Property rights are fundamental to the “American Dream”— indeed, the “right to pursue happiness” actually refers to one’s right to own property. (Of course, originally, that also meant the right for white people to own black human beings as property.) That said, in 2016, property rights are supposedly a universal right in America — for black, white, brown, purple, and green people.
In Baton Rouge last night, however, the police — tasked with protecting and defending the constitutional rights of American citizens — were taking a decidedly un-American approach to their work.
Check out this series of videos, the last of which is the flabbergasted homeowner whose rights were violated:
A tank, really? Have these police learned nothing from Ferguson? And, now, the homeowner:
“And I said, this is my property, please do not do that — I live here.”
…
“And they just looked at me and ignored the things that I was saying.”
This woman had her constitutional rights violated — her “right to pursue happiness” in her own home was violated by out-of-control police officers, who appeared as if they were conducting urban warfare in Fallujah, Iraq.
And, let’s be clear, the homeowner was committing no crimes.
Can you imagine this kind of police response to an out-of-control pool party in a wealthy white suburb — with underage drinking, weed smoking and coke snorting, and prodigious noise violations? Nope!
I want to be crystal clear: American police officers are absolutely out-of-control.
Even when hundreds — thousands? — of people were engaging in violent behavior in Marseille, France following a football game, the French police showed more restraint than American police — in Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and New York City — show when confronted by a peaceful protest, where the only “crime” committed is blocking traffic for a few hours.
I truly believe, having traveled all over the world, including in a number of post-conflict countries, that American police are some of the world’s least restrained.
And, in communities like Baton Rouge with a history of social exclusion, racism, segregation and slavery, I suspect the police response is pathological: racist officers triggered to commit acts of violence against black people refusing to “know their place.”
Ironically, though, it’s American police officers that must “know their place.” Until the Justice Department starts dropping the hammer on local police departments, we’ll continue to see the basic constitutional rights of minority citizens violated, and we’ll continue to see execution-style deaths of black men and women, boys and girls.
The job of a police officer is to protect the constitutional rights of citizens — life, free speech, property. The job of a police officer is not to demand obedience. I truly believe many, many American officers fail to understand this crucial distinction.