According to Merriam-Webster, the word “prejudice” can be defined as “a preconceived judgment or opinion” or “an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge.”
Forming opinions about a person or group of people based on skin color is a form of prejudice, also known as racism.
And when these opinions lead to actions, like shooting an unarmed Black person repeatedly in the back, as police did a few days ago in Kenosha, Wis., that’s a symptom of a sickness within our society that needs to be treated.
People are understandably upset about the Kenosha shooting that left Jacob Blake gravely injured. Just as they were and still are upset about George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis a few weeks ago. And numerous other incidents across the country in which people of color have been mistreated by the police and other institutions.
Which brings us to a proposal made a few days ago by some University of Colorado Boulder students to reduce funding for the campus police department and redirect that money toward other initiatives intended to benefit people of color on campus.
While the devil is often in the details, some of those ideas sounded really promising. Like increasing racial and cultural training for CU faculty, staff, and students. And hiring people of color as psychologists and therapists to provide counseling for students.
At least one of the ideas seems a little more questionable, that being to provide funding for student housing that would be reserved exclusively for people of color. Decades after a hard-won battle to desegregate our educational system, that seems like a step in the wrong direction.
However, at least the students are providing a jumping-off point for a discussion that’s extremely important to CU’s future. What we find troubling is the attempt to link their well-intended suggestions with the defunding of the campus police.
Absent any specific examples of misconduct by the campus police, reducing the department’s funding seems like a solution in search of a problem.
Or maybe it’s an attempt to punish the police for the actions of their colleagues in distant cities.
Not that the campus police department is perfect. In 2016, for example, it drew criticism for fatally shooting a machete-wielding man in a situation in which some people questioned whether lethal force was really necessary. There were no apparent racial overtones to that incident, however. And the students proposing to defund the department didn’t mention that case or any other specific examples of misconduct by the campus police.
Making a sweeping assumption that all police are bad or should be treated with suspicion because of the actions of some rogue officers is a form of prejudice, too. And that’s no more justified than it is to form opinions about people based solely on their skin color.
Some people arguing in favor of defunding police departments have noted that during an earlier period in our country’s history, police helped to hunt down escaped slaves. But that’s not the mission that police officers have today.
As the saying goes, police are supposed to protect and serve. If there are ways to help them do their jobs more effectively, or prevent bad cops from straying from their mission, then by all means, let’s talk about how to make that happen.
But arbitrarily reducing funding for police who haven’t done anything wrong seems mean spirited and counterproductive.
As a society, we obviously have a lot of room for improvement in terms of treating people of all races, creeds, and colors fairly and equitably. We should focus on real problems that can and should be fixed, rather than measures that seem more like retaliation than reconciliation.
– Blake Fontenay for the Daily Camera editorial board
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August 30, 2020 at 05:01AM
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