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Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
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Barron: U Nurse Incident Further Weakens Public Trust in Law Enforcement

Barron%3A+U+Nurse+Incident+Further+Weakens+Public+Trust+in+Law+Enforcement

When I was a child, I was taught I could trust certain people based on their professions: a teacher, a police officer and a nurse. I was told these professionals were ‘the good guys,’ that they cared about my safety and my well-being. Although I know police misconduct is a reality in the United States, as I watched the video taken at the University of Utah Hospital, I felt something foundational shift in my personal perception of the world. I do not think I was alone. Why has this video been viewed so many times when we already have lots of clips of police misconduct and brutality? Why is it considered newsworthy when we are bracing for another hurricane, North Korea is threatening war and President Drumpf is moving to end DACA? I believe it is because this video directly challenges an unconscious perspective which automatically aligns authority with honor by pitting two ‘good guys’ against each other.

I remember when Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri by Officer Darren Wilson. There are some conflicting facts on what happened that evening, but the medical examiner determined at least six of the eight bullets that hit Michael hit him from the front. I remember relaying the details of his murder to a friend who simply shrugged and said, “Wilson is a policeman, he was probably right to shoot that guy.” My friend was not alone in this belief; Officer Darren Wilson was not indicted.

I received a phone call from this friend on Friday, “Did you see the video of the nurse getting arrested by that psycho cop? He had no right to do that!” I readily agreed and told her again about the Michael Brown case. “That makes me angry! It is innocent until proven guilty, right? It all just seems so real now. I mean, it could happen to anyone.”  

We watched the video of Eric Garner being choked by police in my history class the spring after Michael Brown’s death. We had just finished our chapter on the Civil Rights Era, watching police and other white Americans attack peaceful protesters. After the video finished, Mr. Garner’s final shouts of “I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe!” seemed to be echoing in the classroom. It was shattered when one of my peers loudly claimed, “This is bias material. That man was a con, the officer was just doing his job.” Again, my peer was not alone in this belief; Officer Daniel Pantaleo was not indicted.

This weekend, my peer posted on his Facebook wall how appalling he found Officer Payne’s actions, “My mother is a nurse, and she should never have to be afraid to do her job.” I think if he re-watched the final moments of Eric Garner’s life now, he would understand Eric Garner was someone’s father and grandfather. I hope he understands millions of black Americans are currently afraid due to police violence and growing racial tensions in our country.

While I would like to think the majority of our law enforcement officers are exceptional and compassionate, I do not want to propagate my childhood worldview as it is built upon my own privilege and does not promote accountability. It makes sense that as a parent, I would want my child to automatically trust police officers in case of an emergency. However, I would not want my children to believe these professionals are exempt from consequence due to their job title. Maybe the solution is to watch Spider-Man as a family so my kids understand that ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’

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About the Contributor
Morgan Barron, Opinion Writer
Morgan Barron is an opinion writer. Barron has written for the Daily Utah Chronicle since August 2017. A Utah native, Barron has always been interested in local politics and how lawmakers' decisions and actions affect Utahns. Joining the Chrony was a non-obvious choice for a mechanical engineer, but she believes joining the paper rounded out her STEM education to make her a more effective communicator and engineer.

Comments (4)

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  • K

    KimmySep 9, 2017 at 7:39 pm

    Why are you using an image of police from a foreign country? Just curious.

    Reply
  • M

    Michael BreenSep 8, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    Sheriff Arrapaio sends his thanks to these two buffoons masquerading as police officers. Sheriff Joe is no longer the most despised lawman in the United States. He has been demoted to number three. The disgust with which people view these two is limitless. Unbelievably it has come to a state where police cannot be trusted to behave like human beings when interacting with hospital staff. It will be a long road to rebuild the sense of trust that has been destroyed. In fact it may be impossible. That journey will never begin if those officers are allowed to continue as law enforcement employees.

    Reply
  • A

    Aaron McDonaldSep 8, 2017 at 10:12 am

    When you idealize any group of people, be it cops, a religious group, a gender, a political party, a race, or whoever it might be, then you’re just as likely to demonize the entire group as soon individuals in that group do bad things. It’s too bad this article doesn’t try to make a clear distinction between an individual’s behavior and a group’s behavior (consisting of hundreds of thousands of policemen/women), while I’m willing to bet the same author would go out of her way to make the same distinction between radical and moderate Islam.

    Reply
  • Á. Clotilde HouchonSep 7, 2017 at 5:12 pm

    Well met Morgan. W. E. B. Du Bois wrote, the color line is the defining characteristic of American society. It has been and likely still is. We must not ignore sexual politics in this case either.

    Nurse Alex Wubbels has called for “growth and the need for re-education.” To this I echo your concerns and would ad: re-education whether tethered to race and or masculine hostility.

    Thank you.

    Reply