got their hearts right but that's not a

in the wake of the most recent

occurrences of police brutality in the

United States and the subsequent outrage

against these actions a common refrain

has been repeated in the discourse

police brutality is not getting worse

police brutality is just getting filmed

an argument could be made that police

brutality is getting filmed and getting

worse as the more recent militarized

police have an even greater arsenal at

their disposal but the greater point

remains salient police brutality

oppression and profiling particularly in

black communities is now an irrefutable

fact though many apologists for the

police still desperately attempt to

refute it nonetheless it has become more

challenging for the United States

particularly white people in the United

States to ignore the problem when it is

captured on video with such regularity

feigning ignorance requires a greater

effort quite literally closing their

eyes watching more and more people wake

up to the reality that black communities

face every day is heartening but at the

same time it is disappointing how long

it took for this revelation this

acknowledgment in white communities in

the United States many people having

entirely different experiences with the

police could not seem to take the

victims of police brutality oppression

and profiling at their word unable to

reconcile this with their experiences

many people dismissed these incidents as

the work of bad apples rather than a

consistent pattern redlining and

segregation have divided predominantly

white communities from minority

communities granting white people in the

United States only one option for

insight into the black experience

popular media the 1990s was the golden

era of black sitcoms The Fresh Prince of

bel-air a different world

Martin Rock living single hangin with

mr. Cooper the Wayans brothers send a

host of others the premises of the

series varied Martin is a series about a

radio show host and his relationship

with his girlfriend and a virtual wife a

different world is a series about a

group of university students The Fresh

Prince of bel-air is a series about a

well-to-do black family and the titular

relative from Philadelphia who disrupts

their lives

nearly all of these disparate series

have a commonality though and that is

the characters relationship with the

police

these sitcoms often comment on the

police's antagonistic behavior toward

them sometimes humorously and casually

when it is not the main focus of the

episode and sometimes more pointedly

when it is examples of the former are

often divided into ignorance or

hostility this commentary is relatable

even comical for black audiences all too

familiar with police ignorance and

hostility here are two examples of

casual references to the police as

either ignorant about black communities

families and individuals or hostile to

black communities families and

individuals they are both from the very

same episode of The Fresh Prince of

bel-air LA man if I want to get my head

cracked I can star in the next Rodney

King video happy Kwanzaa for white

audiences this commentary is instructive

illuminating or at least it should have

been 90 sitcoms are not mirror images of

reality but they display situations and

relationships meant to be relatable and

therefore appealing to its target

audience because of this the

relationship between the police and

characters on predominantly black

sitcoms is remarkably different from the

relationship between the police and

characters on predominantly white

sitcoms this should have been a tip-off

to white audiences in the 90s who

watched both in an episode of home

improvement Brad is caught vandalizing a

building throwing rocks through windows

the police officer tells his parents

that no charges will be pressed against

Brad he is brought home safe and sound

and suffers no real legal consequences

this is an experience that might be

relatable to the predominantly white

target audience of the series but it

would not necessarily be relatable to a

black audience

police are far more likely to engage

harass arrest and become physical with

young black men than any other

demographic in the United States even

today in the myths of greater

understanding about indisputable facts

surrounding this behavior apologists for

the police try to fight back against

what white Americans

are only now starting to accept they

will claim racial profiling police

harassment over policing and brutality

only occur more in black communities

because that's where the crime is

without actually looking at how much the

data is skewed bogus statistics without

context like blacks do half the violent

crime and such the context is this black

people are incarcerated at a rate seven

times higher than white people same

crime significantly higher probability

of being convicted furthermore black

communities are over policed meaning

there are far more arrests and if the

response to this is to repeat that's

where the crime is then you already know

what the answer to that is and the

