Recalling One Another’s Humanity: The Latest Story of White Man Calling Police on Black Man
It was on the front page of my news app this morning. CNN had titled the story “Crying boy begs dad not to call cops on black man.” I was sick. Not again. I am so sick of seeing our black neighbors having the cops called on them for doing mundane things. The article rightly points out that often black people have had cops called on them while waiting for friends at Starbucks or working out. The reaction to those events is warranted. They were horrifying. I had already intended to read that article and find a new, racist enemy who was being completely irrational. The headline led me in that direction. I was absolutely poised to join the mob and call out this Youtube executive for his injustice. As I read the article and watched the video on this experience, something didn’t sit right with me. Although I certainly agree that calling cops on people is often an act of violence against them, I think basic decency requires us to slow down on the mob mentality that destroys people and turns them into a caricature to hate rather than a fellow image bearer of the Most High God.
Seriously, Don’t Call the Cops
I’m not kidding. Next time you’re thinking about calling the cops because you’re nervous, don’t. Don’t do it. You probably don’t need to do that. Has anyone assaulted you? Has anyone pulled a gun on you? Has someone stolen your belongings? No? Then don’t call the cops. Unless someone has already pulled a gun on you, calling the cops is an escalation of violence, not a calming of the situation.
This isn’t a comment about whether police are generally good or bad. This is a statement of fact about what the police bring into a situation. When you call the cops, you’re calling men and women with guns into a situation to calm it down.
Are you white? Are you in an altercation with a person of color? Don’t call the cops. Don’t do it. You probably don’t need to do that. People debate whether there is racial injustice inherent in the police system. While I believe that there is systemic, racial injustice in many police departments, some people reading this will disagree with me about that. What no one, seriously, no one, should disagree about is whether there is a very real fear of police for many of our black neighbors. Calling the cops on people of color is a power play. You’re calling in people you do not fear in the same way as the person you’re in a dispute with. That fact, and it is a fact, makes the police inherently not neutral in the eyes of the two parties in a dispute, and it should be avoided whenever possible. Have a dispute. Yell at each other if you need to. Keep your hands off one another and don’t call the cops. Seriously, don’t call the cops.
Recall One Another’s Humanity
Having said all this, something’s really not setting rightly with me. I am coming to hate the mob mentality we live with. I’m guilty. I read that headline, and I read the article with a predisposition to hate Chris Cukor. I was ready to kill him in my own mind and heart.
Something happened as I watched the video, though. At the end, when Wesly Michel’s friend showed up, I saw Chris’s face turn beat red. He was embarrassed. You could hear his voice almost pleading with the 911 operator for understanding:
“He refused to identify that he was here for a person, and now he is filming me.” Cukor, the Youtube executive, knew what was coming next. He was going to be publicly flogged on the very platform he worked for, and a bunch of people who have never met him were going to make all sorts of assumptions about him.
And, when I looked at his face, I felt compassion. And, it’s something I wish I had a predisposition to feel for all human beings prior to opening an article like this.
Another thing that troubled me was the polarized reactions on the other side. Many people saw the unanswered questions in the video and declared that Wesly Michel was a ‘race baiter,’ intentionally ‘playing the victim’ even though he wasn’t a victim of anything.
For those of us in the mob, by the end of reading the article, someone had to die, at least in our own minds. Someone had to be a monster. Either Christopher Cukor is a racist monster who hates black people or Wesly Michel is a race baiting monster attempting to have his moment in the spotlight as a fake, social justice warrior.
What if we tried recalling the humanity of both these men?
When you recall someone’s humanity, you learn things about them. Like how Christopher Cukor’s dad was killed by a mentally ill intruder in his home. You start to realize that if that happened to you, you might be a little leery of strangers, regardless of race.
When you recall someone’s humanity, you start thinking about all the unanswered questions. You might remember your own experiences in apartments like the one Cukor lived in. If you did, you might remember (like me) clear instructions from the property management that forbid you from letting anyone in the door after you, regardless of race, if they do not have a keycard. Then, you realize that maybe this isn’t as cut and dry as you thought, and Cukor is guilty of a lesser crime of being an overzealous enforcer of the property manager’s instructions.
When you recall someone’s humanity, you refrain from calling Michel, a “race baiter.” You enter into his experiences. You realize that as a teenager he may have been followed around stores a lot more often than his white friends. You think about the fact that he hears the electric door locks when he walks in the crosswalk in front of minivans. You may realize it isn’t easy to be a minority, and you may recognize that even if Cukor wasn’t being racist, Michel certainly experienced him that way.
What if?
What if Cukor isn’t a racist who calls cops on black people simply for existing? What if Michel isn’t a race-baiting, liberal snowflake who is trying to destroy a man for no reason? What if both these men are, well, human beings. Both of them have strengths, weaknesses, and fears. Some of their fears are rational. And, some of those fears are irrational. And what if those two human beings, with their particular strengths, weaknesses, and fears, intersected in a way that was uncomfortable for them and for everyone watching? What if there are no monsters in the situation, and we shouldn’t be so quick to crucify people? Because, my gut is telling me that this is much closer to the truth about what happened than that Cukor is a racist who ignores his ‘woke’ eight year old or that Michel is a ‘race baiter.’
Let’s recall one another’s humanity. Sure. Debate. Learn. Listen. For God’s sake, stop calling the cops. But, please, let’s try to treat one another as human beings in the process.
