I have been trying to envision something dumber than physically resisting a law officer who is trying to arrest you. It is impossible to think of even one good thing that could come out of this kind of futile action. Physical resistance is a red flag to law enforcement officers, and there is not a cop in America who will not respond with force, regardless of one’s color.
Why the men in Ferguson and New York resisted arrest, is probably something the average white person cannot understand. I do understand that those who do not depend on commercial fishing for a living, can never fully comprehend the contentious atmosphere that exists between bureaucratic regulators and working fishermen. In the same way we can never fully understand the frustration of inner city blacks who have been kept in poverty by ostensibly well-meaning liberal policies.
Nevertheless, resisting arrest is a completely non-racial issue. While Key West is not exactly a hotbed of racial discontent, there are frequent examples of resisting arrest, including a recent incident that resulted in death. Since the officer and victim were both white, we did not receive a visit by Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, nor attention from Eric Holder or President Obama. In fact, there were no stores burned, nor even a minor riot, though the local media did try their best to gin up a little action.
In actual fact, virtually all of the resisting arrest incidents can be attributed to the same reason: The person being arrested was impaired by alcohol or drugs. Though I have been studiously avoiding the round-the-clock media circus in Ferguson and New York, I have heard enough to know that one victim robbed a convenience store and the other had 31 prior arrests. It is not necessary to know their color, to make the assumption that drugs or alcohol may well have been a factor.
Anyway, as Sigmund Freud once said, “Sometimes even a cigar is just a good smoke.” And sometimes even a white cop shooting a black man, is just another sad result of resisting arrest.
