The proverbial “bad apple” that corrupts the rest of the barrel of “good apples” because that one bad apple has become so rotten that it is causing the contamination and decomposition of the remaining good apples in the barrel is allegedly analogous to police departments all over the USA.
But, what is a “bad apple”, figuratively speaking, when we are discussing police departments in America? Is a “bad apple” cop one that is overtly racist; so rotten [morally] that he/she can no longer restrain their racial hatred and must, of necessity, lash out with murderous intent towards people of color who they encounter as “suspects”?
Or, are there many, many [far too many] “bad apple” cops who are not fully rotten to their core, not yet reeking with the stench of their racist corruption; whose stench is not yet causing the few “good apples” left in the barrel to become fully contaminated with racism?
Perhaps, just perhaps, the problem is not a few “bad apples”, but far too many bad apples, to the point where the “good apples” can no longer function effectively as a check upon the racist inclinations of so many “bad apples”.
Of course, peer pressure is something that everyone is familiar with in America. We all recognize the pressure to conform to the standards one encounters at home; at school; at work; at church and on police forces in America.
Can we count those cops in the barrel who enable racism to thrive and flourish in their barrels as “bad apples”?
What about those police officers in Atlanta, Georgia. Those part of the force used to murder Rayshard Brooks?
Well, according to reports:
“An unknown number of Atlanta police called in sick Wednesday evening in apparent protest of the felony murder charges against the officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in the back, then kicked him as he lay on the ground “fighting for his life.” One of their own potentially facing justice, and not the murder, are what many Atlanta police object to, apparently.”
Those cops who “look the other way” and/or “turn a blind eye” to the systemic racism they witness and encounter from those “bad apples” [the fully racist ones] their colleagues every single day.
Or those in Atlanta, Georgia who actively support their murderous brethren with the “blue flu” a “sick out” in support of the murder of Rayshard Brooks rather than a “sick out” in support of Black Lives Matter! How bad are those “good apples” on the Atlanta police force?
Are those cops who never, ever speak up or speak out when the hear a fellow cop make a racist comment or who engage in overt racism whenever they are dealing with a “suspect” who is a person of color “bad apples”?
Imagine being one of the few “good apples” in that barrel and living and working in a daily environment wherein racism is not only tolerated but encouraged by those in charge of the police department. Police commissioners, Police Chiefs who condone and encourage racist conduct by officers under their control. Leaders who cover-up for the racist cops and protect them from prosecution for murdering suspects under the “color of law enforcement”.
Imagine expressing your opposition to such systemic racism in your police department and experiencing the peer pressure expressed towards you by all of those “bad apples” who have become systemically conditioned to embrace that racism as acceptable.
Imagine being a few “good apples” in that big barrel of “bad apples”. As the barrel begins to stink more and more from the stench of systemic racism put into practice by the barrel of “bad apples” those fewer and fewer “good apples” are no longer able to practice policing consistent with the Rule of Law.
For example, when George Floyd was murdered [let us be truthful here, it was not a “killing” it was murder] were those cops that aided and abetted the cop with his knee on Floyd’s throat merely “good cops” caught up in a bad situation caused by that one “bad apple”?
Or, were they all “bad apples” so thoroughly corrupted by the White Supremacy systemic racism that they have abandoned all claim to being “law enforcement” officers. They most assuredly were not being “peace officers”.
The cop who murdered Floyd, the one with his knee on Floyd’s neck, was a twenty year officer. He had been on the force for a very long time. Furthermore, Floyd was not his first “victim”. That cop had a history of racist behavior that went ignored by those in authority over him. He was never held accountable for his racism and it led him to an overt act of murder in public, in full view of numerous witnesses.
His nonchalant reaction to the pleas of by-standers that he “take his knee off his neck” because “you are killing him” is chilling to view. His absolute arrogance is on display. His attitude of “who cares” is manifestly obvious. He seems utterly bored with the whole process and will not relent until George Floyd is DEAD!
Why did not those alleged “good cops” who held Floyd down and aided and abetted in his murder by doing so not stop their fellow officer? Why did none of the speak up and speak out? Why did none of them stop the murder?
Because, for all of them, it was “business as usual”. The normal course for them. Murdering a suspect who is a person of color is “no big deal” for them. After all, as our POTUS has said, “You have to dominate them”!
Trump has characterized and called Black Lives Matter peaceful protestors as “terrorists”, “anarchists” and “looters”. He openly expresses his racist disdain for Black Lives Matter protestors!
That the domination mindset led to the murder of George Floyd is no big deal to them or Trump. Floyd was “expendable”. Just like, for Trump, Americans who contract the Covid-19 virus are expendable! He urges Americans to be “working warriors” in his “WAR” on covid-19 from the safety of his bunker!
Floyd’s life was not valued like that of his White oppressors. He did not deserve, in their collective mindset, to be treated with dignity and respect. He was not their equal!
Never mind that under the Rule of Law and the US Constitution, in America, we are supposed to have “equal justice under the law” enforced by law enforcement officers who swear an oath to that constitutional prerogative!
Effectively, George Floyd forfeited his life for the alleged “crime” of forgery! In reality, he forfeited his life for the “crime” of being a person of color in a racist society dominated by racist law enforcement.
Are we hearing from that alleged barrel of “good apples” ? Is there an unending stream of denunciations from every “good apple” in that barrel or are those “good apples” remaining silent. Do they hunker in the bunker with their “bad apple” counterparts waiting for this “incident” to blow over and be forgotten?
