Sometime last year I was stopped by the Police.
When I asked the officer her reason for stopping me, she told me a bold face lie.
The reality is, the only reason she stopped me was I am a black man driving in a remote English village.
Many ethnic minorities like myself have been suffering Police brutality, harassment and abuse for decades and our cries have never been heard.
When we complain about Police brutality, politicians and frankly many in the majority population refused to believe us.
It’s sad that it has to take such a tragic situation as the murder of Sarah Everard for the public to finally realise the fact that there are rotten apples in the Police Force.
I feel uncomfortable using saying this because the Police as an institution is not rotten.
I truly believe the large majority of Police Officers are decent people who honestly want to help society.
It’s sad that they all get painted with the same brush as the likes of Wayne Couzens.
The late US motivational speaker Jim Rohn used to say his mentor told him there are only ten nasty people on earth. They move around a lot so everyone is bound to encounter them once in a while.
It is quite possible there are only ten Wayne Couzens in the entire UK Police Force, but because they move around a lot, we are made to believe that there are lots of bad apples in the Police.
What’s the Way Forward?
Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
It is right to respond to the Sarah Everard murder by demanding Police reform. But focusing only on Police behaviour towards women to the exclusion of their behaviour towards ethnic minorities will not result in true reform.
True Police reform requires taking into account Police attitude towards ethnic minorities.
For a long time, the British society has turned a blind eye to Police abuse of ethnic minorities.
This has emboldened rogue Police Officers who believe the public will always tolerate their excesses.
The UK has a once in a life time opportunity to reform its Police force and set example for the rest of the world.
As a tribute to Sarah Everard’s, I hope we seize it.
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