Is Filming the Police Enough?

Is ``F**-ing’’ them Enough?

By Brother Tracy Gibson

 

I decided I didn’t want to ``F’’ the Police. That is what started to get me into trouble. I’m not talk about filming the police. The other ``F.’’ I rejected one officer and thus, I rejected them all.  Sorry to be so explicit, but we are talking about How to save our Black youth’s and our Black children’s lives. I Am askin our leadership & our Black community to take another look at the police brutality issue. I Am askin for balance, fairness, openness, and greater exposure on this issue.. Eighty Five % of the time, when we stand back and call the police, because of security risks and necessity, we make out without a bad incident or anyone getting killed or murdered or beaten mercilessly.  Some How this never gets into our news coverage on CNN or ABC. But when a Black youth like that young girl in the classroom who was treated brutally by an officer in a school when She was misbehaving – that got a lot of media attention and news coverage. Nerves were tingling, people were on the edge of their seats, People were angry, People were upset. I’m beginning to wonder if the rich White media isn’t the real problem and enemy here. The People need to Cool It, But, By GOD, the Media really needs to cool down.

Moreover, when we spend time trying to build bridges and heal and mend aching hearts, sooth tired minds & make People understand that things will get worse if the same people stay in charge of producing what we think is the news – you know exactly who I’m talkin about. When we sit by and watch the drivel on TV and not question it and demand more reality--& I’m not talkin about ``reality shows’’ like that awful Jerry Springer of that terrible Moorie Povich. These shows are gruesome, silly, exploitative of the poor, stupid and over hyped by the same ole customers who cram the other stupidity down our eyeballs. I’m talkin about real reality on TV. The sort of shows that help create Peace, Decency, Respect, Honor, LOVe, Understanding, Hope, and help these things blossom & spring forth like Spring in Mae—this is what we need in TV programming. I don’t think Tyler Perry gets it. Maybe Oprah with Her Spiritual Hope shows is beginning to crack an egg here & there, but even She is not really on target or on point. Where are the Black Spiritual leaders on Her show? I see an awful lot of crying White women of Her shows and a lot of crying White women on Doc Phil on Oprah as well. The United States of Native America (Here, We) are made up of a lot more than this!!   

When will honesty and true meaning and decency and real kindness and respect for People start to dominate the airwaves instead of just more hype and police shows and Two White Chicks without a Dime because Wall Street took it all—when will a great degree of diversity Spring forth.  I was very encouraged that they are starting a show about Librarians. It is fantasy and over hyped and TV land, but it is a start. I have yet to see ``The Haves and the Havenots,’’ the TV show. I saw the original Tyler Perry stage play on video and was appalled and repulsed by the massive stereotypes & stupidity.  The ole granny was a prostitute type and there were few shows of real affection between the main man and the main woman characters. The youth was a border-line drug dealer who stayed out until 3 AM.  But there is one thing I know for sure. Mr. Perry is very capable of morphing into whatever He needs to in order to make a buck and show People what they want. He does not seem good at raising Black community standards and helping Black viewers see they can ask for and get and be something much better. The showing of Black viewers raving about His plays at the end of the Perry Play videos is Legendary and exacting. It helps cut away at the racist money backers who would deny Him funding for His shows.

What does this have to do with police brutality in our community? I think the police and our Black community are gettin a raw deal by the partisanship and the hyped one-up-man-ship and the controversy about police abuse. There is police abuse and the City of Philadelphia must take on and accept, under the new administration, the policy changes, recommendations & suggestions offered by several community groups that will bring on positive changes and fairness. If I Am not mistaken, among these changes & improvements is: mandatory sensitivity training for Police officers across all racial lines; more restraints on the use of force and the use of guns; more roads and pathways to successfully seeking and locating justice when something goes very wrong; a civilian review board for the police; & also less partisan and racially hype median coverage. We should add to that getting & demanding more positive media coverage of police and communities working successfully together.  This police abuse is an issues the entire community needs to be concerned with because there are cases of White youth being abused as well; and Latino and Latina youth also.  Our leadership needs to stop looking at the issue like a gold grab bag or a brass ring and really get out there and help the Grass Roots with more than rhetoric and hot air.   Makin money by the boat loads off of our young Black People’s and our Black families’ suffering is as appalling as some of the Police Abuse itself.

The police, most of them, do a very good job most of the time. They report to work on time; they rarely use their guns; they get involved in the Police Athletic League & help young Black males stay off the streets sometimes; they also have families and children and must be treated with the same respect they treat us as Black People with. We have to, as Black People, demand respect and get it. When things go wrong, it is our duty to not only call Al Sharpton & Rodney Muhammad, but call for that civilian review Board in a letter to the Daily News & get on WURD and ask for all the other community recommendations. This is why we need Black Lives Matter also: to keep the pressure on all the time and make demands & effectively make positive changes. But Black Lives Matter must work at finding good role models among the police – Black, Latin & White Police—and making sure these good hardy examples get into the media and in front of the Black community as well.    We need to stop callin each other Uncle Tom and Miss Ann just because we might have a view that is more open, balanced and moderate than what ours might be. We need to listen to all our Black voices. And by the Way, there are Gays and Lesbians among the Police force in Philadelphia as well. We rarely hear from them. Their right to speak up and speak out should be exercised & respected as well. What do they have to say about the dreadful murders of Trans People in our Fair City? Just Sayin..