Who will answer the call ?
By Staff Writer : Alexandria Azzar
Nobody can emotionally prepare for the news of a mass shooting. Although becoming increasingly common, this type of an act always feels shocking. Almost like clockwork , we are then bombarded with news of the terror the victims faced, the fatalities that occured, and the details of that day. Whether it happens at a grocery store , or on a school campus with children celebrating their last few days of the school year– we hear the stories on a never ending loop, leaving us with the questions; What could have prevented this ? Could it have been stopped and what can we do differently to ensure the safety of the public ?
There are many perspectives on how to create a sense of safety. It’s tempting to grasp onto a simple solution that will give us a symbolic sense of control, like militarized police forces and heightened security. We know this does not work. Others suggest that mass shootings are a result of untreated mental illness and that profiling those behaviors will make us safer. The arguments that lead us down a path of more policing without addressing the root issues will not result in safer communities. These arguments are the cornerstone for dangerous practices such as predictive policing which uses data and technology to attempt to predict future crimes and targets of police intervention– which has shown to be riddled with inherent bias. As fear gets the best of us, local police jurisdictions are seizing the opportunity to cash in. Right now, proposals are on the table for increased police budgets.
As we learn more and more details of the recent mass shootings and particularly in the case of how police mishandled Uvalde, it defies logic to argue that police actually keep us safe. One of the most poignant moments were the clips of parents fighting and pleading to enter the building to save their children and pleading with the police to do something. Instead of actually sympathizing with the desperate parents, the police handcuffed them. One of the mothers who was handcuffed was able to free herself and jumped over a fence and into the school to save her two kids. She is the embodiment of love and fearlessness. Despite being held back by the police she was determined to get her children and did. Unfortunately this was not an option for so many parents who wanted only the protection of their kids. The police that were present did not prevent a shooting , they exacerbated it. They did not let the community save their kids , they criminalized the parents and families. After the fact, they did not show any remorse; they instead defended themselves.
Like many of us, the children who called the police from their classrooms believed what they saw written on police cars— that their obligation is to “protect and serve”. It is devastating to hear accounts of surviving children describing their confusion, hearing police outside but not understanding why they wouldn’t come in to save them. The notion of protecting and serving is one that is promoted to the public as the primary duty of police. However many incidents across time have proven that this is not the true practice or function of police. One example of this is the case of Joseph Lozito who was stabbed in a subway train in New York. Police ran away from the scene to a motor booth when they saw the attack about to happen. Lozito fought the aggressor off after suffering multiple wounds. It was only after the victim himself subdued the attacker that police intervened. After Lozito sued NYPD the court ruled against him citing that;
“The law is abundantly clear that no liability flows from negligence in the performance of a police function unless there is a special relationship”. In other words, police are not held responsible for negligence in protecting you or answering your call for help. On the other hand, believing that they are, has been paramount to maintaining order and control.
The mythology of police as part of the community, as mentors and superheroes who serve and protect has been held sacred. This incongruity is why so many people are confused when a video goes viral of an unprovoked execution of another Black man, woman or child. They form outrageous justifications and find a loophole to legitimize themselves, rather than acknowledge that the myth of police as protectors- is in fact a myth. This cognitive dissonance has created not only a false sense of safety but irreparable harm in Black and Brown communities.
So how do we feel safe going to the grocery store, sending our kids to school or attending a church service? There are no quick fixes to the deeply rooted violence that has a long history in this country. Looking for easy answers will lead us down the same long road where brute force and policing leaves Black and brown children vulnerable to state sanctioned gun violence.
But perhaps we can find some comfort, some hope and some possibility in rebuilding our reliance on one another. In the midst of a moment where we saw the worst in humanity we also saw the best. We can learn much from that day and from the people that we witness every day in our community. Our hope is held in the arms of teachers who sacrificed their lives that day to save the kids in their classrooms and to those teachers who every day make a commitment to not only educate but to instigate a new generation of activists and leaders. We can find our will to advocate, in the fighting spirit of the parents who were pushing endlessly for their kids to be protected. We can see that strength in the Black and brown parents in OUSD and other districts who advocate not only for their children but for all children who are in danger of falling through the cracks or being pushed into the school-to -prison pipeline. Our safety can be found in the hands of a community who connects with one another to build a place that holds the hurt of one another, uplifts the ones who are the most vulnerable and dares to vision a world where no one is expendable. Perhaps the courage we are seeking can be found in ourselves with the help of the organizers and activists who push us and who refuse to settle for short term responses in exchange for justice overdue.
The call has been made and it is urgent. We need to understand the conditions that have brought us here. We need to fight with clarity and desperation to dismantle this violent system and together forge a new way.
“Everything would be alright if everything was put back in the hands of the people, and we’re going to have to put it back in the hands of the people.”- Chairman Fred Hampton
Editor’s note : As this is a complicated moment and we want to examine what keeps us safe, this will be the first part of a 3 part series . This part one was to highlight the first part of our safety is to build community as the foundational principle to our safety and well being but we will continue to examine further the tenets to what safety looks like and how we build it and / deconstruct what inhibits it.