Good Cops

GOOD COPS

Tell me about the good cops.

Tell me about the ones who don’t grab the first black or brown face they see
off a street corner or out a subway car
because someone reported a fight
The ones who don’t think that raising ones hands in compliance
is an invitation to beat you down
Who don’t think the back of your neck is the best place to put their knee
Who don’t think efficient crowd control means shooting an unarmed man
being restrained
on the ground
in his back

Tell me about the good cops.

Tell me about the ones who don’t pump bullets into young Black men
on the eve of their wedding
The ones who don’t execute Black people for displaying cell phones
or hairbrushes
or wallets
Who don’t conclude that a Black-owned car must be stolen
Who don’t treat self-respect as a threat
or think that the back of a fleeing individual
simply makes for a more inviting target

Tell me about the good cops

Tell me about the ones who don’t treat
the inner-city like a free-fire zone
The ones who don’t see human beings as
potential threats to be neutralized
Who don’t shoot children carrying the “wrong” toy
Who don’t terminate elderly living at the “wrong” address
or kill young women loving the “wrong” boyfriend

Tell me about the good cops

Tell me about the ones who don’t lack a conscience
The ones who don’t routinely defend their
rightfully-accused fellow officers
Who don’t offer complex justifications for what’s simply inexcusable
Who don’t stand and watch and do nothing
or pretend that
registering quiet disapproval
while collecting a nice paycheck
changes a god-damn thing

Tell me about the good cops

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Dedicated to:

Oscar Grant, 22, fatally shot in the back at point blank range January 1, 2009,  by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer even though he was unarmed, restrained and lying face down on the rapid transit platform.

Tarika Wilson, 26, who one year ago – January 4, 2008 – though unarmed and holding her infant son, was shot at close range and killed in her own home by a Lima, Ohio SWAT officer during a raid meant to serve a drug warrant on her boyfriend.

And to all those whose lives were damaged or permanently extinguished by police terror