I wrote this in response to a provocative photo of black children being taught to hate police on another person's Facebook page. While I wrote this as a fact-check, it can come off as politicking in someone else's living room, which I should not have done.
But I do stand by what I wrote, so I'll post it here:
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I agree that hate is taught, but it works in all directions. Remember watching TV news in the '60s? The white southerners setting dogs and water cannons on black protesters? Remember the 3 voting activists murdered for helping black people register to vote? Remember the 4 girls murdered in a church bombing? How about Louise Day Hicks in Boston, raving on and on about bussing? How about the white guy who attacked a black man with a flag in Boston in 1976? When people are treated irrationally, they tend to respond irrationally and sometimes violently. I do not support the violence, but I sure understand it.
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And, as a reminder to anyone who may teach their kids to hate cops, a black cop in Saint Louis was murdered while on the job this weekend. I do understand training black kids to be overly cautious around the police; it's sad "the talk" is still necessary but it may be more necessary than ever these days.
