I just watched this video and was kind of stunned. I watched it once, incredulously with my mouth open, thinking it was some kind of found footage for a new zombie film. (The fighting seemed a bit like a scene from the new Daredevil show on Netflix.)
But it’s all real.
Video: One Dead After Christian Street Performers Brawl With Cops
(Kudos to the Gawker headline writers. So many great adjectives. )
After I read the story I plugged in my headphones, went full screen in HD and rewatched the video. I know this video could be a starting point for all kinds of discussions, opinions and arguments. “Boy I’ll bet heads at Fox will explode! Christian Persecution, but Cops! Law breakers, but White!”
Nah, I don’t think so, Fox hosts will disassociate themselves from the Christians in a heartbeat. They can look at the tape and pronounce that “See? Whites who break the law get treated the same as blacks. AND a white person is dead for not doing as the cops told him.”
I did a bunch of thought experiments after watching like: “What if you replaced Christian with Muslim? Would that change how the police act? Black performers with white? How would the media cover that story?”
The thing is that we don’t have to do thought experiments, we have actual data and actual video.
Videos like this will be dragged out as “balance” to combat accusations of racism and religious bias. “See? Cops are tough on white Christians too!”
Popular videos get used to make a point. They stick in people’s head. They can crowd out other older videos because we, and the media, crave novelty.
When I watch videos like this I often consider who I identify with and why. That is not always the default process of many Americans.
But when there is a video where it is easier for people to put themselves in the shoes of another person, it can be used to help others see a problem they might not have seen otherwise.
I can’t easily imagine being a black man in America today interacting with cops. But I can imagine being part of a White Christian performing group and I know how my interactions with cops have been. What if my interaction was more like in this video? Of course the quick disclaimer is, “Well, I would never do _________ like they did, I would…” yes, but then again what if you did all the right things and were still tazed, sprayed and shot? Because that is the reality for many if we look at the data and not just at the available viral videos.
Then the question becomes less about my behavior and more about the behavior of the police and the systems’ attitude about their job.
I would also need to put myself in the shoes of the police. Maybe they are doing the exact thing they are trained to do. But maybe the training is wrong, maybe the attitude is wrong.
As we see more and more video from body cams on police it might be easier to identify with them. But that is not a total solution. We also will need to see videos from bystanders and from the point of view of the people the police are focusing on.
Empathy is a powerful the tool for change. People in power know this, that is why they seek your empathy.