Harassment
Lives BY FAHIZAH ALIM
L Fahizah Alim and Pookie Photo by Aniko Kiezel
WE HAVE REASONS FOR FEARING COPS
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POC SEP n 21
ike any citizen, I’m concerned about violence and want to be protected by the police from criminals. But as a Black mother of three sons, I have an additional concern about my family members being harmed by the police. My fears are based on history. Black men are frequently viewed as dangerous because of their skin color. Their lives have been devalued for centuries, a reality that continues even today. In the June editions of Inside Sacramento, R.E. Graswich wrote about the city’s challenges with adopting a restrictive deadly force policy for police (“Don’t Call Us”). I’m not necessarily critical of the issue Graswich brought up in terms of the debate around language that would limit police use of deadly force. What I have a problem with is that Graswich characterized residents who brought up the deadly force issue as a “gaggle of people who don’t like cops.” I think that’s a glaringly misleading perspective. The issue of creating a new policy to restrain “bad” cops is necessary—because a gaggle of people FEAR the cops! Black people fear cops because many cops harass and shoot unarmed Black people—indiscriminately and with no consequences. I have three sons. One earned a doctorate degree and is a professor at UCLA law school. Ever since he began driving, cops have repeatedly stopped him. This was the routine he endured every few weeks while a student at UC Davis: Hands on the steering wheel.