Are those “good apples” in the streets protesting with the Black Lives Matter protestors? Have those good cops, gone on strike against the systemic racism in their respective departments? Are those “good apples” speaking up and speaking truth to power [a racist power that dominate their departments]?
No! In Atlanta, they are engaging in a “sick out” to protest the arrest of their brothers in blue. The “thin blue line” demands such expressions of solidarity: racist solidarity by fellow cops.
Where is the outrage from within the law enforcement community. Where are all of those “good apple” cops speaking up and speaking out about their brethren on the force, in that barrel that is so rotten with the stench of systemic racism?
Where is their outrage? Were is the “sick out” in support of the anti-racist Black Lives Matter Movement?
Remember the song, Sound of Silence? Remember the words, “silence like a cancer grows” and “no one dare disturb the Sound of Silence”.
Well, systemic racism like a cancer grows, too, when the “few good men” who remain on the police forces in America remain silent! When the leaders of those departments preserve and protect the systemic racism within their departments by refusing to condemn such acts of racism or properly discipline the racists in their ranks! When cops commit murder under the color of law and are not prosecuted for their crimes!
That silence is deafening, too!
Frankly I no longer believe in the proverbial myth about “a few bad apples”. I think the entire system is utterly corrupt and un-redeemable. I think we are dealing with a few “good apples” left in a very big barrel of bad apples.
A barrel so corrupted by the rotting stench of systemic racism that “good cops” are few and far between. Good cops are systematically weeded out of law enforcement.
“Good Cops” succumb to and support the systemic racism of their leaders and brothers in blue becoming corrupted by them; turned into “bad apples” or they leave the department.
And, as the proverbial saying goes, “A fish rots from the head down”!
If there were not a culture of racism and white supremacy in law enforcement in America, George Floyd and so many other people of color would still be alive.
We have a racist President who calls Neo-Nazi, White Supremacist “protestors” shouting out “Jews shall not replace us” and murdering innocent counter-protestors in Charlottesville, as “fine people”.
He puts young children, people of color, in cages on our southern border. He exposes them to covid-19 by keeping them confined in cramped quarters in cages. He denies justice to them and effectively turns them into potential virus-spreading victimizers.
ICE is a good name for those in law enforcement who implement the systemic racism of Donald J. Trump. They are most assuredly cold-blooded in their pursuit of their racism! ICY in their racist implementation of White Supremacy!
He tells President Xi of China that he is “fine with putting Muslims in China in concentration camps” [over 1 million]!
Ultimately this is not just about racism. It is about FASCISM, too. Trump is a fascist and he believes in fascism! He thinks journalists and reporters are “scum that should be shot”!
I commend those who protest in the streets in America. I admire Black Lives Matter protestors who literally put their lives on the line in the streets from racist cops who want to murder them and exposure to covid-19 that may well infect and kill them, too.
It requires genuine courage, real courage to stand up to a militarized police force dedicated to the oppression of people of color, including their systemic murder in a relentless expression of White Supremacy!
We have to stop this madness! The barrel, the American barrel of democracy, is becoming contaminated from the virus of racism. It has the potential to totally eradicate democracy! “A house divided cannot stand”, neither can a nation divided by racism!
The rotten apple of racism is corrupting our country and turning it into a fascist state!
And, frankly, the fascist in the White House, Donald J. Trump, is perfectly willing to corrupt the entire barrel of American democracy in pursuit of power. His GREED [Get Rich Eviscerating Everything Democratic] knows no bounds.
He wants to eradicate democracy from the hearts and minds of his MAGA minions and replace it with FASCISM! He wants to be emperor of the world! He is utterly mad and his madness stems in large part from his inveterate RACISM!
Nothing is so corrupting and corrosive to the soul as RACISM! It is a pernicious evil!
So, the next time our leaders tell us about those “few bad apples” in our police departments, challenge them! Demand they speak up and speak out about the systemic racism in American law enforcement and demand that they do something about it.
We need real systemic change in America. Racism must be as unacceptable as Covid-19. Racism is a pernicious evil, it is a virus of hatred that utterly corrupts the soul and it kills, too. It led to the murders of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks [and far too many others too numerous to name here]! It has led to the murder of far too many people of color whose lives were devalued by the disease of racism.
It must stop! We, collectively, as a nation of democratically blessed people, must end it. End it now!
Reject racism in all of its forms; whenever and wherever it manifests and reject those so-called leaders who practice and encourage racism: Trump being the prime example of such expressions of racism!
Speak truth to power! Particularly when that power is the expression of RACISM! Challenge the racist and the racism! Do not ignore it. Do not enable it! Do not pretend it does not exist. That it is not real!
Racism is real! It is pernicious. It is evil! It is utterly destructive of democracy! A democratic society cannot tolerate racism!
Racism led us to the Civil War in which 600,000 people died! Many of them were members of the Confederate States of America, a traitorous nation dedicated to the preservation of the institution of SLAVERY! An anti-democratic nation dedicated not to “equal justice under the law” but, instead, to RACISM!
How many more people must die to end the pernicious evil of racism. We cannot allow this anymore!
When there is NO JUSTICE there can be NO PEACE! Racism is unjust! It violates every democratic principle upon which we as Americans rely to inform our conduct in a democratic society!
Finally, VOTE! Go out and VOTE in 2020! IF we are to preserve our democracy Trump must be defeated in 2020. His racism/fascism must be rejected! He has to go! So, VOTE, like your very democratic life depends upon it, because it most assuredly does!
