Video taken in downtown Washington, D.C., this week shows a demonstrator debating race relations in the United States with a group of police officers of varying races.
“A black person born into privilege or power is white?” a white officer asked the young female demonstrator, who replied: “Yes, sir … a white person …”
The officer groaned and began to walk away, turning to the woman and saying, “My black wife is calling me. I’m gonna have a conversation.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re not racist, sir,” the woman shouted back at him. “Just because you have one black friend or a black wife. You can still be racist. It has nothing to do with your acquaintances.”
After the white officer walked away, a black officer addressed the woman.
“It’s just we’re trying to have a conversation, and you’ve got a one-track mind,” the black officer said. “There’s no point in having that conversation anymore. You have to be able to be open to both sides of the story.”
The woman told the black officer: “I wasn’t talking to you, sir, I was talking to the white dude.”
“Oh, because I can’t be racist, right?” the officer replied.
“Systemically, systemically no sir, systemically, racism can only be white … individually it can be a different color but systemically it can only be white,” she said.
“It doesn’t fit your agenda, you don’t want to hear that conversation,” he snapped back.
Since the death of George Floyd on Memorial Days, calls for sweeping police reform have reverberated across the nation. In D.C., protesters have vowed to tear down statues and monuments they say were built with white supremacy in mind and without consultation of minority groups.
President Trump has been an outspoken critic of the destruction of monuments and some of the looting and rioting that has taken place during demonstrations across the country.
“We are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals, hoodlums, anarchists, and agitators. Some people don’t like that language, but that’s what they are: Bad people. They don’t love our country, and they’re not taking down our monuments,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “I just want that to be clear.”
