Open Letter

Open letter from a middle-class white guy to black Americans throughout the country.

You don’t know me and I don’t know most of you so I’ll dispense with the pandering that you see from all sides. I know I have no idea what it is like to be a black man in this country, and you also have no idea what it’s like to be a white man in this country. So there, we both don’t know much about each other. Now that I’ve gotten my social science BS out of the way I’d like to say this.

I’ve been in the criminal justice system over 40 years and yes, as a cop, also a University adjunct faculty member, police trainer working my way up from street cop to a police executive. I worked a number of years in several black districts. I only tell you this to set the context

I came from a military family whereas kids we talked about our friends not our black friends, or white friend or Hispanic friend and so forth. We just called each other friends. I began my policing in a very small rural town where frankly, there were few blacks or even other minorities. I don’t remember having any issues as everyone was considered part of that town.

I applied for and got a job with a fairly large police department and was assigned to the black districts under a Federally funded program called TEAM police in the early 70’s. To say it was a culture shock is a real understatement. I was told that I’d be fighting for my life every night, that there was a lot of violence and hatred that would be directed at me and so, as you might expect, my reaction to going into that type of environment was somewhat apprehensive.

I went to work and the environmental change hit me like a brick (no pun intended). The real shock came in the form of the violence and hatred I was warned about but it was NOT directed at me, it was directed at the black community itself. It was internalized by certain members of the community at certain members of the community for certain reasons. It was like policing a civil war where sides were drawn and the fighting was for the heart and soul of that community.

As a cop I pretty much watched on the peripheries and spent the bulk of my time refereeing sides and cleaning up the carnage. You hated each other more than any of the police. You fought, killed, maimed and destroyed each other more than all the policing in modern history.

I’ll never forget during my first week I went to a shots fire (very routine call) and upon arriving, found three males on the ground, two wounded one dead. What was this all about? Serious defense of life, etc.? NO, one of the wounded men had insulted the dead man by telling him he had an ugly dog, so of course this had to be dealt with the only way you handle serious events. You shot and killed each other and wounded an innocent victim walking by over an ugly dog comment. And now you have the nerve to order me to sensitivity and de-escalation training!!

These types of events were not then, and are not now, the exception, they are the norm. That is reality. Killing someone over a comment has nothing to do with being oppressed or with police brutality. I agree with the current fear that parents have when they say they are afraid to let their kids out because they may be shot by a cop. Be realistic. They are many times more likely to be shot or killed by another member of the black community. That type of violence has nothing to do with the causes you seem to espouse. Most of the violence is directed at blacks by blacks. As cops we just try to intervene when we can and help those citizens who frankly are held hostage in these communities.

What I began to figure out during my many talks with black elderly citizens whose wisdom and experience you youngster reject, and care little for, is that the anger is internalized within the black community which would manifest itself periodically outside that community. When it does you have no direction, goals or ideas for substantive change within your own ranks, it’s everyone else that needs reforming and change. You will never come out of this vicious cycle until you decide to do several things

Do you know what the biggest divide in the country is? No, it’s not race relation, economic disparity, political differences, religion etc. The biggest divide is with the black race itself. There is a struggle to define who you are, where you want to go, how to get there and how do you fit into this society. It is my opinion that you are trying to legitimize what you are all about. Can I make a few suggestions, understanding I have no idea what it is to be black, but I do know what it is to be human.

1.    Quit looking to everyone outside your communities for help. Discuss and find solutions to your issues from within and if you need legitimate help as we all do use it wisely and in a positive way. You posses the talent and skills necessary. This means you have to establish the family unit again and teach your youth the value of education, work ethic and respect for each other.

2.    Quit putting down those that are successful. Whenever you have successful or talented people, you are so quick to want to destroy them, their success and their effort. You will actually burn them out or use other means to vilify them, call them slanderous names and generally wreck their accomplishments. Why don’t you try learning from their success? Ask for their help and learn from them instead of the charlatans (politicians, sports figures etc.) you run to now.

3.     Understand that no one will fix your issues but you. All the BS government  designs from both sides that your being fed is just to placate you. Stop eating their shit. Your race has provided and continues to provide immense service and greatness to our Country. Why can’t you accept and exploit that?

You claim you have been oppressed for hundreds of years; I’ll not argue that since I don’t know what that means and I’ll not pretend I do. However, do you think the Tuskegee Airmen were oppressed? They didn’t think so because they refused to think that way, believed in themselves and each other and they put those beliefs into positive action and won world acclaim. There are countless stories like that. Those within your community that don’t buy into the rhetoric that they can’t do it or refuse to be victimized by internal and external forces are or should be your role models. They create opportunity and exploit it in order to be successful. They are not waiting for someone to give it to them but are grabbing and making their opportunities. Others (politicians, and your so-called community advocates) prefer you wait for them. If you were as aggressive in taking opportunity as you are in destroying it think about the progress you could make.

Bottom line is, your fate, future, solutions to your grievances, settlements etc. are squarely in your hands and no one else. It all starts from within. As long as you are unwilling to look inward and discuss your own issues with each other, don’t expect genuine help from outside your community to get seriously involved, after all it’s not their problem. If you want our support, we will be there but only if you can help yourself. Remember I don’t know what’s it’s like to be a black man but I do know what it’s like to be human.

There is a movie about an unsinkable ship that sunk called Titanic. It reminds me of your situation and what’s going on. We all know the real ending, but each time I watch the movie, I think maybe, just maybe it won’t hit that iceberg and sink, but it always does no matter how much I wish it wouldn’t. You are going to keep hitting that iceberg and sinking until you accept that you are the only ones that can steer clear of that iceberg. You have to re-write the script yourselves. Thank you and best of luck. Stay safe.

Andy Casavant

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