Wiser to physically cooperate with the perhaps stressed out police (e.g. frisking) even if the police may be overdoing it
Ferguson, Missouri, USA, is in the news nowadays. I did some reading up and viewing up on it. Here is one article from an Indian American that I could relate to, "Ferguson shooting: An Indian American mother worries for her son", http://www.firstpost.com/world/ferguson-shooting-an-indian-american-mother-worries-for-her-son-1664071.html.
And then I viewed most of a talk by the USA black rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton in Ferguson, LIVE: Al Sharpton joins parents of Michael Brown in rousing memorial service, 1 hr, 5 min. [Rev. Sharpton starts his talk around 35 min into the video.]. Here is an interesting text article about Sharpton's efforts, http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/sharpton-seeks-justice-missouri-shooting-article-1.1901597
I had read a little about the Eric Garner incident but the above article mentioned a video capturing the incident. And so I browsed youtube for it and viewed this one, Eric Garner Chokehold Police Brutality VIDEO : Black Man Killed By Police, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5linhM7Qo, 4 min. 33 sec. From around 2:29 in the video there are seemingly unedited clips of the incident with some words from perhaps the person recording the video. Eric Garner was a 43 year old, married man and father of six children. But it must also be said that he had a history of arrests mostly misdemeanours.
Now I am not going to venture into any judgement here about who is at fault. Sometimes these are very complicated affairs. But my heart goes out to the bereaved families. I pray to Almighty God to give strength to the bereaved families to face this tragedy, and also to shower His Grace on the departed souls (subtle bodies, more precisely).
It seems to me that an important learning one could take from both the Eric Garner incident (Staten Island, New York City, USA) and the Michael Brown incident (Ferguson, near St. Louis, Missouri, USA) is that, no matter what a country's constitution and laws might say, the wise thing is to physically cooperate with police frisking and/or other orders. I mean, it may just involve some humiliation. Resisting it or not cooperating with the police in this day and age of suicide bombers, may result in paying a horrific price. Better to accept the humiliation then and later, if the feeling of outrage is strong, one can pursue a formal complaint or legal mechanisms to seek justification from the police for the humiliation they forced on one.
While the above two incidents are from the USA, I think the same learning holds for India too, except that most policeman and policewomen are typically not armed with a gun. However, if their instructions are not obeyed they too can easily get worked up into a rage after which they might do anything either on the street itself or after taking the person to the police station.
While I am not in any way condoning the police for the abovementioned incidents, it seems to me that police in most countries of the world are under far more physical threat pressure as well as mental stress nowadays than, say, a couple of decades ago. So it makes sense to be polite to such stressed out policemen and policewomen. After all, it is these people who ensure that the rest of us enjoy a well organized and well protected living environment largely as per the law of the land.
And then I viewed most of a talk by the USA black rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton in Ferguson, LIVE: Al Sharpton joins parents of Michael Brown in rousing memorial service, 1 hr, 5 min. [Rev. Sharpton starts his talk around 35 min into the video.]. Here is an interesting text article about Sharpton's efforts, http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/sharpton-seeks-justice-missouri-shooting-article-1.1901597
I had read a little about the Eric Garner incident but the above article mentioned a video capturing the incident. And so I browsed youtube for it and viewed this one, Eric Garner Chokehold Police Brutality VIDEO : Black Man Killed By Police, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5linhM7Qo, 4 min. 33 sec. From around 2:29 in the video there are seemingly unedited clips of the incident with some words from perhaps the person recording the video. Eric Garner was a 43 year old, married man and father of six children. But it must also be said that he had a history of arrests mostly misdemeanours.
Now I am not going to venture into any judgement here about who is at fault. Sometimes these are very complicated affairs. But my heart goes out to the bereaved families. I pray to Almighty God to give strength to the bereaved families to face this tragedy, and also to shower His Grace on the departed souls (subtle bodies, more precisely).
It seems to me that an important learning one could take from both the Eric Garner incident (Staten Island, New York City, USA) and the Michael Brown incident (Ferguson, near St. Louis, Missouri, USA) is that, no matter what a country's constitution and laws might say, the wise thing is to physically cooperate with police frisking and/or other orders. I mean, it may just involve some humiliation. Resisting it or not cooperating with the police in this day and age of suicide bombers, may result in paying a horrific price. Better to accept the humiliation then and later, if the feeling of outrage is strong, one can pursue a formal complaint or legal mechanisms to seek justification from the police for the humiliation they forced on one.
While the above two incidents are from the USA, I think the same learning holds for India too, except that most policeman and policewomen are typically not armed with a gun. However, if their instructions are not obeyed they too can easily get worked up into a rage after which they might do anything either on the street itself or after taking the person to the police station.
While I am not in any way condoning the police for the abovementioned incidents, it seems to me that police in most countries of the world are under far more physical threat pressure as well as mental stress nowadays than, say, a couple of decades ago. So it makes sense to be polite to such stressed out policemen and policewomen. After all, it is these people who ensure that the rest of us enjoy a well organized and well protected living environment largely as per the law of the land.
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