Phoenix Police Chief Marches With Protesters, Faces Criticism
Police all over the country have been seen in videos taking a knee or marching alongside demonstrators, seemingly signifying their solidarity with a movement that calls for major reforms to the institution of law enforcement.
In Phoenix, Chief Jeri Williams joined with protesters Friday and told them their message was resonating at the highest levels of the police department.
“I am beside myself with disbelief and joy at the voices of this generation making the voices of my generation be silent and to listen to what you are saying," Williams said to demonstrators. "Thank you so much for ending things peacefully. That is really what is resonating with us and is forcing us to listen.”
→ Arizona Voices: Race, Diversity And The Black Lives Matter Movement
But for a lot of the activist groups organizing these protests, police participation is polarizing at best, and co-opting and disrupting the message at worst.
"It's a cooptation and distortion of a movement," the Black Phoenix Organizing Collective said in a Tweet on Saturday. "This movement began as an Uprising and a response to an armed force that tortures, maims, terrorizes, and kills our community members. Now, folks want to be friends [with] cops."
The videos of police showing support for protesters are merely photo-ops and propaganda, the Organizing Collective said. In Buffalo, New York, two officers seriously injured a elderly man, and several dozen others walked by as the man bled on the same spot the officers were seen taking a knee earlier in the day. Two officers have since been suspended without pay and charged with assault in that incident. Nearly 60 other officers resigned from that unit to protest the disciplinary action the two officers received.
"If you do not engage political education, you'll advocate the values of your oppressor and think that 'listening' is a solution while they use you for photo [opportunities]," the Twitter thread continued.
Demonstrations over the past several nights have been peaceful, with no arrests reported.
