On Race, Privilege, and Medicine
  • oRPM
  • ...mini-blog...
  • Contact Me!
  • Didactics and Consulting

badnews.com

10/29/2009

0 Comments

 
Sometimes I just feel like I need to feel like I tell folks about this shit otherwise I just feel so helpless...
Picture
Vietnamese suspect beaten and tased while on the ground and unarmed. Caught on his roommate's cell phone.  And how many more happen without evidence?

What the independent experts asked by San Jose Mercury (article) have to say:
  • Ho remains on the ground, moaning and crying, as he is repeatedly struck. He does not appear to offer significant resistance, suggesting the high level of force is not necessary.
  • The officer most visible in the sequence stands for much of the time in a casual posture, at one point with his legs crossed.  He seems to show no concern that the situation is potentially dangerous - raising additional questions about why force was being used.
  • The final baton strike appears to occur after the handcuff can be heard snapping onto Ho's wrists. "That's a felony."
But the additional issues that I think about... Ok sometimes police are racist.  People are like that.  That's sad.  But what I think is overall more problematic is the overall law enforcement system that we have right now.  Psychologic studies have repeatedly shown (Stanford Prison Experiment I, II) that it's normal human psychology to adapt into roles that are given to us, even if arbitrarily assigned.  In the Stanford Prison Experiment, randomly assigned participants were assigned as prison guards and after only a few days had largely sadistic tendencies.  These results were so extreme that the study was discontinued for ethical reasons.

So am I saying that these police officers are racist? Maybe. I don't know.  Am I saying that these police officers are bad people? Maybe. I don't know. Probably not.  However, I am absolutely certain all police officers, all humans that are given roles of "enforcer" "protector" "justice through force if necessary" will become corrupted.
Picture
Corunna School Board removes Diversity Club's bulletin board display on nine atheletes, politicians and educators who identify as LGBT (article).

Maureen Stanley, the president of the Corunna Board of Education, explains, "The display case may confuse other kids."  The School Board believes that this topic should be presented in a place where more information is available about "alternative lifestyles" such as a health education class.

That's true.  I remember very vividly when I was fourth grade I saw a bulletin board display featuring prominent black leaders and figures.  It was in the context of Black History month.  I was very confused.  Instead of recognizing the accomplishments of folks that faced adversity and were often forgotten, instead of being inspired, instead of realizing that it might be helpful for my black classmates to see role models that looked like them (since unfortunately we only reserve that for one month of the year), I went home thinking that being Black was the new cool thing that we all should strive to be and the being Black wasn't just different, but better.  It didn't matter that the other 15 bulletin boards had only white folks portrayed. I took my dad's shoe polish and covered my face.

During the course of this racial reassignment procedure, I inadvertently swallowed some shoe polish.  This was a detriment to my health as shoe polish is not for eating.  Too bad Ms. Stanley wasn't around back then.  She could have saved me a trip to the ER.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    What I've been reading:

    Double Dexter
    ​
    by Jeff Lindsay

    Picture

    about this blog

    A place where I can write my thoughts on race, on privilege, on class, on being a doctor. Part of the endless struggle to become a little bit more enlightened and feel a little less alienated.

    Agree with me. Call me out. Pass it on.

    I post once or twice a month with smaller comments on mini-blog.

    about me

    My name is Jess. In the interest of full disclosure: I'm a 30-something-year-old Chinese American and believer that the quest for social justice and equity must be an intentional and active one. I'm a Family Medicine physician. I'm queer. I'm a radical. I grew up in a mostly white suburb and my parents are white-collar workers.  And I don't eat meat, but I miss it sometimes.

    categories

    All
    Conferences
    Film
    Food
    Interracial Relationships
    Labor
    Lessons From The Motherland
    Links
    Medical
    News
    Prattle
    Race
    Rainbow
    Reading Group
    Writings
    Yellow

    archives

    March 2018
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2014
    June 2013
    December 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009


    Subscribe via email!
    (no lists ever sold)

    Picture
    a radical news collective

    Featured on BlogHer.com
Copyright © 2016 by Jessica Guh