How to Avoid being Shot by Police - Tutorial

Note* This tutorial will help you to avoid getting shot by police. It should work with any color police officers—even white cops. In addition, though we only hear reports about white cops shooting black people, this is not the only racial combination that exists. In addition, black men shoot other black men at a rate far greater than police do. In fact, black men shoot innocent bystanders too—though this rarely seems to get a lot of protesters to come out because it isn't racially charged enough.

Part One: Do not become involved in illegal activity. It is a fairly safe bet, that if you are not stealing, threatening, burglarizing, loitering, selling illegally, trespassing, or engaged in other criminal activity, the likelihood of you being stopped by police is significantly lower than if you are participating in such activities.

Part Two: If confronted by police officers, do not resist. Do not engage them in hostile or disrespectful dialogue (that means talking). Do not shout. Do not swear. Do not reach into your pockets, coat or pants for something. Keep your hands visible and be as cooperative and non-threatening as possible. If someone told you to be belligerent (that means nasty and uncooperative) to police—even if it was your mom, your half-brother or the guy who used to live in your apartment, this is bad advice. Telling you such a thing or believing such a thing is stupid and might get you killed or into more trouble than if you cooperate.

Your race, be it black, white or green with red polka dots, does not exclude you from obeying the law. While working at a Jr. High School in the south metro, I had students tell me that "Nobody can make me do anything I don't want to do!" This is false. After pointing it out to a student of color, that judges and police officers can make any of us do things that we may not want to do, the student turned it into a commentary about his race—and administration cowered and told me I couldn't tell students that anymore. The police liaison officer at that school told me that "more students should be told that."

After living through working in Hennepin County and seeing my African-American coworkers misbehave (including one who was dealing drugs while working as a drug counselor) and then levy bogus lawsuits; that had to be taken seriously because of the misperceptions of how such things should be handled, I am looking at the "black men dying at the hands of white police" rather objectively. I have yet to see any video evidence, etc., showing a victim who was fully cooperative, who was killed. In fact, each incident shows a person who is actively resisting officers—generally after being stopped for doing something illegal. The "good person" being killed by a "bad cop" story is being so frequently misused, that it surely should start losing credibility at some point—even among whites who are terrified of being called racists.

Finally, being a successful black person does not mean you "aren't black enough." At that same Jr. High School, I remember one African-American kid who was polite and did well in school. Other black kids didn't like him and he was fully accepted by the white kids; with whom he hung around with. The real issue here is that the truth is really not being considered in this argument at all. Some people see this as a power-play, and they are capitalizing on it. Others are intimidated that they might be seen as, gulp... racists. So no one is dealing truthfully and as a result, things will not get any better.

So try following the simple guidelines in this tutorial, and you should avoid being killed by police. Thanks.