Watch it without the racial lenses. It tells you how these things escalate. The young man is doing a good thing. He's on private property. He has every reason to think he should be left alone to do his own business. The police officer thinks he is doing his job. He thinks he represents authority and the law and he thinks it is under threat. He wants to assert control of the situation.
Because the officer has a weapon, he thinks he can enforce his authority. That could so easily have spiralled out of control.
I don't think the officer is wicked. He thinks he is following procedure. He doesn't shoot the young man. And yet what he does is wrong. And tells you what is wrong about policing with firearms in this situation.
I can see myself in both of their shoes and wonder how to avoid the confrontation. What a sad thing it is to watch. I so understand the young man's outrage. And yet they are both in the grip of larger forces they don't understand. If only American police officers were allowed to engage with humility and humour. But they are stuck with fear and authority as their guiding principles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbzhA5cpLVo
| 