Please no. This is a monumental exaggeration and I’m sorry, it is bad advice. I understand where you’re coming from, I am Native American and I have seen and heard stories about the worst of the worst in our law enforcement, but there are substantial issues with this logic. Yes, you are absolutely right in one sense, I absolutely condemn using friendliness toward cops as some commercial tool to undermine serious movements like black lives matter, water is life, etc. However, grouping people together and advising against positivity is not the way to go- it is in fact partially what gets us deeper into conflict. We as a society need to really recognize the value in judging others on an individual, human basis. That’s something that our parents and their parents didn’t learn, and if we want to make real progress against discrimination in all forms, that needs to be a core value of our agenda. If you see some angry cop standing in riot gear, don’t try to hand them a pepsi. But if you see, as I have seen personally many times, cops of all races and ages smiling, handing out waters, and trying to protect protestors, they deserve to be treated with respect. Not authoritative respect necessarily, but basic human respect- as we all deserve. Don’t condemn them by refusing to acknowledge or befriend them, it is true (like with most groups of people) that the majority of them are good, caring people. I know that that is not the narrative we are seeing right now and that just saying it can be annoying, but I’m talking to us, the protestors and the activists, not the general public. Referring to cops as a violent gang that is terrorizing and murdering and raping marginalized people with impunity is not how we should be seeing them. The cops have not necessarily become the criminals, the criminals have become cops. Yes, they are treating us badly and yes they need to be educated, and YES we need to spread the encouragement for them to stand up and use their power to influence more of their peers, but history has shown us that spreading hatred will only create more hatred. Have conversations (not during protests), tell them your stories, and that is how you will get them to respond. I have personally made it my mission to do this and just within my community I now march alongside cops when they are not on dity. Teach them, show them, encourage them so that they can learn to respect us.
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