‘Blue Racism’ screenshot

Racism is many things: neo-Nazi marchers, white nationalist rallies, Donald Trump. What it’s not, however, is hating people because they are cops.




Nevertheless, according to one of New York’s largest police unions, not only is “blue racism” against cops a thing (again, nope!) but it’s “even more racist” than actually judging people based on ethnicity or skin color.


A new video released by the Sergeants Benevolent Association, an NYPD union that boasts around 13,000 members, zeroes in on this supposed “strange form of racism [that] continues to engulf the country.” It’s a truly wild claim, considering A) police aren’t actually a race, and B) police are one of the primary means of exercising actual racism across the U.S., and C) POLICE AREN’T ACTUALLY A RACE.

And in case you think I’m exaggerating, let’s look at the full “even more racist” quote I mentioned above:

The average person doesn’t see those things that make me human. They don’t even label me based on being African American, Latino, Asian, Caucasian, and so on. They tend to see an even broader stereotype through an even more racist lens. When they look at me, they see blue.

Yep. The video also quotes—you guessed it—“I Have A Dream.”


“We too have become the targets of racism: Blue Racism,” SBA president Ed Mullins wrote in a short note posted Sunday evening along with the new video. “All racism simply has to stop!”



I have reached out to the New York Police Department for its reaction to the video, and its claim that police are, somehow, a race in and of themselves. I will update this story if I hear back.


SBA’s plea for racial harmony comes nearly two decades after Eiffel 65's own message of colorblind tolerance in 1999's iconic “Blue (Da Ba Dee).”