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| Police aren’t superheroes and black men aren’t villains. This isn't a comic book | Police aren’t superheroes and black men aren’t villains. This isn't a comic book |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| For decades it has been widely accepted to only frame police officers as people who save us, protect us and stop the ‘bad guys.’ They have been the superheroes of countless stories, always getting the bad guy – a bad guy who just so happens to always be black. While there is nothing wrong with a good superhero in any story, we shouldn’t assume that just because someone carries a gun and wears a uniform that they are always the hero and can do nothing wrong. | For decades it has been widely accepted to only frame police officers as people who save us, protect us and stop the ‘bad guys.’ They have been the superheroes of countless stories, always getting the bad guy – a bad guy who just so happens to always be black. While there is nothing wrong with a good superhero in any story, we shouldn’t assume that just because someone carries a gun and wears a uniform that they are always the hero and can do nothing wrong. |
| Related: Sandra Bland: suspicion and mistrust flourish amid official inconsistencies | Related: Sandra Bland: suspicion and mistrust flourish amid official inconsistencies |
| As more and more media reports are released showing us the ways in which police aren’t always the hero, like in the case of unarmed Walter Scott being shot and killed, that image is quickly being challenged. | As more and more media reports are released showing us the ways in which police aren’t always the hero, like in the case of unarmed Walter Scott being shot and killed, that image is quickly being challenged. |
| And with it comes a possibility for mainstream America that we may have been rooting for the wrong person for some time now. But can we really be seen as at fault when the story is always told with such a positive spin for the cop – especially when they tell it? | And with it comes a possibility for mainstream America that we may have been rooting for the wrong person for some time now. But can we really be seen as at fault when the story is always told with such a positive spin for the cop – especially when they tell it? |
| One of the most recent high profiles examples of police superheroes can be found in the grand jury testimony of Officer Darren Wilson after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson. In comics, the stereotype is that the villain robs a bank, or in the Brown case it’s a convenience store, and our hero finds out and must respond. When confronted with the villain there is always a tussle, and the superhero almost loses – a tactic in comics to build up anxiety – and then overcomes the superhuman strength of the villain and prevails by locking up or killing said villain. | |
| Wilson says he was immediately attacked by Brown when he confronted him and his friend and, in the testimony, Wilson talks at length about Brown’s overwhelming size, even though they weren’t radically different in stature. | Wilson says he was immediately attacked by Brown when he confronted him and his friend and, in the testimony, Wilson talks at length about Brown’s overwhelming size, even though they weren’t radically different in stature. |
| “When I grabbed him the only way I can describe it is I felt like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” said the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Wilson about the 6-foot-5, 290-pound Brown. “Hulk Hogan, that’s how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm.” | “When I grabbed him the only way I can describe it is I felt like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” said the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Wilson about the 6-foot-5, 290-pound Brown. “Hulk Hogan, that’s how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm.” |
| Wilson continued in his testimony to compare Brown to the popular video game character from Street Fighter named Balrog, a large black boxer, who is widely considered a villain, and the narrative of superhero cop v black villain stayed in tact. | Wilson continued in his testimony to compare Brown to the popular video game character from Street Fighter named Balrog, a large black boxer, who is widely considered a villain, and the narrative of superhero cop v black villain stayed in tact. |
| That’s not the case when we do have footage of such interactions, though. Then, this narrative changes dramatically. | That’s not the case when we do have footage of such interactions, though. Then, this narrative changes dramatically. |
| When news broke about Sandra Bland’s tragic death, the charges against her were assaulting an officer who she allegedly kicked. However, when dash cam video was released, there was no kick to be seen. | When news broke about Sandra Bland’s tragic death, the charges against her were assaulting an officer who she allegedly kicked. However, when dash cam video was released, there was no kick to be seen. |
| Instead, you witnessed a woman demanding to know why she was being arrested, not putting out her cigarette and largely abiding by all laws. But still she went to jail and then somehow died, which is still under investigation. | Instead, you witnessed a woman demanding to know why she was being arrested, not putting out her cigarette and largely abiding by all laws. But still she went to jail and then somehow died, which is still under investigation. |
| Since then, the entire case has come under deep speculation. Her story will continue to attract public curiosity as police violence and black lives remain a daily point of discussion. | Since then, the entire case has come under deep speculation. Her story will continue to attract public curiosity as police violence and black lives remain a daily point of discussion. |
| But as we continue to talk, we must not immediately assume the police are the heroes just because we’ve been brought up to believe they are. | |
| We must knock them from the pedestals on which they sit and see them as they are: human. Because humans can do terrible, terrible things. Even worse than villains. | We must knock them from the pedestals on which they sit and see them as they are: human. Because humans can do terrible, terrible things. Even worse than villains. |