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Mark Birdsall
Mark Birdsall
Mark Birdsall
Mark Birdsall
When widespread civil unrest broke out across the nation at the end of June after a Black man died unjustly at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, I messaged a friend who lives in a small city in northern Michigan to get his opinion on what was happening. We both joked about how we were unlikely to see similar incidents where we lived, with littering topping the list of crimes we’d be most likely to witness in person. The Thumb is a very safe place to live, and we’re very fortunate to be able to make out homes here.
Not everyone is so lucky. Sometimes watching the local evening news is like watching a roundup of the horrible stuff that goes on every day around the state. And in those cities scarred by rioting, residents and small business owners struggle to pick up the pieces, sometimes in communities that have already been decimated by violence and poverty. This comes at a time when we’re reeling from the effects of the pandemic and the ensuing shutdown. As an avid reader and watcher of news, it was easy for me to take a break from the constant barrage of horror and divisiveness as I took some time off from work recently.
Well, my vacation time ended, but the horror and divisiveness has not. One of the biggest controversies right now involves law enforcement in America. That shocking video of George Floyd being murdered (let’s face it, that’s what happened) by a police officer reignited the debate over civil rights and police brutality. It’s a debate that’s taken place for at least 50 years. The names change — Rodney King, Michael Brown, George Floyd — but the issue remains the same. At what point do we finally act when the rights of some are being trampled to protect the rights of others? Obviously, opinions differ. Policies are already in place to deal with police misconduct. I wish I had an easy answer, but there isn’t one. The names listed above were involved very different circumstances. In the Michael Brown case, the Ferguson, Missouri, officer involved was cleared of wrongdoing by the local prosecutor and the U.S. Department of Justice. That certainly won’t be the case for the universally reviled Officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for several minutes in a Minneapolis street.
My opinion on the matter of police is a biased one — my dad worked in law enforcement. I have a visceral reaction when I see a police officer being attacked in the endless rioting footage permeating TV and social media. I can’t help but picture my father in those situations, especially when the officer is wearing a tan uniform. I know for a fact he wasn’t a violent or overly aggressive person, and on at least two occasions when I was with him in public, former “clients” he had encountered on the job would recognize him and say hello, sometimes telling him how they had turned their lives around. Admittedly, it was a different time. Things change. But I always remember when he would talk about what he did for a living, he made it clear that if he chose to be violent jerk, for lack of a better term, it would be much, much harder to do his job.
Recently, I spoke again with that friend from northern Michigan. He’s a journalist, too. I called him after I watched a video on social media that showed a police officer in his town tackling a 16-year-old boy after the teen kept walking down the street after he was ordered to stop and talk to police. The teen was walking to his mother’s home after a family fight at his father’s house and was wearing earbuds and listening to music. The teen suffered injuries when he was tackled and had to be hospitalized. The officer that injured him is now in some hot water. It remains to be seen whether he’ll stay on the job.
Law enforcement officers have a very difficult job to do, but we must be able to trust them to do it the right way. They have the power to take someone’s life, so their standard of accountability is extremely. Many enter the profession well aware of this fact. I just hope our current climate doesn't discourage people from entering that profession. We're living in a time when we need them the most.
Mark Birdsall is sports editor of the Huron Daily Tribune. Email him at mark.birdsall@hearstnp.com.
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July 23, 2020 at 05:00PM
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Birdsall: It's a tough job, but someone has to do it - Huron Daily Tribune
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