Many, many police officers and their supporters are going ape shit very upset at a group of student artists at Westfield High School in New Jersey for daring to exhibit their artwork. Why? Because the art in question is based on the theme “Law Enforcement – Police Brutality.” I guess cops can give a punch (or a taser shot, “rough ride” or a bullet) but they can’t stand to see any artistic expression of that behavior, symbolic or otherwise. And so they are lambasting the high school and the student artists whose only crime, as far as I can tell, was using their own life experience of interactions with police to inform what they create.
Artwork depicting scenes of police brutality displayed in a Westfield High School art show has set off a firestorm of comments from police supporters who have called the images “a gross misrepresentation,” “ignorant” and “one-sided.”
The artwork depicts images of officers with guns drawn, a target on a silhouette with his hands up, a bloodied body stabbed by a police shield and other scenes on a poster board that reads “Law Enforcement – Police Brutality.” The silkscreens were part of an annual project where students depict their takes on controversial topics, according to a student.
A storm of protest on social media erupted after the images first appeared on the school’s facebook page, with a large number of people calling for the firing of the Superintendent for the school district, Dr. Margaret Dolan. Here’s a screenshot of some of the tamer responses to the exhibit posted on the school’s facebook page:
Of course, Fox News couldn’t resist covering this story. Here’s Eric Bolling’s fair and balanced take on this matter, where he implicitly blamed the teachers at Westfield High for attacking the police, and demanded the exhibit be “taken down.”
Superintendent Dolan, as result of this “controversy” posted a response attempting to defuse the criticism from people who posted such comments and attacked the school district for “teaching kids to disrespect the police.”
I am sorry that information that has been passed along via social media and elsewhere has not told the entire story and has led some to believe that we do not respect law enforcement. We do, and we are teaching our students to do the same.
Ironically, it was the kids at the school who chose the subject – not the Superintendent, not their teachers. They were told that it was their choice to make and that, as one of the students, Kayla related to NJ.com:
“We submitted several different topics of our choice and finally narrowed them down to three – Law Enforcement- Police Brutality, Modern Technology Advances and Gender Equality,” said student Kayla McMillan. “The students were allowed to choose either side of the arguments and were told they would not be in trouble for their own opinions.”
Welcome to the real world, Kayla, where people will not respect your right to freedom of expression if it upsets their delicate sensibilities. Obviously, the student artists who created these images didn’t do so in a vacuum, nor did their teachers brainwash them to “hate the police.” The reality in America today is that police violence against all citizens, but particularly minority populations is commonplace, despite falling crime rates. We’ve all seen overzealous and violent law enforcement responses to peaceful protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street, and far too many shootings, and other instances of police violence against African Americans and Latinos, many of them unarmed and often while they were already in custody (e.g., Freddy Gray).
The cops and their supporters can loudly proclaim all they want that these “incidents” are infrequent and represent only a few bad apples. However, as more stories come out of officially sanctioned abuse and outright torture, such as what occurred in Chicago’s infamous Homan Square station, and as more and more people capture video of these brutal outrages (e.g., Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Eric Garner) where innocent people are murdered by cops, the harder it is to defend the police, especially since so many of them remain silent in the face of their fellow officers’ open criminality.
Frankly, in this case, the kids got it right.
I sure do not support this kind of SCHOOL-SUPPORTED HOSTILITY to the police. This could have been used to build bridges. Instead, it’s being used to tear more down.
What’s next, a student-sponsored anti-snitch campaign?
And, no, I don’t support cops shooting anyone. Note that today, so far, the millions of cops throughout the US haven’t killed anyone. But the hostility is not making it an easy job. Me, I prefer to have cops around, as opposed to a volunteer militia, no cops at all, or a military occupation.
If you agree that cops are necessary, why is this “art” display a good idea?
There’s a lot in between police as they exist today, and volunteer citizen militias. Me? I don’t want cops (as they exist today) near me. Ever. I view them as a threat.
If there are supposedly “millions” of good cops out there, where are they? Fired, quit, or keep their head low to survive being called a rat (and then they are enabling the “bad” cops).
No, this is not about hostility to police. It’s a protest of something that really is happening–not the mere existence of the police, but the militarization of the police. How many jurisdictions really need BearCats? They’ve been handing them out left and right, and yes there have been instances of them being deployed against peaceful protesters. People do tend to be a lot less hostile if you approach them without military weapons and body armor.
Bridges go two ways. Look what’s at the student end: An unarmed figure with his hands up. Is “Please don’t shoot me” an insult? Not if you’re pointing a gun at them. Of course it’s not all cops, it’s not even the majority of cops. Why does that mean we have to pretend it isn’t even happening?
so you support the school teaching rainbows and unicorns instead of reality.
Would you allow reality to intrude on biology or physics classes, just not art? Or in your world where police brutality isn’t real do things fall up?
The police who are most upset by this are the ones who are perfectly content with excessive force. I’m OK with them going away.
Oh, their precious, precious fee-fees were bruised? How very sad. I guess they’ll have to go out and shoot up some ni*CLANG to put a smile on their faces again.
