After an extended interview with ex-cop, now Professor William Moravits, he had some additional comments he wanted to make. He said he uses a Chris Rock skit in his class about what black men should do when stopped by a cop.
Ex-cop uses Chris Rock as an instructive tool?
I spoke to William Moravits for a relatively long interview recently. He visited us to talk about his new book, The Blue Divide. After scanning his book, I was surprised by a few of its assertions. Get his book if you read these kinds of books. And for areas you find less than optimal, tell him about it.
Those of you who know me know I stay the hell away from cops because whichever one of them is having a bad day may cause me harm. It is a mindset that keeps me safe. This sentiment is one that many people of color feel based on their experiences. After all, cops are a part of society and reflect all the community’s ills. The difference is that they carry weapons, and their crimes fall under draconian laws that protect them at your expense. If a cop feels threatened, many legislations and interpretations give them carte blanche to murder you. Reality is probative as one sees the dead bodies of primarily black and brown who were murdered-by-cop because they felt threatened.
I had a few issues with some of Moravits’ statements related to police propensity to abuse/kill People of Color (POC). He quotes studies that imply it is not as bad as what POC live with day in and out. Ultimately, we agreed that if the input to a study model is BS, then the results will be as well.
I explained why I consider the FBI crime numbers their respective demographics at best suspect. In my lily-white community, the youth gets taken home to mommy and daddy. In places where POC dominate, they get sent to jail. The FBI report will see a higher percentage of POC committing crimes than what is real.
I have many relatives in law enforcement, from officers to decorated detectives. So I am not particularly anti-cop but pro-surviving encounters with them. I had one of those driving-while-black encounters that turned out so well, I wrote about it for which the cop who stopped me got a commendation. In the end, Moravits had some excellent advice; watch Chris Rock’s “How to NOT get your ass kicked by the police.”