White privilege is a term that has been around for as long as I can remember. Being a white male, I’d never really paid all that much attention to the term.
In the 7 and a half months since American George Floyd was murdered on camera by a police officer, it has been mentioned more times than I can count.
Floyd, a large black man, was shown on the video laying prone on his stomach on the ground with his hands in handcuffs behind his back and a white police officer kneeling on his neck. Floyd wasn’t offering any resistance other than telling the officer that he couldn’t breath. He said: “I can’t breath,” more than 20 times. The officer’s response was to put both his hands into the front pockets of his pants and look smugly into the many cameras filming the whole thing. He looked smugger and smugger the more Mr. Floyd pleaded for his life and his mama. The pleas from bystanders fell on deaf ears as he kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck, slowing chocking the life out of him. After about 5 minutes Mr. Floyd became unresponsive and there was still no attempt to check on his well being. A full seven minutes and forty-six seconds passed before another officer at the scene checked for a pulse, but of course there wasn’t one.
While the lack of compassion from the officer doing the kneeling was appalling, the most shocking part to me was the lack of assistance for Mr. Floyd from the other 3 officers at the scene. Not only didn’t any of them try to remove the officer to help the clearly subdued Mr. Floyd, they actually made a perimeter to keep bystanders from helping him.
George Floyd was far from the first unarmed black man to be killed by police but his death in particular has sparked a movement calling for change. I know change has been called for again and again in the past without much success but this time actually feels different.
All 4 officers face criminal charges as well they should. I know video evidence has been presented in past police killings of “suspects” and charges laid only to have the officers let off as part of their duties, etc., etc. but I believe this time will be different.
It hurt my heart watching the video and it still does just thinking about it now. I wept for that poor man as I tried to wrap my head around how anyone could treat a fellow human being in such a manner. The anger that flowed through me was intense and a bit scary. And yet, I realized that it was just a fraction of the anger black people were probably feeling about the incident. Adding to that is fear they no doubt experience just having to deal with the police for any number of reasons. It’s no wonder protests broke out all over America and around the world. It’s also no wonder that looting and violence happened at some of the protests. I don’t condone the violence but I understand the frustration they face protesting peacefully and not getting any results from it.
It also got me to thinking of my interactions with police over the years.
I had applied to work as a photo technician at the RCMP’s K Division in Edmonton upon graduation from SAIT back in 1992 and was unsuccessful. That all went pretty smoothly and they even sent me back my finger prints they had taken as part of my application process.
Ironically, I processed and printed a lot of photos for the RCMP once I got a job as a photo lab technician at Pix-A-Colour just over a year later. If there wasn’t time to get their photos done for a court case or if they just needed film done in a hurry, I did it for them as the couldn’t wait for the delay sending it to K Division. I dealt with many members of the RCMP in my seven years at that job without an issues.
I was probably 15 or 16 the first time I ever had to deal with the police and it more than likely would of turned out differently had I been black. I returning from grouse and rabbit hunting with my .22 calibre Cooey single shot rifle slung over my shoulder just walking through downtown on my way home when an RCMP officer pulled his car over and approached me. He asked to see my rifle and immediately pulled the bolt out of it. It was empty but I left the bolt in to keep dirt out. He said people associate the bolt in as being loaded. I said most people couldn’t tell the difference but agreed to leave it out until I got home. And he let me go on my way. He didn’t put me in the car to make sure I was heading home or take me to the jail for carrying the gun. It was legal to carry it (many, many pickup truck had gun rack in the cab back in those days) and I had my permit to own it so I was free to go.
The second “run in” I had with the police was when I got a speeding ticket while on holidays in a rental car on Vancouver Island. While I didn’t have any fear or issues per se, I did think the guy who had just passed me and was going faster than me should of been the one pulled over. But, I was in the rental so…
The third was on my 40th birthday, driving my son Adam out to Stettler so we could chase the steam train to Big Valley, and we were late (or so I thought). So of course I got another speeding ticket. But again, no problems, and he even knocked a few kilometers per hour off my speed to lessen the cost and not cost me demerits.
So three “incidents” over 25 or so years, one of which involved a gun, and no one got hurt. It was my own fault for being pulled over and I was allowed to go on my way without any further incidents every single time.
I’m pretty sure that if I had of been black, or native or any visible minority for that matter, things probably wouldn’t of turned out so good
I have been struggling to finish writing this blog post. I’ve started and stopped more than a few times in the past 5 months since I started it. The answer came to me yesterday as I watched the President of the United States incite civil unrest and encourage people to disrupt Congress confirming Joe Biden as the next president.
A riot ensued and the proceedings were temporarily halted and the U.S. Capitol was evacuated as rioters poured into the building. Police were overwhelmed by the sheer number of hooligans.
As I watched the predominately white crowd causing mayhem and destruction I couldn’t but notice how little violence was being meted out by the police to the rioters. For the most part I saw police officers pushing people with their riot shields. All I could think of was that if a black family had posted on Facebook that they wanted to travel to the U.S Capitol to protest something they didn’t think was right they would probably labeled as subversives, hauled out of their house and called terrorists. And yet, actual terrorists were being subversive and the President of the United States is calling them “very special people”.
You’ll never convince me that white privilege isn’t a thing.
Hank's Blog - Musings of a Wandering Mind 