The Watchman and the Slave Patrol

I read something the other day that resonated with me more than it should have. It said the reason the UK doesn’t have the police brutality issues that we have isn’t the gun issue, of course, gun control groups are something I’ve never agreed with. Look at the percentage of armed citizens vs. the percentage of brutality complaints, and you’ll see where the right gets their basis for an argument against gun control.

The reason is that the police in the US are modeled after the old slave patrols. That is steeped in fact, actually, and here in the South, there isn’t a lot of difference in the way that local patrols operate. However, in the UK, they’re modeled after the old night watchmen.

The difference? One was meant to keep citizens safe, while the other was meant to arrest or worse to violators, or perceived violators, of the law.

I think that might be the most accurate summary of law enforcement I’ve ever heard. A lot of people have asked how I have such a high regard for the military, essentially a love for our service men and women that you probably couldn’t pry from my tiny little black heart with a crowbar. This is true. I do love my military folk, that’s factual. Yet it seems I have ill will toward law enforcement in general.

That is false.

The sheriff here in my county, Grady Judd, I’ll tell you any day of the week, there’s not a man more dedicated to keeping women and children safe. He runs Guardians in our schools, vets with guns, because you’re not killing our kids. He’s very old school. I love that about him. But he disappointed me greatly a few weeks ago when several Lakeland Police officers were filmed beating a man during a traffic stop.

In other circumstances, in many happenings around the world, Grady has made his opinion well known. He loves a camera, and the camera loves him. But he said nothing of this brutality that had been caught on film in his very own county. That really spoke volumes about where he stood on the matter, because to see an injustice in your own backyard, yet do nothing? Say nothing?

You’ve said everything.

And that is the problem with blue. Their loyalty is to their own, no matter what it costs the public at large. No matter what price the average citizen has to pay.

Let me also add to that, there is a level of “well if you’re not breaking the law”, from working class society which allows the brutality to continue. You’re aware I’m an educated woman who until 10 years ago had no criminal history to speak of, right? Worked for 2 different Fortune 500 Top 100’s, in the married with 2.5 trope, your All-American Woman.

But I grew up in a much different life. Where I saw people treated much differently than myself, where it wasn’t safe to be a person of color in a certain neighborhood. I know this because I’m a person of no color who lived in a certain neighborhood, and the harassment is quite similar.

I’ll never forget having my $50,000 CLK disassembled on the side of Fowler Avenue leaving my apartment on my lunch break one day. And please don’t think they reassembled it either. They did not. My sisters’ boyfriend did. Who was also, by the way, black.

There was another time on the side of Fletcher Avenue, 1 block over, my ex-husband and I were detained, he in handcuffs, in the early evening hours, while I’m in cutoffs and a bikini top (we were leaving the beach and swinging by a friends’ home to see their new baby, who is 18 this year). I am damned near hysterical, because if they would have “found probable cause” that’s exactly how they would have left me in that sketchy ass neighborhood without my husband, and that shit just ain’t cool.

The reason they detained us? Literally for being in the wrong neighborhood. Said it right to our faces. Fortunately, we had nothing to be held for, and they let us go. Two very young, white, but not naive, people who knew we were lucky and got the fuck out of there hastily.

I don’t live in the “only criminals are harassed and beaten” bubble that a lot of people are fortunate to live in. I didn’t grow up with money; I grew up with a mother on welfare. I’ve lived in some scary ass places, but never had any issues. Mostly because I’m not a racist piece of shit, so my neighbors have always watched out for me. Many, many times I’ve had to turn to the biggest, blackest man in the joint for help. I bartended the titty bar circuit, it comes with the territory.

Biff doesn’t like to be told he can’t play grab ass with you at the ice machine. Or in the parking lot after work.

I’ve been in vehicles with people of color who have been stopped. I’ve seen it from my own front porch when I lived at Fletcher and 15th, which if you’re not from here, baby that’s the fucking hood. Like, armed security inside the complex every night, and it wasn’t to keep people out. It was to police the people already inside.

I’ve never lived in a world where I felt like the police are there to protect me. Not only do I protect myself, and well, with that big Glock .40, might I add, but I live in a world where, when you call the police, they often take you to jail. Or someone else in your home. Because they don’t come to solve your problem, they come to find out what you’re doing wrong that made you a target.

You’ll hear me say openly, the cops won’t unrob or unrape you, so what the fuck am I gonna call them for? Not a damned thing. And I don’t. If Puffin doesn’t stop you on your way in, you’re bagged and toe tagged on your way out, and I’ll deal with that down on Twiggs in front of a man in a robe. I’ll take my chances with a jury before I ever invite a cop into my home to go through my things and tell me whatever the catch phrase of the week is with them before they find some petty ass reason to “detain” me again.

The 20 or 30 interactions I had with cops, prior to ever having a record or being involved moving prescription drugs through Florida, taught me everything I needed to know about cops as a whole. That is they aren’t there to help you, they will not protect you, and anything you say to them will damned sure be used against you. Usually right there on the spot, but later in court if you decide to contest their actions. This isn’t an uncommon feeling, and that’s pretty fucking shameful.

They aren’t there to serve and protect, they’re there to police the community and to protect the interests of the wealthy. It’s the reason that violence against partners of cops isn’t recorded by the federal government, but property theft is. It’s more important to make sure money is safe at the end of the night than women and children, and if you don’t know that, you’ve not paid attention to the numbers I provided for you from the damned Department of Justice themselves.

I’ll rerun that column for you, just so you can bone up on your figures, Susan.

What I’m saying is this: if you in any way believe that because you don’t have a criminal history, or because you’re white, or because you’re a woman, you’re immune, you’re a fucking idiot. They’ll come for you just like they came for me in that big black Benz my husband put those big ass rims on, which gave them a reason to look twice at me. And when it’s you on the side of the street with your seats ripped out of your car so the dog can go through it, don’t say I didn’t tell you. It’s not a criminal problem, it’s a cop problem, and it’s getting worse by the day.

Someone needs to put them in check, but it ain’t me. I’ve had enough cop problems to last a lifetime, so you can elect another duck to challenge this shit. I like my breastplate intact, and my skull without holes in it.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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