Law Enforcement — the Biggest Hate Group in America
April Fool’s Day came early the other day as a police propaganda Facebook page posted a fake article that they created alleging that Cop Block had been declared a hate group. It’s almost hilarious that members of a state-sanctioned domestic terrorism organization that also happens to be the largest violent street gang in America would manufacture a false claim like that. The sad reality (for cops) is that such a move reeks of desperation. Perhaps that’s why the “certified wolf hunters” who cried wolf removed the post.
See, Cop Block does not need to manufacture bad press about the police. Their widespread corruption and murderous abuse of citizens, increasingly captured on video, is in the news every single day.
But let’s play along anyway. First, let’s look at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) definition of a hate group. According to the Christian Science Monitor, SPLC’s definition of a hate group “includes groups and people who suggest that an entire group of human beings are, by virtue of class characteristics, ‘somewhat less,’ says Mark Potok, the editor of the SPLC’s Intelligence Report.”
By refusing to subject themselves to the same standards of ethical and legal conduct that they happily cage and kill lesser humans for (allegedly) violating, cops show that they view themselves as both above the law and other Americans. The pageantry and hero worship surrounding any law enforcement officer’s death, including heart attacks that occur while sitting behind a desk, reckless and idiotic driving when not responding to an emergency, and even K-9 deaths (as cops kill family dogs every 98 minutes) adds to the “cops as Übermensch” mythology.
At the same time that they claim a superiority that excuses coercion, extortion, and violence, they also claim a narcissistic fragility that requires that people wriggling in handcuffs or brushing against a cop’s uniform be considered “assaulting an officer.” Not satisfied with the vigorous prosecution and enhanced penalties that assault and murder cases involving police victims already receive, cops have recently been demanding that such offenses be designated as hate crimes.
Aaron Miguel Cantú wrote about this effort back in January [emphasis mine]:
“Groups do not have to be historically oppressed to be protected by laws; for example, if a white male is assaulted because they are white, their assaulter could be charged with a racial hate crime. But adding ‘police’ would mark the first time crimes against a particular profession could result in penalty enhancement. It would also, paradoxically, give legal protection to a group that is notorious for perpetrating violence against the very people that hate crime laws were originally intended to protect.”
All of that aside, let’s get back to the discussion of whether Cop Block qualifies as a hate group. Here’s a short quiz to help sort this out.
- Which group has killed 1, 068 people so far this year, including a 6 year old boy?
A. CopBlockers
B. Law enforcement officers - Who has cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars in lawsuit settlements in brutality and misconduct cases?
A. CopBlockers
B. Law Enforcement Officers - Which group stole $4.5 billion from Americans in 2014 alone, disproportionately targeting minorities and the poor?
A.CopBlockers
B. Law Enforcement Officers - Which group’s origin story and modern history (and present) include violent enforcement of state-sanctioned racial oppression?
A.CopBlockers
B. Law Enforcement Officers - Which group has repeatedly had members exposed as belonging to the Ku Klux Klan?
A.CopBlockers
B. Law Enforcement Officers - Which group enshrines, promotes and enforces unquestioning loyalty to other group members over integrity, even when such loyalty demands that group members actively flout the law, official policy, and standards of ethical behavior?
A.CopBlockers
B. Law Enforcement Officers
The answer to all of these is ‘B’. Law enforcement officers are the hate group that has “beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” Cop Block attacks the institutionalized predation and abuse inherent in policing, while law enforcement attacks the rights and bodies of citizens who lack blue privilege. Cop Block promotes civil liberties, self-ownership, voluntary exchange, and non-aggression, while law enforcement relies on coercion and force to achieve its own ends, often in conflict with principles of a democratic society.
What’s more is that cops “jokingly” labeling Cop Block a hate group and a terrorist organization is actually a justification for future violence and rights violations. We have seen cops previously use this kind of slander against community activists to dishonestly acquire military equipment from the federal government. We also see this with cops labelling Black Lives Matter domestic terrorists responsible for the fake “war on cops” they claim is happening, even though there has been no attack on police connected to the movement, and many of the incidents in this “war” have actually been cops staging attacks on themselves.
We all know what happens when paranoid, trigger-happy, perpetually-terrified cops “fear for their safety.” The potential threat to activists posed by these repeated manufactured claims from police is obvious.
