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There is widespread tribalism when it comes to sensitive issues such as this, either the police as a whole are always in the right somehow, or they are filled to the brim with the types of people that secretly want things to escalate. My life experience with the police is extremely limited, but there are more than enough articles and recordings to show that this is way beyond just the few "bad apples" that some are insisting on. Widespread corruption, discrimination, militarization, and zero oversight. It's clear that this is an issue that could easily redefine what the word "police" means to society.

I wasn't alive during the Rodney King days, but a few years ago an LA cop, Christopher Dorner, went on a rampage and started killing people. The media painted him as this total psycho and I remember my dad making an offhand comment about how our neighbors are scared he might try to hide in our area. I laughed it off cause we're not even close to where that's happening and that was that, my teenage brain didn't register the reality of what was happening. It wasn't until a few years ago that I revisited the topic on a whim and read his manifesto on why he would do such a thing. It really stuck with me and I think about it every time I see a news story involving the LA police, every time there's a high speed pursuit and the officers practically tackling the suspect even with hands in the air. Nothing has changed since the days of the Rampart scandal, he said. Cops who use excessive force or cover for those that do are publically reprimanded and privately promoted. If anything, LA police are more corrupt and violent than ever and he was disgraced as a cop for trying to reveal that. My brother and a cousin are both rookie cops, and it makes me wonder what they're like on patrol, what kind of cop they are. What kind of cops are their coworkers and how tense situations like now affect them as people. What kind of people will all of them be several years down the road. It would devastate me if my brother and cousin ever became one of those cops, I'd understand that it was for their own survival, but I'd still never look at them the same way. This is the heart of where the protests are coming from, to prevent any "good cop" from being chewed up into more of those "bad apples", which is really hard to do when most of the judges and chiefs are on the bad apple side, because brotherhood or something like that.

There's been numerous sparks as Sheika mentioned, and I think the root of it, or at least a huge contributor is that there are more cameras recording now than just over a decade ago. We have young people looking at all this footage and connecting the dots. This isn't just that one ass of a cop in their small town, this is a legitimate societal issue. Rampart doesn't just happen in big cities, it can and does happen literally anywhere with a police station, and nothing is being done. Peaceful protests had been held for years for every individual unjust killing, and all that would ever happen was lip service of an "internal investigation" being done and people will eventually forget. Even though there is looting involved, as always with huge events like this, I think the rioters as a whole are the types of people who just ran out of patience for "internal investigations". Or in some cases the police deliberately fanning the flames, a few weeks ago all you would see on Reddit were videos of officers shooting and gassing peaceful protests all over the US. Violence is not a good thing, but still understandable, and in this case got at least some results. Even if half-assed, measures are being taken, budgets being slashed, and the police are clearly fighting tooth and nail to retain their image and the status quo. I'm honestly hoping things don't just sizzle down, these are really tense times but there is a lot of potential to bring some much needed change in the system. I don't want to be afraid of talking to an officer in person, there's a lot of problems in the world and the last thing we need is for the people that are supposed to help us to suddenly turn hostile for not following some arbitrary command.