Video transcript:

Solving police violence? Don’t trust cops, distrust them.

That video from Utah of a nurse being manhandled and arrested by a cop is like a seminar on the problem of police violence. Why?

She did nothing wrong. She refused to draw blood from an unconscious patient who hadn’t been arrested and there was no warrant. And refused politely.

It had nothing to do with racism. She’s white.

The moment when he snaps is clear.

He says, “We’re done,” and goes berserk. In other words, he felt she was defying him. Not his request, him personally. But the key is: as a cop, he as a unique legal right to react with force.

The first time I saw police violence firsthand I was shocked. I was a student in the U.S. and saw cops breaking up a protest. They weren’t just doing their job, as I’d expected. Some were clearly enjoying it, getting something out that felt good or necessary, like the cop in Utah.

In a way, the problem is cops are just human, too, but with that licence to sometimes let it out. And yet I think it’s necessary to grant some people that power, though it’ll almost inevitably be abused.

I also think Black lives matter, full stop. And there are racists among cops. But racism isn’t illegal, racist behaviour is. And it flies too easily under the cover of that permission.

What’s the solution? Not to trust cops and let them do their job. It’s to distrust them and watch them like hawks, for everyone’s good, including theirs.