Respect their authoritay!
By 
When it comes to issues that matter to the Democratic base, Sen. Bernard Sanders (I*-Vt) does not risk being over-prepared. Last night an African-American college student asked Sanders the following question:
“If I’m your son, what advice would you give me next time I’m pulled over by a police officer?”
The answer may shock you. If you’ve never heard of an Independent senator from Vermont named Bernard Sanders.
Sanders advised the student do his best to identify the police officer “in a polite way.”
“I would respect what they are doing so that you don’t get shot in the back of the head …”
If the fact that police officers can be racists who harass African-Americans and other people of color because this racist society lets them get away with it hasn’t found a way into Sander’s brain at this point, I assume it’s because he’s making a concerted effort to exclude that fact. That seems nicer than saying he’s so fucking old he’s forgotten what he saw in the 60s and anything else he’s learned about the African-American experience since that decade.
At any rate, that callous and violent reply to someone who is at risk of being murdered by a police officer would have been a perfect if Sanders had been addressing a Blue Lives Matter gathering, an NRA meeting, a surfeit of HOA members in Burlington, or some other white supremacist group that sometimes tries and fails to hide its lust for the blood of black people by claiming that disrespect towards a police officer – which can include imagined facial expressions – is punishable by summary execution.
Then I guess he remembered he was not talking to a group of white people, he was addressing an audience at a HBCU in South Carolina.
So he made everything worse.
“…but I would also be very mindful of the fact that as a nation, we have got to hold police officers accountable for the actions that they commit.”
I know African-Americans are amazing people, but telling us to respect the actions of someone who may be a state-sponsored thug who’s getting their racist jollies so they don’t kill us and at the same time keep in mind that this country needs to get around to defending our ability to go about our business unmolested and unmurdered by officers of the law is a fairly large ask.
In conclusion – enjoy the fauxgressive male’s favorite Catch 22, now with modern technology.
“I would be very cautious if you were my son in terms of dealing with that police officer, but I would also defend my rights and know my rights and make sure if possible that police officer’s camera is on what goes on.”
Respect the attack on your rights!
And defend your rights!
Ask the person who could kill you if you blink in a way they don’t like to turn on their body cam!
Good luck, goodbye, and sorry (not sorry)!
