We live in a county where 9 year olds get pepper sprayed.

The 9 year old little girl (because think of any 9 year old you know and if you would use the adjective little at some point to describe them) who was handcuffed, put in the back of a squad car, surrounded by about 8 cops, yelled at and pepper sprayed....remind me again why this is ok? Before you say.... 'they feared for their life' 'they just needed to calm her down' 'they had no other choices' 'why didn't she just comply' 'blah blah blah' I want you to watch the video footage again. Without bias of back the blue, without disdain for 'disrespect' of yelling at cops, without thinking of the nice cop you know who would never do such a thing....and put the face of a 9 year old you know and then share your thoughts about why they shouldn't be fired? Cops having immunity, being protected by their unions? That has to go. Period. In this situation the police were called by her mother because she was having a mental health crisis. She was reportedly yelling that she wanted her dad, threatening to kill herself, threatening to kill her mom. She had no weapon. She had no known immediate intent. She had not attempted to kill herself or her mom. For all of the 'well what would you do' folks.... Do you know how many times a month-week-young people are supported through de-escalation and resetting their emotions. Talked through the process of regulating their emotions by trained professionals? With patience. With approaching the human being with the intent of understanding and helping....not controlling? Not policing? Do you know that there are people who go to school for the very purpose of helping human beings through these kind of traumas and pain? And how many times that leads to someone running away from them? Calling them names? Maybe even spitting on them, hitting them, biting them? If you don't know how many times, let me share that it's many. It's often. And you don't get to respond with force or anger or agitation or spite just because you are the authority figure. Because you are in charge. But let's say you aren't a person who understands or has compassion for human beings suffering a mental health crisis. Let's say you think 9 years old or not, she was out of control and out of line.... She was handcuffed and in the car. Maybe not sitting exactly as they liked. But in the car nonetheless. All they had to do was shut the damn door. Let's even say that you think all that's needed is some 're'training so 'better' decisions can be made... What kind of monster needs training to know that there is no reason to pepper spray a 9 year old who is handcuffed? Can you train humanity? And before you fix your lips to say some bullshit like, 'you wouldn't care so much if she was white'... Yes the fuck I would. The problem isn't she's black and so people are making it 'about race'. The problem is that, if she were white...many more would care...so it's really about racism. Not race. Can I repeat that? There isn't a race issue. There's a racism issue. Seriously. Watch the video again. And see the many times that different decisions could have been made. And then think about the fact that the police union rep stated that the officers did nothing wrong. If you agree with that? There is something wrong with you. Honestly. No shade. No petty. Your moral compass is broken.