To Shelby Young For the last few months my daughter and I have come to blows over the recent headlines regarding black men dying at the hands of police officers. It seems no matter what exercise I provide she is unable to view the totality of circumstances through the lens of self-responsibility. Perhaps this analogy will help. When Princess Diana was killed in a car crash attempting to flee the press at a high speed, she was riding in a Mercedes S 280, one of the safest cars made at the time. Her death was blamed on the media, a conspiracy by Buckingham Palace, and an unnamed nefarious faction opposed to Princess Diana dating an Arab. There was one clear variable that could have saved her life but was never discussed, a seat belt. There were four people in the car with her, only one survived, her body guard who was wearing his seat belt. No one can remove the possibility that when you are out driving in the world you won’t be hit by an aggressive driver, a drunk driver, an inexperienced driver or just a bad driver. I can’t guarantee you will never encounter adverse weather or an aggressive press (Ms. Younce). Only you can exert maximum responsibility to protect your own life by wearing a seat belt against all the dangers we can’t control. Society may work on minimizing these possibilities but no one can eliminate them. Just as no one can guarantee you will not run into a burnt out, racist, uneducated, inexperienced, or plain unprofessional police officer someday. But you will be prepared, you will not resist arrest. Just like a seat belt, it will save your life. Shelby, I do agree that the statistics of black deaths at the hands of the police are obscene; however, the recent cases reflect too much cross contamination between race and resisting arrest and the statistics don’t isolate these two variables. Resisting arrest is very combative and it’s contribution to any of these cases must be evaluated and discussed to form an accurate opinion. I love you to the moon and back, and always want you to be safe and alive. Always wear your seat belt, among other things. Love, Mom
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:13:43 +0000
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