BTW, dataguy, this is in NJ, not Whitebread Nebraska. If you don’t live there, STFU telling them what they’re going through.
Kiss my butt, babycakes. Seriously, who the fuck are you to tell me what I should or should not do.
It’s really pathetic. Rather than discussing the issue, which you are seldom capable of, you make it your business to tell me whether I am wrong or not. I’ll simplify it – when you look at my arguments, I am right, and you probably are never going to be able to figure that out. But I knew that.
“I’ll simplify it – when you look at my arguments, I am right”
Instant wingnut classic.
“I’ll simplify it – when you look at my arguments, I am right,…”.
When you formulate actual arguments on this subject, we’d be glad to consider them. What I’m reading from you on this thread is McCain-level incoherent yelling that is completely dismissive of the public’s concerns and right TO NOT GET KILLED AND MAIMED AND OPPRESSED BY THE POLICE WITHOUT CAUSE.
Build bridges? Shit, too many officers no only are uninterested in bridges, they’re actively tearing down bridges that people in targeted communities might want to use to improve their lives.
So yeah, these New Jersey teens are supposed to build Bridges To Nowhere? Come, now.
Yes, because if the kids today aren’t sucking up to fascist cops who are killing them, then it’s just tearing relations down.
Those kids are lucky to learn it early on:
If people are going apeshit over your work, then it must be good art.
On the bright side, maybe the police will really show them by refusing to “protect” students at that school. Like the blue flu in NY when DiBlasio had the nerve to say something true, everyone could then exhale for a little while.
It’s indeed interesting, all of this righteous, bleating-heart indignation about the brutal cops. And yet something did happen today involving cops and violence. Gee, what might that be? Any of you oh-so-indignant culture warriors notice?
Is this it?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/us/michael-brelo-cleveland-police-officer-acquitted-of-manslaughte
r-in-2012-deaths.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®
ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Oh, I guess not. Was an officer shot? If so, congratulations, dataguy! That’s a point for your side! Huzzah!
One question: was he shot by an unarmed black guy in handcuffs? Because that would be triple bonus points for your side. You know, the side that’s saving us from the tyranny of military occupation.
Are you referring to the court case in Cuyahoga County where according to NBC News, a judge “said that while he found beyond a reasonable doubt that Brelo caused at least one fatal wound to Williams’ chest, he couldn’t determine that the other fatal shots came from his gun.”
So of the 137 shots fired at the two unarmed black men, the defense did not prove that more than 1 one of the 47 that hit these men was a fatal one from Brelo’s gun. Well he only shot at them 49 times and 15 of those from the hood of their car, I guess anyone can make a mistake.
…And this supports your point how exactly?
Extra irony points for this:
“Patrick A. D’Angelo, one of Officer Brelo’s lawyers, said his team was “elated” with the verdict, and he blamed an “oppressive government” for bringing the charges.”
Police aren’t government, because government is bad and works for black peoples. Police officers, like the white man, simply can’t get a break in America.
OK, I made a little mistake. I found out today that a cop had been shot and killed on Wed by some felon with a high-cap magazine that she was trying to arrest.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/21/us/nebraska-police-officer-killed/
These situations never make it into the “outrage of the day” columns, somehow. How is that?
“These situations never make it into the “outrage of the day” columns, somehow. How is that?”
Of course they do. I live in New York, and both baseball teams had ceremonies commemorating the two officers who were killed a few months before. They had no connection to baseball– it’s just something that you have to do to show you’re on the side of good.
As for why the outrage of a felon killing a cop is less than a cop killing an unarmed civilian:
Of course, these will all seem like minutiae to anyway who can only see race– but to me they all matter a lot.
Oh, yes, what calling all toasters said here. Please assign me to these points as well.
No outrage when police officers are killed in the line of duty? It’s the mainstream cultural ocean we swim in, that outrage over cop killers and kneejerk defenses of cops who kill citizens, in or out of custody. It’s starting to change a very little bit, and about fucking time.
God Damn, dataguy, that claim of yours here is so dishonest.
Really? An outrageous claim? Then why was I the first to bring it up?
The reason why there are so many cops killing black kids is that there are a lot of guns, and a lot of felons with guns, and this makes cops very trigger-happy. That kid in Cleveland who was killed, the 12 YO? He had a look-a-like gun, and the cop didn’t think but just shot and killed him. The cops don’t want to be killed, either, which may seem amazing but is true.
There is hostility on both sides, and the rising temperature is not helping. This “art exhibit” does nothing to lead to any kind of communication. More blaming, more finger-pointing, and the notion that it is under the aegis of a school is outrageous.
“The reason why there are so many cops killing black kids is that there are a lot of guns, and a lot of felons with guns, and this makes cops very trigger-happy and chokehold-happy and killing while in custody-happy and firing endless rounds into unarmed people-happy, but only towards black people.”
