Open Letter to Vince Vaughn
/“I’ve had friends who’ve grown up in that environment, I’ve also had friends who are police officers, and there’s a lot of fear on both sides. I think the situation causes a lot of problems, so it’s really a chance to sit with the people and getting access to them and seeing their daily lives. ”
*sigh*
So, the above quote comes from this article about Vince Vaughn producing a movie on Black people and the police...and it made me want to throw my laptop through the window.
Why Vincent? Why?
WHY DO WHITE MEN, WHO HAVE NEVER EVER EVER EVER AND WILL NEVER EVER EVER EVER EXPERIENCE POLICE ENCOUNTERS THE WAY BLACK PEOPLE DO, DEIGN TO OPEN THEIR PIE HOLES AND COMMENT ON THE SHIT FROM AN "OBJECTIVE" (read: sympathetic toward the police) VIEWPOINT?
Do I talk about how good it feels to oppress women and minorities all the time? NO.
Know why?
Because I DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT THAT LIFE. I AM NOT A RICH, WHITE, HETEROSEXUAL MALE.
So why THEEEFUUUCK is Vince Vaughn's rich, white, heterosexual male self trying to "show both sides" of the story? And what "environment" is he even talking about--the "environment" of America?
Vince. Vincent. Vincent Anthony. Go sit your goofiass DOWN somewhere. We didn't ask you to chime in. Nobody needs to see this situation from your POV. The white male gaze is unnecessary and unwanted on this here particular topic UNLESS it will illustrate to the brethren in blue how they've run amuck for CENTURIES and that they allow preconceived notions, racial bias, and overseer complex to influence how they do their jobs.
Is that what your film is about, Vince? Are you gonna talk about how the centralized municipal force that makes up modern day police has origins in slave patrols of the 1700's? Are you gonna talk about terrible policies and the reform needed in said polices, along with the overhaul needed in training methods? Are you gonna talk about how Black and Brown people are routinely confronted by law enforcement while driving or walking or standing or breathing, and the percentage is disproportionate to their population in most, if not all, communities? Are you going to talk about how becoming a police officer, where death is literally an occupational hazard, is a voluntary choice, but the skin Black and Brown people are born into is not, and therefore should not be considered a crime or threat or predisposition to criminality?
Vincent, are you gonna explore the criminal justice system, and how profit and policing now walk hand in hand while exploiting poor people, especially poor Black and Brown people? Are you gonna unmask the insidiousness of the prison industrial complex? (Did you call Michelle Alexander and see if she was free to sit for an interview? Sis is SUPER busy trying to spread awareness and dismantle this farce of a justice system we have, so you might need to work around HER schedule. ) Are you going to highlight how most police encounters with ARMED people who look like you end in arrest, but how encounters with UNARMED people who look like me end in death? (TWO TIMES MORE LIKELY. THAT'S TWICE AS MUCH, VINCE.)
If you're not going to talk about these things in depth, Vince, then I think it's safe to say that nobody wants to hear about the "fear on both sides" you perceive. We aren't the ones with badges and guns, shooting people because of how they look in the name of the "law". We aren't the ones who escape conviction for murdering innocent people. We aren't the ones with the power or privilege to use bias as evidence, and act as judge, jury and executioner in 2.5 seconds because of it.
All that to say--earmuffs--SHUT THE FUCK UP VINCENT VAUGHN AND GO MAKE A DUMB ASS WHITE BOY COMEDY ABOUT WHITE BOYS WHITE BOY-ING.
That is your lane, buddy. Stay in it.