In light of the recent turmoil and backlash going on currently, as a community leader and youth counselor, I’m taking it upon myself to share my thoughts on preventative measures to try to avoid mishaps. Yes, I am referring directly to the news of the failure of grand jury indictment of the 2 police officers involved in the Mike Brown/Ferguson case and the Eric Garner/Staten Island case. Nevertheless, there are two things that this post WON’T be reflecting.

• I’m not going to argue over the innocence/guilt of either party in the two cases.
• Nor am I going to cry about the feelings of injustice of the legal system.

Although I don’t want to come across to my readers as a cynic; personally, the protesting and outcries will prove minimal if anything at all. I don’t feel the need to go out in the cold and protest. What does that really accomplish? That’s not going to get the authorizing people to change their opinions about their choice of action, or lack of action, rather, to keep things in perspective. If anything, less-than-peaceful riots have the potential of contributing to more unfortunate situations. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand why protestors feel as strongly as they do; but, I just don’t feel that’s the course of action that will cultivate desired change. Now, keep in mind that I can’t offer the exact algorithm that will cultivate change revolving police brutality; especially, since this has been an area that has been plaguing America for decades. However, I can offer something that may help prevent these cases of police aggressiveness and brutality from occurring in the first place. If the police department’s objective is to protect and serve, let us as a community take it upon ourselves to prevent and survive.

Police officers are authoritative figures of the community. They do not like their authority compromised by any means, clearly. Men are authoritative figures by nature. They do not want their own authority over self compromised by any means, clearly. When you have two beings that exude authority, power struggles and clashes occur. These clashes begin verbally and, if not mitigated, often grow to physical encounters. Hence, the violent outbreaks resulting in the untimely deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner.

As a virile man, I know all-to-well, the essence of the leading qualities of presumed manliness. It is the machismo, pride, and testosterone that cause a lot of men to not want to surrender to the will of an officer. This is especially true when they subjectively feel that they’re being chastised while innocent. It is a tough and difficult pill to swallow, but I’m going to stress that you swallow it. Swallow your pride gentlemen. In my view, when a man is approached by an officer, you’re taking a “loss” regardless. Why not just obey and take the minimal loss, as opposed to fighting back and taking a bigger loss. Unfortunately, sometimes this “loss” is an actual loss of life as in these two cases. In both cases, the two civilians resisted/struggled with the officers. I’m not stating that the officers were justified in their actions to confront/arrest; nor, am I saying that the civilians were justified in their unwillingness to conform. What I am saying to the civilians is to comply and NOT resist. Any act of insubordination will cause the officer to enforce his authority more vigorously. You’re fighting a losing battle either way.

Take it from me. Whenever I get pulled over for a supposed traffic violation, I don’t argue. In fact, I barely say a word. No acts of belligerence needed. Make it easy on yourself, and do as they say. You have the right to remain silent, exercise that right. If you deem it necessary to question, do so in a non-confrontational manner. I understand that your dignity and sense of right/wrong won’t allow you to passively back down, but, one key concept that people should learn is to be a master at your emotions. Anger is an emotion that is almost always counterproductive. Learn how to control your emotions, especially anger. Action based on emotion is guaranteed to be regretful. Tactful, cerebral strategy should be your propeller of action, and not momentary, adrenaline-filled, emotional responsiveness.

Image Courtesy Of nicomulder.net

Now, I do know that every situation is different. I am aware of instances where there wasn’t any verbal encounter prior to an abrupt action happening. On the other hand, I’m only focusing on the most recent uproar stemming from the two aforementioned cases. Also, I do realize that police brutality/aggressiveness is not only restricted to male officers against male civilians. These situations happen female-to-female or female-to-male and vice verse. Once again, I’m just focusing on the more prevalent situations.

As a community outreach leader and public speaker, I try to educate people to exercise caution and always think before acting. There are better and more strategic ways to solve deemed problems. We must start educating ourselves in the community on proper ways to address issues. We must first begin inside, and outsource the energy outside for significant change to occur. Until then, we as a community, need to do better at preventing ourselves from the unfavorable. Make those who are “above” you feel in power at all times, and you won’t inspire any fear, insecurity, or unnecessary violence. Feel free to comment below.

On The Podium Sharing My Thoughts