It is difficult for some people to comprehend police brutality. For many, they accept the notion that a police officer is provoked and or is entitled to use brute force; moreover, if and when that force is used, it must have been justified. Therefore, it is almost impossible to understand someone wanting to take action (as in a lawsuit or criminal court case) against an officer who was simply “doing his/ her duty.” After all, if you were not doing anything wrong, why would you have to run or put up a fight? Therein lies a very large misunderstanding and thus enters in the multifarious nature of the social construction of race (Click here for another examination of the social construct of race).

In our society today, we have a typology of racial awareness that resides in the inner core of our psyche a lot of us are unaware is even going on. For example, when one is asked what is the race of an NBA player who is good and well known, most people think of an African American male, tall, tattoo ridden, and having a bit of attitude to spare. Another example is to ask yourself, what racial images come to mind when I say thug, drug dealer, and or pimp? When you see a group of young African American males walking toward you on a well-lit street in the middle of the day wearing long white tees and some baggy clothing, what are your initial thoughts? I have heard some say, “It wouldn’t matter what color they were, if they look intimidating I’ll still use caution.” Maybe, however more often than not, Black men in particular are singled out because of that fear for them; just watch ABC’s What Would You Do series for a closer look into this. Likewise, when people use that excuse they tend to overlook the deeper embedded worldviews of race that do not come out until something happens where they are revealed. Furthermore, when you hear the words King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and God what race do you picture in your mind?

We all have different constructions of race in our minds. Is this all evil and disdain of other races? Of course not—in fact what makes stereotypes work is that there is some type of truth to them. But we do have to seriously contend with the social construction of race as it applies to issues in our society today. Study after study suggests that there are racial images we all carry rooted in how the media presents the different races, which in turn, get entrenched into our own ethos.

During the 1980’s, televisions series would typically type cast Black men as criminals, thieves, and or the “bad guy.” It was a hard sell for Mr. T to play the role of B.A. in the 80’s hit series The A-Team; most executives wanted him to have a reoccurring role as the “bad-guy.” The Dukes of Hazard continually showed Black men as “bad” and or the “antagonist” within many of their shows. And who can forget the voices of the villains in Disney’s The Lion King, most had Chicano sounding accents and appeared to have an “uneducated” tone about them. Some of this changed during the 1990’s, but what did that constant reinforcement do to people—including ethnic minorities? It creates a construction of “those people.” It also denotes a hierarchy of racial status: White on top—the hero or one who figures it out, while everything else is just following. Look at our heroes, most of the X-Men, Superman, Spiderman, and almost every action hero has been a White male who “saves the day” at the end of the film. It is hard to imagine a Latino Superman or an Asian Spiderman who comes to save the day. In fact, most would regale that as a joke. This type of structure gets embedded into our minds as correct, always present, and part of the right way; therefore, why would it be any other way, especially if the group represented on “top” looks like you?

But why is that? It is indeed the social construction of race. The construction of race puts Black men, in particular, as the antagonist in society; scary, troublesome, angry, and dangerous. This is nothing new. Black men (Not all fAfrican American) have been touted as dangerous and villainess over the last 300 hundred years. This type of racial construction has been perpetuated for centuries; it is only now with the advent of the media and globalization that we see such depth to it. Willie Lynch, famed slaveholder of the 18^th century, gave a now infamous speech on how to construct a racial society to maintain control over your slaves. This speech echoes many of the racial constructs we have today: fear of the Black male, Blacks are dangerous; Blacks are lovers of White women and have the potential to rape them; Black subservient to Whites; Blacks as being non-educated. These, once again, are racially constructed. When one turns on the TV we tend to see Blacks being carried away; immigration gets touted as a Mexican problem; dark ethnic minorities are touted as aggressive and angry. For those of us who know better, we know this is not the truth. However, for those who have little to no exposure to diversity or who have the propensity towards racism and or discrimination, it is a tipping point for them. When I show up to an interview and this type of person is in a position of power over me, no matter what I say or do positively, those negative images of people who look like me tend to dominate her/ his worldview making it almost impossible for me to get a “fair chance. 

Thus enters in our discussion of Oscar Grant, the young man brutally murdered by a transit cop in the Bay Area over a year ago. The cop’s main excuse was that he was reaching for his taser when in reality he pulled his gun, then shot and killed Grant. First off, do we really want law enforcement on the job who cannot tell the difference between a taser and their gun? Moreover, once pulled, was there any realization that it was in fact his gun in front of him not the presumed taser? What is really happening is the social construct of race at work—which is what typically happens in modern day lynching’s dubbed accidental police shootings of unarmed ethnic minorities. Statements like—“I felt my life was in mortal danger” or “I had to use deadly force for fear of my life” are typical excuses in situations like these but in reality where does that fear actually come from? It is rooted in the historical legacy of racism coupled with the reinforcement of “Black” as threatening. Combine that lethal cocktail with adrenalin and inoculate feelings of racial hatred, and you have a problem about to happen.

In 2005, a young 14-year-old African American boy stole a vehicle and took it on a joy ride. When the police caught up with him they went through typical police routine: stop the vehicle, surround the vehicle, and have the driver exit the vehicle. The young man was frightened, put the car in reverse accidently, ran into a police car and was shot over 41 times. The autopsy report stated that the boy was shot after he was down because there were bullet exit holes in his feet from the opposite direction indicating that the young boy was shot after he had slumped out of his car. Two weeks later a White mother was outraged at this when her own son, 15, had done the exact same thing, defied authority, and was brought home to the quote of “Take better care of your son maam.”

Yes. That is one of only hundreds of stories like this. So when I first saw the story of Grant being shot—and it being caught on video—I knew at that point it was the social construct of race hard at work.

For some of you reading this, it is hard to imagine law enforcement doing anything to you if you had not warranted that action. For still others, it is difficult to imagine a system that has always been against you and people like you. And for those who have never graced the halls of a court room or who have never had any interaction with the police beyond traffic tickets, it is even more difficult to grasp the very serious issues being discussed here. It is very easy to look at someone like Grant and say, “Well, he must have been doing something to incur that wrath? Why would a police officer just pick up a gun and shoot?” I understand that at some level. My challenge is to begin to look beyond the obvious and ask the questions of what if. What if there are police officers with deep seated racism and dislikes towards ethnic minorities? What if Grant was doing nothing at all other than verbally being defiant? What if many ethnic minorities live in fear when the police pull up behind them? What if, life was not as you thought it to be and was in fact really screwed up for some groups of people? What if you were not supported by the systems of this society? What if, we as followers of Christ had a higher calling beyond pew warming and into social action?

What if…