FTFY
If you are going to continue to rhetorically defend the horrible police practices which killed Tamir Rice, or Eric Garner, or Walter Scott, or Freddie Gray, or the dozens of other extrajudicial killings of unarmed black men by police officers who are almost uniformly cleared of all changes and avoid jury trials and convictions, and whose victims are only known to us because of videos which undeniably displayed the horrible police practices which led to needless deaths, I am unsurprised that you are finding no supporters at the Frog Pond.
So, dataguy, are cop killers arrested and found responsible for the consequences of their actions? OK, so less room for “outrage” then, understood? “Outrage” comes when people get away with killings and other extreme violations and are not punished. The constant cultural stream of victim-blaming in response to extrajudicial violence executed by cops on the public they are intended to serve is all around us. You have plenty of company in your utter lack of concern for the victims of these state use of violence and power, and your fantastical claims of an alternate reality are insulting.
I want you to re-read the truly infuriating claims of your last paragraph here. Were the police exhibiting an interest in any form of “communication” at all with an unarmed 12-year-old? Let’s look:
The contextualized video is also found in the middle of this report, which reports the latest on the case:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/tamir-rice-investigation-cleveland-police
“Building bridges,” huh? Given that even the “good cops” appear to be pleased when “bad cops” are exonerated, no matter what the bad cops did, who’s on the other side of that bridge you want teenagers to build?
…and now in Baltimore (just as in NYC previously) the police are staging a slowdown on behalf of
The police culture seems to be: “we’re the gang that runs the city. We are not accountable to the civic government.”
I think teenagers showing what that means to them is a fine, if small, nudge to change it
What is this comment number in the Stereotypical Liberal Comment Book? #263?
Did you bother to read my comment?
I’m done. It’s hopeless.
promises promises.
I read your comments very carefully. I’m responding to what you communicated. I’m sincere in expressing an interest in a dialogue here.
It’s interesting that you are so easily ready to pull the plug on a dialogue about this. You disagree with our responses, but you’ve explained your disagreement with nothing much deeper than “liberals bad,” “teenagers bad,” and “cops necessary no matter what they do.”
Of course we need police forces. Of course peace officers are doing important and necessary work in apprehending violent criminals. That was quite the strawman you doused in gasoline and set ablaze.
We have the right to demand good police forces who avoid destroying people’s lives and lowering the quality of life for targeted black and brown people and neighborhoods. It’s not as complicated as you want to make it.
A movement is forming to force change here. The status quo is fine for people like you and you appear to want to make no real change other than hoping that cops will stop killing unarmed people. You haven’t communicated very well how you think that change will be brought about. It’s clear that something must be done if things are to change; this won’t change by itself, or by belligerently demanding that the teenagers must pull up their pants and start with the cop-lovin’.
dataguy, your agreement that cops should stop abusing and killing those they are supposed to serve is not going to come about until a broad movement forces changes in laws and cultural changes within police departments. Way too many police forces feel completely justified in raining down continued extrajudicial death and violence and theft of money and property on people who are made powerless in our society to stop them from doing so.
This must change. It’s simply not going to change if no effective movement moves forward to counteract the support for the status quo that many Americans feel. By the statements you have made here, you are one of those Americans.
You asked upthread, If you agree that cops are necessary, then why is this “art” exhibit a good idea? I’d start with this: the fact that it is creating a discussion here that could lead somewhere if there are sincere efforts made by us all, is proof that your scare quotes around the word art are misplaced, and that these teenagers have certainly created very effective works of art.
Dialogue to create a more just society and to reduce needless death, hatred and mistrust is a good idea. We hope you agree.
You asked downthread, “Did you bother to read my comment?” As I said, I took the time to read all your comments carefully. My responses to this comment:
That kid in Cleveland who was killed, the 12 YO? He had a look-a-like gun, and the cop didn’t think but just shot and killed him. The cops don’t want to be killed, either, which may seem amazing but is true.
Well, that is quite evasive in its unwillingness to see the killing of Tamir Rice in full, isn’t it? Let’s start with the fact that the police dispatcher, when she radioed the call to officers, failed to mention that the citizen who called the dispatcher said, twice, that he believed the gun was a fake or toy gun. Yes, this citizen was unsure, which was why he called the police, but it would have been valuable if the officers would have gained this context, correct? Shouldn’t someone be held accountable for this, since it contributed to the state needlessly shooting to death a child?
Even with that, though, the actions of the officers are inexcusable. Look at the video. Why in heaven’s sake does the patrol car drive up on the grass? If a prime concern of the officers was preservation of their own lives, wouldn’t they have pulled up streetside, a streetside which is visible in the video? That would have allowed the officers to assess the situation, and perhaps even enter into that communication you wish to believe the police are always interested in having.
Feel free to defend the killers of Tamir Rice. I look at this video, and read the stories of the dispatcher’s failure and the fact that the officer who fired the bullets into Rice’s body had been found unsuitable for police work years before, and I see systematic, cultural and individual beliefs that black lives do not matter.
I’d like your response.
Children expressing their fears and concern over police violence in their country incites rage? Tell me again how Christian you folks are…
It appears that the Baltimore PD is doing a slowdown to punish the people of Baltimore for holding a few of their colleagues accountable for their actions. Seems petty to me.