Police & the Public
Matt Seinberg

I very rarely share my political or religious beliefs, because that's one sure way to get into an argument with someone, anyone, who doesn't agree with any part of any statement that may be made. Today is an exception.

At work last week, we were talking about the Baltimore riots, and how the police involved were all different races. No one can claim that the white cop did it, because there were also black cops involved. So I asked the following question.

Let’s turn the situation around, shall we? If a random white kid were taken into police custody, and died of the same alleged spinal injury, do you think there would have been rioting in the streets? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

How about if Michael Brown were white, and shot by a black cop? Would the same outrage be sparked, and the cop hung out to dry? I doubt it very much.

Would the right reverend Al Sharpton go running down to any situation if a white person were shot by anyone? I doubt that even more. How anyone can give that man any credibility is beyond me. After being found guilty of fraud all those years in the Tawana Brawley kidnapping case, how can we believe anything he says?

I’ll state here and now that I'm not a bigot or racist. I just don't like it when any race or ethnicity takes advantage of a situation, and makes it worse by making it look like they ALL are the victims, when in fact there may be only one or two victims.

In the case of Eric Garner, who was the victim of a police chokehold, his family has every right to take action against the police. Could he have been restrained in a different manner? Possibly. What if he had been Tasered, and died of a heart attack? This was a man who was obese and had a variety of medical problems.

What if he had just surrendered to the police, and let himself be handcuffed and arrested without trying to fight back? Would he still be alive today? Probably. But no one asked that question. Instead, the police were blamed for using a banned chokehold. It seemed at the time the only way to restrain this rather large person, who was resisting arrest and trying to injure the cops around him.

What irks me most is making it black vs. white, or black vs. the cops. Why can't it just be alleged criminals vs. the cops? There is always someone ready to stir the pot, and make things bigger and worse than they really are.

I often think that if Dr. Martin Luther King were around today, he'd be shaking his head in wonder and disgust, as though his mission of peace and harmony lead nowhere. Unfortunately, there is not one strong civil rights leader around today that can take the lead, and provide the healing necessary at all these racial events.

The police are not always right, but they have to make split second decisions, otherwise it could be them looking at the wrong end of a gun. I believe that killing a police office should carry an automatic death penalty upon conviction across the country.

Most of our politicians are wimps and pussies that spin things so they look good, no matter what the situation. I'd like to see, for once someone go on TV and say what's really on their minds, not what people want to hear.

Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.