Yeah, there were two of them, out serving a warrant or doing a wellness check. I was out in the courtyard walking Jupe. They’re all geared up and they’ve got their shades on. Doing "the walk", you know? Adopting a posture of intimidation.
They have one hand on their holstered sidearms like they’re expecting trouble. I’m looking at them, thinking the only reason for this posturing is that they’re looking for a suspect who’s on the run. I try to hurry Jupiter along so we can scoot out the direct area.
JoopeyJupe looks at me and picks up on my wariness. I say something soothing. She looks at the cops and sniffs at the air. Mind you, she’s a juvenile dog at this point. One of the cops looks over at us and she starts baying. Beagle form of warning klaxxon. This was one of the first times she ever cut loose and really bayed and boy, does my girl have a set of pipes. I still can’t figure how all that noise comes out of that little bitty body.
Of course, she’s scared because she doesn’t understand what’s going on. And, juvenile. So, she’s also skittering back to safety behind my legs. I reach down to comfort her, etc. She’s on a leash and I have her by the scruff. She’s trembling, visibly, and whining in between baying. No threat whatsoever, just a scared little dog.
One of the cops unsnaps the holster strap, pulls the gun halfway out and flips the safety. He barks at me, "get that dog under control now!"
I take on a placating tone, "I’ve got her. She’s no threat. Please relax your aggressive posture, you’re scaring her."
He gets this look, angry, like how dare I challenge his authority. He turns in my direction and starts barrelling toward me and JupeJupe. She really starts struggling to get free and run away.
His partner calls to him and he goes back.
Was he going to arrest or detain me because my dog barked at him and I gave him "lip about it"?
Was he just going to summarily shoot my dog? Because he felt challenged and "in fear of his life"?
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, she’s young and in public space, she’s mouthy, she’s part black and part brown, and innocent dogs don’t try to run, right?
I recognize that joke, depending on audience, could be in poor taste. I usually use it IRL to people, white people mostly, who are repeating the "they’re criminals" mantras in response to a discussion on police violence.
They’ll laugh, but there’s nothing they can say. No half grown beagle is a threat to anyone. There was no reason, no cause, no justification. It’s inarguable.
I follow up with saved files from TikTok of little kids being harassed and terrorized by the police. The vast majority are black and brown. They’re all juveniles. Hardly hardened criminals. Last one is a little black girl face down on burning hot pavement, sobbing and shaking, crying for her mama. It’s truly wrenching.
Then I say some iteration of, "we’ve got a problem with police violence in this country. It’s time to get real and face it. Make changes instead of sticking our heads in the sand and excusing poor conduct of authority figures. It’ll be the shame of our generation if black people are the only ones who stand against police brutality. Maintaining the safety and availability of public space is important to all of us and the responsibility of all of us. We all know what follows when you don’t have it.
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That was an extremely well written article Penguin. I appreciate your time in me bending your ear here.