context that D skews the data and the

argument becomes circular white succumbs

frequently portray their encounters with

the police as either helpful or at worst

inconvenient that's not to say that the

police are not dangerous to white people

they are simply more likely to be

dangerous to black people apologists for

the police will claim that more white

people in the United States are fatally

shot by the police than black people but

this is also skewed data without context

in the u.s. there are approximately 191

million white people and 42 million

black people that means there are four

point five five times more white people

than black people in 2019 there were 371

white people taken out by the police if

all things were equal relative and

proportionate to the amount of white

people to black people

82 black people would have been taken

out by the police however the number is

actually 235 black people that means

that a black person is almost three

times as likely to be taken out by the

police

than a white person it is not

proportional ignoring per capita and

statistical analysis to find the result

you want is intellectually dishonest

credit to jolly good ginger for doing

the mathematics this rate of over

policing and greater likelihood of a

confrontation with the police becoming

physical or even lethal is why the

relationship between the police and

white people and the relationship

between the police and black people feel

so

different in their communities because

they are there is always some deflection

from police apologists and racists

usually bringing up black on black crime

to distract from the topic the truth is

that anyone is more likely to be harmed

by someone who lives near them and since

black communities and white communities

are segregated the most likely

perpetrator of a black victim is also

black but the most likely perpetrator of

a white victim is also white

nobody ever shouts white on white crime

even though it is just as true this is

because police apologists and racists

don't care about the context of

statistics they care about deflecting

from irrefutable statistics that they

find inconvenient to summarize the

police are a danger to everyone but they

are consistently more likely to be a

danger to black people and that is why

they are portrayed differently in

sitcoms with white casts and sitcoms

with black casts 90s whites had comes

not only portrayed a different

relationship between the police they

also had police officer characters as

part of the main cast on 3rd Rock from

the Sun Don the police officer is one of

the Solomon family's closest friends and

has an ongoing romantic relationship

with Sally on Everybody Loves Raymond

Robert the brother of the titular

character is a veteran police officer on

Frasier Martin is a retired police

officer and arguably the audience's

everyman character black succumbs from

the 90s generally did not have police

officers as part of the main cast with

one notable exception in this episode of

Friends Rachael is pulled over and has

an expired driver's license the

situation ends up being only a mild

inconvenience for her a common

occurrence for a white driver for a

black driver this interaction often goes

differently in this early episode of The

Fresh Prince of bel-air will and Carlton

are doing a favor for a family friend by

driving his car to Palm Springs a police

officer pulls over their car and

eventually arrests them under the

groundless suspicion that they were

driving a stolen vehicle the situation

is eventually resolved but Carlton comes

out of the experience learning nothing

he believes that the police were

entirely in the right to pull him over

Carleton has up to that point lived a

sheltered life well previously living in

West Philadelphia tries to inform

Carleton that they were pulled over for

driving while black and not because as

Carleton suggests they were driving too

slowly

Carlton's father Phil is reminded of the

first time he was stopped and leaves

Carleton to contemplate what really

happened Carleton without realizing it

is repeating police abhilasha

that the police were only doing their

job and that they had every right to

pull them over the fact that will and

Carlton were not car thieves is not the

point

instead the point is that the police

pull them over in the first place

without cause they identified will and

Carlton as black saw an expensive car

and on those facts alone concluded that

there was cause enough to pull them over

and question them racial profiling is

the use of race to determine which

drivers to stop for minor traffic

violations and the use of race to

determine which pedestrians to search

for illegal contraband and questioned

about their presence particularly their

presence a predominantly white

neighborhoods like the suburbs according

to the American Civil Liberties Union

defining racial profiling as relying

solely on the basis of race ethnicity

national origin or religion can be

problematic

this definition found in some state

racial profiling laws is unacceptable

because it fails to include when police

