In a piece for Salon this morning, Rutgers University professor Brittney Cooper proclaimed that all black people are “one police encounter from the grave,” and that white people must start lumping themselves together as “ the face of the oppressor.”
This piece comes after Sandra Bland, an African-American women, was found dead in her cell following a dramatic arrest in Texas earlier this week. Police have labeled the death a suicide, and are pointing to new evidence that would support this claim. Bland’s family is disputing this claim, and have ordered their own autopsy to follow up the one performed by the state.
Cooper was very clear in her condemnation of the arresting officer despite the fact that investigations have hardly even begun. In her mind, he is guilty of a much worse crime than abuse of power during a traffic stop. He is guilty of the standard crime committed by all white males– supremacy:
Nothing about this officer’s actions were legal. It is the evidence of Sandra Bland’s irritation that caused this officer to escalate. He firmly expected to be able to harass a citizen going about her business and have her be okay with it. He expected that she wouldn’t question him. He wanted her submission.
Her deference. Her fear.
White power. Black submission. It’s the oldest trick in the white supremacist handbook. The officer might think he wanted Sandra Bland’s respect. But what he really wanted was her fear. And the fact is: He is entitled to neither.
She did not owe him either her respect or her fear. When his white maleness and his badge didn’t elicit the first, he used the power of that badge to compel the second.
She goes on to let us know that no matter what comes to light during the investigation into Bland’s death, her mind is made up:
Now Sandra Bland is dead. She isn’t dead because of suicide. No matter what they say, justice, reason, fairness and good damn sense compel us to believe differently.
Not only is her mind made up on the Bland case, her mind is made up on police and white people in general– That they’re narcissistic, dangerous bullies:
Black people, of every station, live everyday just one police encounter from the grave. Looking back over my encounters with police, it’s truly a wonder that I’m still in the land of the living.
Am I supposed to be grateful for that? Are we supposed to be grateful each and every time the police don’t kill us?There is a way that white people in particular treat Black people, as though we should be grateful to them
She ends her racist tirade with a suggestion on how white people should feel about their alleged evil -- An evil that cannot be overcome because it is inherited by birth -- The transgression of their race.
White people resist seeing themselves in the face of the oppressor. That mirror reflection is almost too much to bear. I get it. So then they resent the person that holds up the mirror. But let me just say as directly as I can: White people must begin to see themselves in the faces of the mostly white police officers who keep committing these atrocities against Black and Brown people. This will not stop until you recognize that you are them. These officers are your brothers and sisters and aunts and cousins, and sons and daughters and nieces and nephews, and friends, and church members. You are them. And they are you.
Throughout this anti-white tirade from a Big Ten professor, Cooper never once suggests that other races or creeds should look in mirror for comparable actions. That would go against the creed of liberalism. The Muslim community need not answer for the killings of 5 service members in Chattanooga, or the Tsarnaev's Boston bombing. But the white community must answer for crimes committed by terrorists like Dylan Roof, or the alleged misconduct of a white police officer. This type of one-sided logic is simply standard procedure for liberals like Cooper, and liberal organizations like Salon.
