But I do not understand how the police can be so mean

[Soph0571]

Says a down country Northern Irish girl living in a bubble of an innocence most kids have no opportunity to realise in 2020. At 13 she of course looks at social media, but with extremely strict parental limitations, and she is struggling to understand how a policeman could kill someone, anyone, like the lynching of George Floyd. Her mother has tried to educate her on the legacy of Empire, colonialism, slavery and the resulting shitshow that has ensued over hundreds of years. The girl is not a stupid girl and intellectually she understands what her mother is saying. Emotionally she cannot. She says, but the police are there to protect me, they should protect everybody. Her mother says, yes they are, and yes they should, but if we were a Catholic family I may not be so sure they are here to protect you. Her mother put George Floyd in a local context of minority communities’ matter. This girl is my niece and her mother is my twin and I am so proud that this conversation happened in a very non-political down country household. BLM well beyond the boundaries of America.

Just sayin’

[Pantagruel]

1. Read this to understand bad cops

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213569713

[Soph0571]

2. I guess you did not read the OP

I think we all know what it looks like to be a bad cop, that was not the point of this.

[guillaumeb]

3. If she is from Northern Ireland, she is truly on a restricted information diet.

Has she ever heard this song?

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. +1

[Hekate]

5. The girl is only 13 yo, and her mother restricts her social media, as she should. Read OP.

[guillaumeb]

7. I did.

And I have no idea what type of history is taught in her school.

[Soph0571]

10. Love it is NI

Of course she gets the sanitised version of history. Any other version would be to uncomfortable to tell. History is very recent you see when you live in a place of recent war and conflict. No one wants to sent that violent flame alight.

[guillaumeb]

12. Has she ever heard of the Orange Parade?

My wife and I travelled to Ireland many years ago.

I saw "f*** the Queen" written on so many buildings that I thought it was the national motto.

[Soph0571]

13. Of course she has -

Our heritage would not be on the same side as the fuck the queen crowd

[guillaumeb]

14. In my view, the Orange Parade is no different from those in the southern US

still hoping for a return of the Confederacy.

[Maeve]

6. She's obviously been raised gently

And I mean that in a good way---and she's too young to have seen police around her act like an occupying army. Sounds like your sister has done a good job and is using local context to help her understand.
The future will be determined by the young. Your niece hold hope for it.

[FM123]

8. Brava to your sister!

13 is a tender and not yet wise an age and it was so important for her mom to illustrate the injustice in a context she could understand, well done.

[c-rational]

9. Lovely story Soph, and one I can relate to.on a very personal level. When i was 23, I can remember

my mother talking to me - we were in the basement of our house near the laundry, and she told me that she and my Father had made a conscious decision to raise us 'young', i.e. they did not want us to see certain facets of life until we were older. She was the intellectual of our house, a Smith College graduate from the mid 30's. I have never forgotten that conversation. I cannot say whether it left me a better person, but I do feel it left me seeing the good in people and generally with smile. Cannot say the same for my siblings, but I was always Mom's favorite - we were simply simpatico.

Sounds like you have both a wonderful sister and niece.

[wiggs]

11. It's a good question we don't talk about enough publicly. We say because of disrespect, racism,

structural prejudice, maybe sociopathy, arrogance, god complex...etc.. But HOW/WHY does this happen?

...Does the police culture and job description attract the kind of person prone to those character traits?

...Does the police force just have the same number of racists and narcissists that exist in the general population and sooner or later these oddballs make the news because their core tendencies show up?

...Does the sub-culture itself change otherwise well-meaning people AFTER they join up?

...Do some, after being on the force for some time, suffer some kind of PTSD or callous of soul that is an occupational hazard? After all, many do see some shit not unlike war and there must be some consequence.

Maybe all four? I wish there was more discussion of this rather than the usual binary divisive discussion. If we are talking about reform it would help to know which solutions would do the most good by understanding the problem.