act on the basis of race ethnicity

national origin or religion in

combination with an alleged violation of

all law in other words even though the

officer may have clearly targeted will

and Carlton due to their race due to the

solely definition of racial profiling if

the officer claims they were pulled over

for driving suspiciously any accusation

of racial profiling will be dismissed if

a police officer sees cars mildly

speeding all the time but is far more

likely to pull over black drivers the

solely definition of racial profiling

protects him laws and regulations

against racial profiling often do not

include discriminatory omissions this is

another example of over policing how

black people in the United States are

stopped harassed and arrested more

frequently than white people for

committing the same

actions over policing meaning focusing

law enforcement far more on black

communities than necessary creates the

aforementioned inflated statistics these

inflated statistics are then used as

evidence in support of continued over

policing over policing is a cycle that

creates the skewed evidence it needs to

perpetuate itself the episode of fresh

prints makes no excuses for the police

whatsoever and frames Carlton's defense

of the police as naive even dangerous to

himself white audiences who say things

like well they must have been doing

something wrong or well they shouldn't

have been speeding or any other

knee-jerk unexamined defense of

profiling and harassment can have their

naivete thrown back at them through

Carlton who is clearly framed as wrong

he is not however framed as

unsympathetic as he is still the victim

of racial profiling and police

harassment whether he initially realized

it or not the episode ends with Carlton

contemplating what just happened to him

something he may have to reconcile with

his previous rock-solid belief that the

system works in an episode of Martin the

titular character calls a plumber to fix

his toilet Martin needs to go to work

and leaves his friend Cole to watch over

his apartment during the day when Martin

returns he discovers that the plumber

has collapsed Cole and Martin are

concerned because they're two black men

in an apartment with a deceased white

man and they don't even know what

happened

research into overturned wrongful

convictions has proven that black

Americans are far more likely to be

falsely convicted of murder than white

Americans according to Michigan State

University black prisoners who were

convicted of murder are about 50% more

likely to be innocent than others

convicted of that crime and spend longer

in prison before exoneration furthermore

data shows that convictions that led to

murder exonerations with black

defendants were more likely to involve

misconduct by police officers than those

with white defendants Cole is right to

be concerned about the plumber and the

fact that he was alone in the apartment

when the plumber collapsed eventually

Martin's friend Tommy Martin's

girlfriend Gina and Gina's friend Pam

and learn what happened the mood shifts

from concern about what the authorities

will think to concern about getting this

wrapped up so they can attend a

basketball game it's still a comedy

after all Martin is unable to get the

police to respond to his emergency after

waiting for hours he calls the police

again but this time pretends to be a

white person in hopes they will treat

him better

the police are dubious and ask him a

series of questions to prove his

whiteness and it's actually very funny

90s blek succumbs engaged in this kind

of gallows humor about their own

oppression all the time with one notable

exception on the criminally underrated

sitcom rock we see perhaps the most

unflinching and confrontational take on

the police's relationship with the black

community from 90 sitcoms rock is a

garbage man living in Baltimore to make

extra money Rock accepts an offer from

his brother Joey to paint an apartment

while Rock is out buying a tool for the

job he is stopped on the sidewalk by

police officers who suspect him of being

a burglar Rock was caught walking while

black according to the New York Times in

Baltimore a city that is 63 percent

black the Justice Department found that

91 percent of those arrested on

discretionary offenses like failure to

obey or trespassing were

african-american blacks make up 60% of

Baltimore's drivers but account for 82

percent of traffic stops of the 410

pedestrians who were stopped at least

ten times in the five and a half years

of data reviewed 95 percent were black

the police officers unconvinced by Rock

story arrest him with little if any

cause the sitcom makes it abundantly

clear what is happening what's locked up

rock turns to the black police officer

it was thankfully a help my brother

nothing what makes this interaction so

important is that this sitcom recognizes

the tension between black civilians and

black police officers who assist in the

oppression of black communities Rock

infuriated that he has been arrested on

trumped-up charges says this doesn't

matter what we do because just when you

