HOtep

"So why I do feel that 9/10, being of color and a cop is an oxymoron, it's an ok paying job w/ benefits & (seems to me, anyway) a way out for some young men of color these days."

A "way out"? That is a terrible excuse. I know exactly where you are from but it is still pitiful, nonetheless. It is an excuse that I have seen in most of the men with whom I graduated, who are now in jail or have joined the military. In essence, those professions are the same but I also see the military as a degree higher in negativity. In both, the "system" controls the person, however, the military usually instills a strong sense of pride, reverance and loyalty to the "system" while jail usually does the opposite. Although those in jail may never truly understand exactly what IT is that they hate, they are more likely to BECOME against it than those in the military.

Same thing for cops. In ANY profession where one has to possibly give up one's life for a cause, nation, and/or system, a STRONG sense of loyalty will have to be instilled in the person. Therefore despite how "good" they maybe, at the heart of the matter they are still loyal to an entity that is against us.

PEace
Solarus


"Activism is the practice of using an internal, self-determining source of power to live one's life and/or enact some sort of change. Power is the ability to define reality, while self-determination is to decide or define one's self. Therefore activism, is not simply something done to right some wrong or to fight some cause but rather it is a way of life. Activism is the way of life where one can define self and change anything that may impede or control the reality that one chooses to live."-Solarus