#Ferguson: Anyone But You

R3 Contributor

A few days ago, I read on The American Conservative website (of all places) an article entitled “Seven Reasons Why Police Brutality is Systemic, NotAnecdotal“. The piece lists seven reasons why police misconduct is systemic, from inadequate training in nonviolent solutions, to the unfair, routine targeting of minorities, particularly African Americans. I actually found the list during a search I conducted online looking for articles about police brutality. Of course, Michael Brown’s murder and the subsequent (mis)handling by Ferguson police of peaceful black protestors in response to the killing has been on my mind, but ironically, those events did not prompt my search. What did prompt it was the chance collision I had with the 2004 film, Crash.

Earlier that day, I subbed for a colleague in her editing class, during which I was to show students the film. I had some pressing work to finish in my office, so I left the students to watch the film on their own. But when I returned to the classroom, Crash had progressed to the scene of a literal crash in which Thandie Newton’s character, Christine, is found in her demolished automobile, upside down, by Matt Dillon’s character, Officer Ryan. In the well-developed scene, gasoline leaks methodically from the hood of Christine’s car onto the ground, slowly snaking its way down the hill on which the accident she was in took place. The other car in the crash has a fire in its engine, and sparks jump and fall from under the hood like snow. In a race against the inevitable, Officer Ryan attempts to free Christine from the wreckage. The problem is, as soon as Christine looks up to see who will be her savior, she recognizes her assailant.

A few scenes earlier, Officer Ryan, in typical bad cop fashion, feels up Christine when he slams her and her husband, Cameron (played by Terrance Howard) against their SUV for resisting Ryan’s commands. The reality is that Officer Ryan and his partner pull the couple over, suspecting that they are drunk, when Ryan notices Christine surface from performing fellatio on her husband. Although Ryan clearly wants to mess with Christine and Cameron, what could be a routine “driving while under the influence” check, quickly escalates to sexual assault. As Cameron watches helplessly, not willing to challenge or confront the LAPD, his beautiful wife in a cocktail dress is aggressively and perversely fondled, under the guise of a check for weapons, by Officer Ryan. So back at the car crash, when Christine recognizes Officer Ryan as the policeman who assaulted her, even as the gasoline from her car nears the burning car some 100 yards away, she begins to scream and beat Ryan back – “Not YOU!!! Anyone but YOU!!”

And hence, what I see as a prime and eighth reason why police brutality is systemic and not anecdotal.

I’m fully aware that Crash is a movie, but movies do mimic reality. And the problem with police brutality, whether it’s depicted in a fictional cinematic narrative, or on the streets of your city or mine, is that when a police force is ready and willing to do the work they’re supposed to do – which is to serve and protect the public – there is so little trust and so much trauma built up between the two groups that the police are the last people we’d go to for help. The absolute LAST. Which leaves us somewhat akin to those courageous black folk in Ferguson, who literally decided that they’d rather die at the hands of an unjust police force, than to let another day go by in which their rights as American citizens are disrespected, disregarded, and trampled upon.

Not you, Officer Darren Wilson. Not you, Fergusonpolice force. Anyone but you…