It’s time we have the tough conversation. I have ACAB in my Instagram and Twitter bio. I bought a book about race from an independent bookstore. I even posted a picture of myself reading the book on Instagram. Yeah, maybe I tagged the wrong author and the wrong bookstore in the photo and maybe I didn’t finish the book, but that doesn’t mean I’m totally clueless.
I know a lot about police procedure. I have binged every season of Law and Order SVU at least five times in the last two years, so I have a clear and thorough understanding of police procedure and human rights. It just feels really rude for people on Tinder to say that having “looking for the Stabler to my Benson” in my profile is unnerving and confusing? I mean what’s confusing about that? I want to share my life with someone angry and unpredictable, who embodies 99% of the problem with police forces today, to ghost me for a really long time before we reconnect in our fifties. If that makes you uncomfortable maybe you’re the one who should read a book.
And since when is having a hobby like listening to true crime podcasts pro-police? I mean the genre is literally just feeding into the fetishization of white cis-het female victims while giving white male abusers and criminals a platform. Most true crime podcasts center around unsolved murders of pretty white women, which accidentally provides proof of concept that police are ineffective at protecting people and solving crimes while also glorifying them, but that doesn’t mean I support the police. Maybe I just want to feel something, okay? How is me consuming, recommending, and constantly talking about this content a problem? I just don’t get it.
Anyway, I can tell you’re not ready to have this conversation and I have to go feed my cats, Olivia, Raphael, Carisi, and Murderino. And if you want to educate yourself on race and be part of the solution, I know a great independent bookstore.
