Abusive Cop vs. Dancing Cop: One Chose Force. The Other Chose Humanity.

By Petula Dvorak, The Washington Post

29 October 15

wice this week, the nation was moved by the way a white cop confronted a black teenaged girl and her mobile phone. For very different reasons.

In South Carolina, the teen was texting in math class and wouldn’t put her phone away. Teens and their phones, right?

But the campus officer who came to the class responded in the worst possible way, yanking, slamming and dragging the girl across the classroom. It was a violent 11 seconds of video that made millions of people gasp and, thankfully, got the cop fired.

Sadly, in this time of a national awakening to stunning incidents of Bad Cop brutality — from ruthless arrests caught on camera to fatal shootings — this has become what we expect to see.

But many of this country’s 780,000 sworn police officers know how to do their jobs the right way.

In Washington, police showed up in a neighborhood near the Nationals baseball stadium to break up a fight between two groups of teens. After it was over, 17-year-old Aaliyah Taylor, a senior at Ballou High School, walked up to the officer and started playing “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” on her phone. Instead of clearing out, as the police officer had demanded that she and the rest of the crowd do, she started dancing the Nae Nae. You could totally see a teen doing this, right?

That officer had a choice. Yell at the teen for being defiant and disrespectful? Go rogue and slam the teen to the ground, South Carolina-style?

Nope. Instead, the officer began dancing, too, matching Aaliyah move for move. It was a hilarious, uplifting and refreshing 56 seconds of video that immediately went viral.

It shouldn’t be news that a police officer used her humanity to defuse a tense situation instead of escalating it, that a white cop didn’t use force against a black teen. But for many people in Aaliyah’s community, it was.

All seven of her siblings have been cuffed or arrested by police for nonviolent crimes, like breaking curfew, she told The Washington Post’s Perry Stein. And her brother and six sisters all told her that the police were rough on them. We saw that video in South Carolina. We know it happens.

Aaliyah lives in a rapidly changing city that is becoming less and less welcoming to people who look like her.

Her neighborhood near Ballou High School in Southeast Washington is a world of jump-outs and street corner pat-downs. Dozens of students at her school have been killed in the past decade. You’re wearing a hoodie? Dark pants? You’re going to get stopped. Kids in her neighborhood run when they see police.

Surveys and studies — Gallup, Pew, USA Today — show that nationwide, African Americans aren’t confident in the way police interact with their communities.

“I thought all cops were cruel because that’s how I saw them,” Aaliyah explained later.

The police officer, rather than taking her down like a drug kingpin caught in a sting, laughed at Aaliyah’s challenge to her authority, warned her that she had better moves and started dancing, clunky cop shoes, turtle-shell body armor and all.

“Instead of us fighting, she tried to turn it around and make it something fun,” Aaliyah said. “I never expected cops to be that cool. There are some good cops.”

Yes, Aaliyah, there are some good cops.

The police officer, who has been on the force for about three years and recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, told The Post she was embarrassed that her take on community policing had gotten so much attention.

“This is what we do every day,” she said.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier later reinforced that, issuing a statement calling the dance-off one “of the many positive police-community interactions that take place daily in Washington, D.C.”

Maybe not with so much style, but yes, this does happen every day, all over the country. (Actually, cops in Utah, San Diego, Sacramento, Texas, New York and Philadelphia have all been filmed dancing the Nae Nae on duty this year. Seriously.)

But it’s also true that Bad Cops — and the long-standing refusal of many departments and prosecutors to hold them accountable for their actions — ruin the reputation, hard work and personal sacrifice of the tens of thousands of Good Cops.

One America is gasping at the brutality of the South Carolina video — the kind of stuff black Americans have been talking about all along — while another America is stunned that Good Cop actually exists.

We’re slowly making progress.

Dance on, Good Cop.

Best Moment on GOP Debate Night: Bernie Sanders

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

29 October 15

here were several memorable moments during the GOP debate, mostly at the expense of the media. I don’t usually agree with the Republicans, but I do think they have a point on all the gotcha questions they faced in the first and third debates. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed them, and even personally think the candidates deserved what they got. But I do agree we would all be better served if we had debates on the issues.

There is a case to be made that if the candidates are running negative campaigns, like most Republicans are, they deserve to be called out. Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Ben Carson … had memorable moments calling out the media during the 3rd Republican debate, but the candidate for president who had the best moment of the night was Bernie Sanders.

No, it wasn’t on Twitter, where he shined during the first two debates of the clown car. This time it was on stage at George Mason University. Bernie was holding a national student town hall meeting. A question came from an American Muslim student who said she wants to change the world. Bernie called her up on stage and gave her a hug and then gave a very personal response.

George Mason University senior Remaz Abdelgader asked Senator Sanders how he would deal with the rising tide of Islamophobia in the country she loves.

“With the growing Islamophobia in this country if you look at the Republican candidates feeding into their constituents and constantly bashing Muslims in the media, Ben Carson and Donald Trump, the biggest bigots. As an American Muslim student who aspires to change the world — (Applause) (Hug from Bernie)

“Thank you. As an American Muslim student who aspires to change the world, currently majoring in international conflict resolution, and I hope to be a human rights attorney. Hearing the rhetoric that’s going on in the media makes me sick. I as an individual am constantly trying to raise awareness and make sure that everyone is treated equally in this country. As our next president of the United States, what do you think about that?” (Bernie took Remaz’s hand and walked backed to the podium with her.)

Bernie then responded:

“I’m Jewish. My father’s parents were killed in concentration camps. I will do everything I can to rid this country of the ugly stain of racism, which has existed far too many years. Let me tell you something: what racism is about is many things, it is pent up hatred that is lashing out at people in uncontrollable stupid ways, but it is something very different than that. For many years in this country you have had politicians, and I’m old enough to know this, who played black off against white, so they told white workers who were earning pennies an hour, they said hey, you think you’re in trouble, but you’re better off than the blacks, who can’t drink at a water fountain or go to your school, and they told straight people, well you think you’ve got problems, but you’re better off than those gay people, right? And they played men against women. We played one group off against another. The rich got richer and everybody else is fighting with each other.

“Our job is to build a nation in which we all stand together as one people. [Applause] And you are right, there is a lot of anger being generated and hatred being generated against Muslims and immigrants in this country, and if we stand for anything we have got to stand together and end all forms of racism, and I will lead that effort as President of the United States.”

Bernie then gave Remaz another hug as thousands of students gave a standing ovation.

If you watch the mainstream media today, you will see Jeb Bush attack Marco Rubio for not showing up for enough votes in the Senate. You will see Chris Christie tell the moderator that his interruptions are rude even by New Jersey standards. You will see Ted Cruz slam the moderators for asking gotcha questions instead of questions with substance, you will see Jeb bush offering a big warm kiss to any Democrat who will cut spending, and the best line of the debate, you’ll see Chris Christie listing the important issues facing the country, and asking why they were talking about fantasy football.

Nothing in the two hour Republican debate was as important as the moment at the Bernie Sanders student town hall. But I’m guessing you won’t see it on CNN.

The whole Sanders town hall can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up46s_gb7PY

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.