Let’s all admit it: half of the stuff we learn in school, we never really apply to real life anyway. Learning the Quadratic Formula won’t help me do my taxes. However, schools today are introducing new courses that may better prepare students for real world situations.

Following the public outrage against several high-profile cases of police brutality in the past months, some schools have introduced courses and seminars on how to interact with police. Most recently, University of Michigan’s Residential College announced it was going to teach a seminar mini-course called #Blacklivesmatter in solidarity with the movement. Back in November the East Side Community High School in New York City coached students on how to interact with police, and in New Jersey, a bill was proposed that would require students be taught about police interaction.

While these courses are great strides toward attempting to minimize the number of victims of police brutality, it speaks to a much larger issue. We are a generation that constantly has to re-adjust ourselves to be safe in this world, but in reality this world should progress to be a less dangerous and prejudiced place. This is not to say that classes like this should not be taught, but if we are going to do our part, the police should do its as well.

According to The Washington Post, thousands of people have been killed by fatal police shootings, yet only 54 officers were charged. On April 7, a South Carolina police officer was charged with murder after fatally shooting a black man he had stopped for a malfunctioning taillight. The incident was captured on video and shows the officer planting a Taser near the man to make it appear as if there had been a struggle.

Although the man was running away from the officer at the time of the shooting, he never charged toward the officer or posed an immediate threat. This goes to show that victims of police brutality sometimes are not as aggressive as they are painted to be. Earlier this month comedian Chris Rock posted on Twitter several incidents where he had been pulled over by the cops to which actor Isaiah Washington responded, “I sold my $90,000.00 Mercedes G500 and bought 3 Prius’s, because I got tired of being pulled over by Police. #Adapt.”

Washington fails to recognize that that sort of adaptation reinforces and affirms a society in which victims are to blame. Washington’s response comes with good intentions, yet, on some level, changing our behavior perpetuates the concept of respectability politics. Respectability politics means that if we act accordingly we avoid dangerous situations. The truth is you can be rich and respectable and still get killed by the cops.

What millennials should take away from these incidents is that learning how to safely interact with police is a good start, but it is not the answer. Schools know that young people are not the ones to blame for these incidents but we need to be the first to spark a change. Residential College’s #Blacklivesmatter mini-course only began after many students on campus expressed their concerns about police brutality.
Our generation has begun to keep up our end of the bargain in discussing and acting on pressing issues, it’s time the police did the same.  We need to recognize our rights, in a world full of wrongs.

Laritza Salzar is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at lcsalaza@syr.edu.

Published on April 13, 2015 at 11:55 pm