Sounds ridiculous, I thought. Cops called on a three-year old, what nonsense! So like a dope, I read beyond the Yahoo! tease, which includes this provided picture:
I'll spare the bulk of the details, because as I discovered, they really don't matter. Long and short, the mother of the little girl whom the author's young boy accidentally knocked over while riding bikes decided to call the cops over the incident.
The other mom requested an ambulance for her daughter, and sought to press charges, presumably because the young ruffian was allowed to roam so indiscriminately.
The cops were as forceful as you might expect human beings to be in response to a three year-old boy accidentally knocking down a two year-old girl:
"Look," the other police officer tried to explain to the other mother, "I can see him crying from here. It was an accident. It's not like he did it on purpose.""The little girl got a ride to the hospital in an ambulance. And to calm any concern you might have up to now, the young boy is fine, too, despite having been a bit shaken up by the incident. He's "back on his scooter and hasn't mentioned the incident again," the author says.
And while that cop likely had a "You wouldn't believe these silly suburban moms today" story to tell his wife when he got home, the author, on the other hand, is traumatized.
She's still furious. She's scared. Her "black son just had his first police interaction at age 3."
And just like that, it became clear that this story wasn't about her son or that other mom at all. They were just avenues to write a hip new #BlackLivesMatter article.
She goes on:
I'm glad the police were reasonable and straightened things out. Perhaps in this instance, it was best they were there to handle what was obviously a touchy situation. In this instance. This time.Geez, she's not even trying to hide her contempt for cops.
"To be the mother of a black son," she continues, "is to be scared for them, constantly."
Being a parent is to be scared for your child, constantly. Not a day goes by where I don't fear for my own children's lives, many times over. It's part of the human condition, and mothers with black sons certainly don't have a monopoly on it.
I guess we can thank her for at least presenting these cops in a somewhat positive light, "in this instance." But she's definitely worthy of derision for perpetuating the dangerous, and completely untrue, myth about bloodthirsty, racist cops being out to get poor, defenseless, and innocent black kids.
I don't expect that any facts will change author Emily McCombs' mind. I wouldn't expect that any more than the facts of the Michael Brown case, having thoroughly destroyed the bullshit "Hands up, don't shoot!" narrative, could change the minds of other people so devoted the myth that they took the opportunity of the incident's anniversary to protest the epidemic of white, racist, murderous cops.
But I will say this, Emily. If your young son is ever arrested by a cop, it will most likely be because he did something wrong. So if you're really worried to death about him getting arrested, you should probably devote all your energies to teaching him to not do things that are wrong.
And if he grows up fearing the phantom specter of a cop that's out to get him at every turn because he's black, it will be your fault. Not society's. Not the cops'. Yours, and yours alone. Because you have the opportunity to teach him something different to help him become a better person. And you will have squandered it in order to keep your fabricated worldview alive.
-- William Sullivan
