I was just a child. When people started to celebrate my Dad, it took me a second to figure out what for. In time, I realized that Dad was a hero. You see, my Dad ran into a hostage situation involving heavy gunfire and saved the life of a police officer. The officer was shot so many times, that Dad had to stuff towels into his guts to keep him from bleeding out. In addition to the psychological scars that he contracted, numerous projectiles hit Dad. One of my most vivid memories of the time is of my Mom tending to Dad’s wounds in the bathroom of our home. In those moments, I realized that Dad was mortal. I’d never believed it before. I’d also held similar thoughts about police officers. When this incident happened, I realized that officers were just as fragile as anybody else. All it takes is one shot. On that day, Dad helped the officer find physical salvation in a moment of death. If only for a second, the world was made right. Death didn’t win.
While I’m pretty sure that Dad didn’t know the officer all that well, he still risked his life to save another.
In the midst of our fight to save lives, perhaps the life we save will be our own.
One of the most devastating consequences of Blue Supremacy is that we’re indoctrinated to believe that police officers are morally superior to us. They are not. Assumptions of righteousness put all of us in very vulnerable positions. If we get pulled over, we often carry an expectation that the officer will not seek to escalate the situation. Such thinking leaves us unprepared for when an escalation occurs. We expect wrongly. When we call the police, we assume that a professional will show up. Such thinking leaves us unprepared for a maniacal asshole to show up. We assume wrongly. When we see the gun on the officer’s hip, we don’t think they will shoot us. We are left completely helpless when the gun comes out. We think wrongly. Over and over, we have watched videos of people being slaughtered in our streets. We believe that such violence will never touch us. We believe wrongly. Blue Supremacy is everywhere.
It’s getting closer.
After the resurrection, Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he touched the wounds. Ultimately, he touched and believed. How many times will we have to touch the wounds before we believe? They’re everywhere. People gunned down. People beaten. People brutalized. People treated like shit. Police brutality is no respecter of persons. Either we will save/reform officers from their ideas of Blue Supremacy or we will continue to be their prey.
Perhaps it hasn’t gotten close enough to you yet?
It will.
Amen.
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