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Mr. Randy Nesbitt Sr. P.O. Box. 3000 White Deer, Pa. 17887 #06733-O16 D841", lorry?“ Nwffiflj Iq"¢">ME‘: M‘"‘k 5, 3977 I am interested in publishing this article in your magazine. What is The Disconnect Between Black Men and Law Enforcement Officials? Why has there been a rise in the deaths of black men at the hands of law enforcement officials. These are the two questions that American society needs to form some sort of answer to in order to move our society forward on the issue. And this ideal American society that we desire is going to have to include black men also, because black men play a significant role in the day—to-day movement of the American economy. Americans deal with black men on a constant basis, especially if that American is living in — - or around - — one of the fifty biggest American cities. Black men are working inside of fast-food restaurants, upscale restaurants, gas stations, convenient stores, shopping centers, deliver packages to your homes, fix your cars, sell you cars, fixes the plumbing or electricity in your homes when things go wrong; and there are a myriad of other day- to-day events that will bring you into contact with a black man. You can even dial 911 and a black man will appear at your door in a police uniform to assist you. Not even to include the fact that a lot of Americans work for Supervisors, Managers, and owners that are black men. And as a black man, I would love to tell you that the disconnect between law enforcement and black men is pure racism on the part of the police. But that is not true, because I have seen video footage of black police officers killing, and abusing, black men also. Leaving me to say, in all honesty, that even though racism plays a large part in this disconnect — — that it does not shine a lens on the complete picture. Why do I say that? For several reasons. Number one: a lot of the video—taped killings in the United States surged when the Black Lives Matter Movement started to gain momentum in this Country. Which in my personal opinion made law enforcement officials come to the belief that the Black Lives Matters movement was a personal attack on them. Number two: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been ramping down for the last decade. Wars in which a lot of white men that came from the rural areas of America went to fight in. Men that were bred and raised around white men and women that knew nothing but racism. With the majority of those adults teaching those children their racist ways, simply because their parents and mentors, educated them in the same fashion. And a lot of those racist white men therein enlisted into the American Military simply to be formally educated In the art of killing. So when a lot of those white men who came from those rural areas returned to the United States from those far-off wars, they were presented with job opportunities from prisons and city law enforcement agencies that they took with the understandings that they were better job opportunities than the ones that they would have received if they would have returned to their own rural communities. Jobs that brought men that still had some pent up regrets over not getting a chance to kill someone (or not enough people) during the war into contact with black men. This adverse situation allowed the ingredients of the form of racism that that particular white police officer grew up with, along with his pent up desires to kill another human being that were still left inside of him from the war(s) to percolate over into his contact with the black man that he has come into contact with. An American citizen who for whatever reason has now been brought into contact with the white police officer that now only needs the excuse of ”feeling threatened” by the black man in order to finally get his chance to execute a black man and not have to spend one day in prison for the death of that human being." A man that that police officer has ripped away from his wife, children, parents, and other family members without any second thoughts of regret. A police officer that is going to receive accolades, and commendations, from his like-minded police brethren over the death of the black man; just to assure the police officer that he has done nothing wrong! But as I said earlier, the disconnect between Black men and the law enforcement community go far deeper than just racism! What do I mean by that? Maybe I can explain myself a little bit better if I pose a question to the reader of this article. When you are driving down the road in your car and you see a police car in your rear view mirror, do you become anxious? When you are walking down the street in the midst of a crowd and see a police officer , do you become anxious? Why do you become anxious over the sight of a police officer if you have done nothing wrong? As a taxpayer, you are responsible for paying that person's sa|ary— — but you are the one that is becoming uncomfortable when you just so happen to notice one of them. Why? And that is something that occurs to all of us, regardless of what your complexion is! This sort of anxiety moves through all of us when we are confronted with these sorts of situations, whether we are black, white, or green! So the question is why? Why do we as American citizens become nervous at the sight of a police officer? Why should we as humans feel uncomfortable at