Thursday, August 30, 2007

Airport transcript: "I expect this from the guy that we get out of the hood."

So a couple things.

One, I'm a little confused as to how I feel about the Republican senator going through the bathroom stall drama. We all know people get entrapped all the time for all sorts of crimes. That's a given.

We all know gay, or sexually undecided folks, in rural areas like Idaho, Wyoming, the deserts of California and Arizona, the OC, small-town America, often don't have outlets or resources or supportive attitudes to help them negotiate sexual orientation issues.

And we know conservatives and Repubs can be a little judgmental on others, not themselves. Well... look at how they went after the Clintons in the late 90s for the BJ allegations.

BUT.

Now that I'm reading the transcript of the interview between Minneapolis police and the Idaho senator over the bathroom incident, I'm a little pissed, no pun intended, at the cop's statement regarding the senator's truthfulness.

To the senator, the cop says, "I'm just gonna say I'm disappointed in you sir. I'm (sic) just really am. I EXPECT THIS FROM THE GUY THAT WE GET OUT OF THE HOOD. I mean people vote for you." Quote on Page 6 of the police interview transcript from MSNBC.com.

I'm sure we can infer what the cop meant by expecting lesser or dishonest behavior from people from "the hood." We know exactly what and who the cop is talking about.

Regardless of your position on the Idaho senator's situation, it shows me one thing I've always been told about police -- by a relative who is a FORMER cop. Cops don't have high esteem or opinions of poor people, people of color, and others they go after in high rates.

Now I wonder if the police will do any "attitude" training for their force based on what's in the airport bathroom transcript. Or is it not a big deal? Just all in a day's work, the beliefs about "people from the hood?"

Good Cop Bad Cop
fs

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

funny how people tend to say we need to get over racial issues in this country, when we can make the assumption that the officer expects more from a wealthy white senator than the poor and minority in this country

Anonymous said...

If you all didn't have such a knee-jerk reaction of assuming that to be a cop is to be a racist, you might not have read racism into what the police officer said during the interrogation. You also might have considered that what the officer was saying was part of an interrogation meant to get to the truth. Then you might have imagined that the officer was playing on the senator's feeling of moral shame to get him to tell the truth. On second thought, that would have involved the effort of focusing your mind and thinking. It is so much easier to not question the popular bromide, spew forth some variant of "whitey is keeping the black man down," and applaud each other as brave defenders of the weak.

Unknown said...

It is amazing to me that there are some in this country that think racist behavior does not exist. These are the same people who ignore racial profiling and minority abuses perpetrated by civil authorities. They have never been beaten by a cop. They have never had someone say “oh it’s just a stupid NIGGER!”
I wish I could live in the wonderful world that these few Americans live in. I am disgusted by the statement the arresting official made but not surprised. I am not even surprised that the media made no comment about it. The MEDIA is supposed to be the watch dog for the underprivileged and abused. They had a field day with KATRINA but only because it was good news. In the end most of the Americans out there (even the ones that just love us darkies) really could care less about minorities. So this little comment Is to be accepted and believed. So if you think we are blowing it out of proportion just ignore it. Just like you ignore the oppression minorities experience every day! It’s just another small annoyance to your perfect world!