2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session 2013 special election arts arts and culture author ballot measures bomb books budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration international internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal portland mayor president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes television terrorism theater third parties timber payments transportation union university of oregon violence washington water wildfire women

Thank you for bringing this grave issue to NPR. There's a conflict inside each citizen about the police. We want and appreciate police protection, but we also want assurance we are protected from the police. The second part, "protection from the police," is a part that not all citizens understand. Without provoking the officer and after he had already checked my ID in his system, when I was only seventeen, I was attacked by a policeman with a large metal flashlight. I ducked, struggled away, and ran. When he caught up with me, he drew his shiny .45 caliber semiautomatic and loaded a round into the barrel, pointing his weapon at me; although I was standing with a torn tank top, shorts, no shoes, and no weapon. I was next to a populated apartment building. He screamed at me to get on the ground, then put his knee in my back and pushed the barrel of his pistol hard against the back of my skull. His behavior was clearly the result of watching too many cop and cowboy shows on TV and too much boredom in the meantime. The perpetuation of paranoia in our society is a problem as well. I've know excellent policeman of character and sacrifice, but there is a serious problem in our society and the police force with the idea of playing out the role of some fictional character seen on TV or in a movie.

Another time I was simply walking to work and was misidentified as a recent bank robber by the bus driver of the bus I had just departed. As a result, about two blocks after leaving the bus, three cop cars rushed up to me, and several, about seven, officers made a firing formation with pistols and shotguns drawn and loaded, all pointing at me. The sound of all those firearms being loaded and pointed at me, standing in total innocence, is something that I can never forget when I think of the police, as is the feeling of the shiny loaded .45 caliber pressed hard on my skull. See, the irony is that the closest I've ever come to death or to being shot has been by the Portland and Beaverton police. It's the irony that's so conflicting, of course, as well as the tragedy of those less fortunate than me. I'm a caucasian educated male, by the way.

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
view in context