the mere sight of a police officer? And let me be the first one to tell you, that the police officer feels your angst; your uncomfortableness. With the thought of your uncomfortableness feeding his ego and making him feel superior to you, the same way that it does to a bully! Our uncomfortableness is making that police officer feel superior to you, regardless of your race. Which means that we are unconsciously giving the police officers too much power over us, and are therein creating a bully culture within the law enforcement community. In effect creating monsters that have an idealogical belief that it is ”them" against ”us.” Making them believe that if you are not a Law Enforcement Official, that you are therefore their enemy! ’ But why are black men suffering the brunt of these bully actions by the police? Mostly because law enforcement officials gravitate towards black, and underprivileged communities. They do this because it is easier to obtain convictions on individuals that don't have a lot of money to afford to pay for a good legal defense. And yes, I know that many of you believe that law enforcement officials only permeate underprivileged communities because those particular communities are high—crime areas; with that not being overly true! Because crime is in white populated trailer parks, and other underprivileged white communities the same way that it is in minority communities. Aw man, he is just one of those black guys who hates the police! That is most likely the statement that is going through many of your minds as you read this article. And i am going to most likely surprise you by saying that the statement that is coursing through your minds about me is not true! I don't hate law enforcement officials, because I understand that they are an integral part of our society. The part that keeps anarchy at bay! Because if we did not have law enforcement officials in our society, then what do you think would happen? No one would have any fear of going to jail. Which means that no one would have any second—thoughts about committing any sorts of crimes, because they would no longer be crimes! Of course some of you are immediately saying that that concept works for you. ”l’ll just get me a gun and I'll be fine!” But you seem to be missing the point. Because when you arm yourself, other people are going to arm themselves also, and then it is going to come down to who is the best shot. And what about your kids, your parents, your spouses? Are they going to arm themselves also? How are you going to be able to leave your homes with the confidence of knowing that when you return to your dwellings, that your possessions are still going to be there? Don't forget that we will still be living in a society that is going to still have a small percentage of decrepit individuals inside of it. People that like to rape women, and molest little children! So are the children, and women, in your lives going to be safe once there are no longer any law enforcement officials in our society? Are you going to be around your loved ones twenty—four hours a day in order to keep them safe? And if your answer to this question is yes, then how are you going to accomplish anything? How are you going to acquire the items that you are going to need in order to keep your family alive? If these questions have brought forth skeptical responses, then you must be coming to the realization that law enforcement officials do play a positive role in our lives. So my reasonings behind bringing forth the question about the disconnect between black men, and law enforcement officials, is not because I hate cops! It is because we really do have a problem in our society that needs to be discussed. Because there is just no excuse for a car to be pulled over for a traffic violation, and a black man that is sitting in the passengers seat of that car, to end up getting shot _ to death while attempting to comply with the law enforcement officials orders! And the sad list of MURDERS by law enforcement officials that have been occurring recently are just too long for me to include here. But there is another intangible to this story that a lot of you might not even be thinking about. With law enforcement officials clearly not thinkingabout about it either. Because, before the recent surge of law enforcement officials killing black men began, the police would usually pull up behind the car of someone that had just committed a traffic infraction, and if that man had some sort of contraband on him he would most likely pull away from the police car, and make a few turns until he could get the offending items out of the car. With there most likely being a gun in the car on many of these occasions. And the black man in the car coming to the realization that if he could get rid of the gun — and the other pieces of contraband that are in the car, that he wouldn't do that much time in jail. But, because of what is currently going on in our society, why would any man take a chance on throwing his gun away when there is a great possibility that he may never even live to make it to jail? With that line of thinking clearly putting the black man, and the law enforcement official in danger. Actions that could result in that officer's death. And that sad part about it all, is that that particular police officer will most likely be one of the good law enforcement officials. A true loss! zmwkl By. Randy Nesbitt Sr.