think maybe things are getting better

and we don't have to put up with this

stuff anymore

hey whack you over the head to remind

you nothing's changed Haywood then

that's a good thing man I mean because

we all need a dose of reality

no not this kind of reality this

shouldn't be reality Rock story

eventually checks out and he is freed a

highly optimistic ending to what could

have been a life-changing event had it

happened in real life when he has let go

even after it is clear he has done

nothing wrong

a white police officer tells rock that

he will be keeping an eye on him when

Rock returns home it's still not over

it's only the end of his story not the

end of the story of the police's

relationship with black communities Rock

hears a siren in the distance and says

nothing well you should sue for false

arrest oh come on pop we saw that video

when Rodney King them four cops got off

what makes you think anything's gonna

happen to pop pop Joey I just wanna put

this thing behind me okay

90s black sitcoms generally did not

portray white police officers as helpful

and sometimes portrayed black police

officers as at best complicit I'll

accept one notable exception an outlier

to this pattern Family Matters stars

Reginald veljohnson as a black police

officer and the series consistently

portrays both sergeant Carl Winslow and

the police in general as altruistic

unlike some other blacks it comes family

matters was immensely popular among

white Americans as well owing to its ABC

TGIF lineup placement as much as its

milquetoast non confrontational humor

berkel mania swept the suburbs for years

it's hard to describe to someone who

wasn't there just how ubiquitous Steve

Urkel was in the 90s the only time

Family Matters confronts the police is a

season 5 episode in which Carl's son

Eddie is racially profiled however the

episode takes the bad

position suggesting that this is an

uncommon occurrence and that the police

are ultimately a force for good in the

black community when any objects and

tells Carl that police have quotas to

fill his father strongly denies this

despite the fact that police officers

routinely set productivity goals which

is merely euphemistic and a means in

which to subvert laws prohibiting quotas

when Carl confronts the officer who

profiled his son he says that he will

file a report on him presenting this to

the audience as a solution in the real

world the culture of police Brotherhood

will almost certainly protect such an

officer police officers who receive

frequent complaints and hold records

proving consistent offenses against

civilians are generally permitted to

continue as officers unless it becomes a

public relations nightmare and even then

it's not a sure thing when the

confrontation is over Carl even tells

his son how proud he is to be a police

officer when Eddie speaks of quotas Carl

defends the police when Carl confronts

the veteran cop Carl defends the police

to the rookie cop and when Carl wraps

everything up he defends the police once

more if the episodes bad apples politics

are not transparent enough the title is

literally good cop bad cop at a time

when black sitcoms were referencing

Rodney King and bluntly sang in no

uncertain terms that police harassment

is a vulnerability to every black

American family matters take on the

subject is noticeably weak perhaps even

to the point of being detrimental and in

arguably the least confrontational of

them all one could argue that at least

the series broached the subject even if

they did not stick the landing

but it's galling watching this episode

right after the rock episode 90s blech

sitcoms warned us about the police's

antagonistic relationship toward black

communities a long time ago and it's a

shame that decades of tragedy and

recordings are what it took for more

people to take this seriously it would

have been nice if everyone had just

watched that episode of Fresh Prince and

realistic expectation there are so much

societal push back against accusations

of police misconduct in the United

States that most people watching

very special episodes of their favorites

that comes from the 90s are not going to

suddenly change their minds maybe these

episodes helped a little art can be very

powerful but clearly more needs to be

done besides that I have a lot more to

say about the police and specifically

police abolition but I set it all back

in April in a video essay uploaded

shortly before the killing of George

Floyd even now as this misconduct is

irrefutable people still try to refute

it they tell us that someone being

knocked over and having his head cracked

open did not happen and that he only

tripped they tell us that when

protesters tossed tear gas back at the

police its assault with a deadly weapon

but when the police shot that weapon at

protesters in the first place it was not

a deadly weapon I don't know how all

this ends but going back to status quo

is now unacceptable and if we're really

being honest it has been unacceptable

for a very long time name to Barry

Manilow songs and Mandy

Copa Cabana and Mandy