The death of Sandra Bland is just the latest story that has the country talking about both race relations and the public's trust in police officers. Brittney Cooper, a Rutgers University professor, wrote a column for Salon on Thursday regarding both topics and has had to defend herself from heavy criticism because of a few particular comments.
Cooper, who teaches Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies, wrote about her personal experiences with police, before explaining that she believes white people need to come to the realization that they are "the oppressor."
"White people resist seeing themselves in the face of the oppressor. That mirror reflection is almost too much to bear. I get it," Cooper wrote. "So then they resent the person that holds up the mirror. But let me just say as directly as I can: White people must begin to see themselves in the faces of the mostly white police officers who keep committing these atrocities against Black and Brown people.
"This will not stop until you recognize that you are them. These officers are your brothers and sisters and aunts and cousins, and sons and daughters and nieces and nephews, and friends, and church members. You are them. And they are you. It's a hard truth."
Cooper continued to explain that blacks should not have to feel relief when they are not killed in an encounter with cops. She added that white people act like blacks should be grateful to them.
"Black people, of every station, live everyday just one police encounter from the grave. Looking back over my encounters with police, it's truly a wonder that I'm still in the land of the living," Cooper wrote. "Am I supposed to be grateful for that? Are we supposed to be grateful each and every time the police don't kill us? There is a way that white people in particular treat Black people, as though we should be grateful to them."
NewsBusters, which describes itself as a "media watchdog in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias," sounded off on Cooper's column with an article arguing her points. Since that was published, Cooper has had to defend herself on Twitter over the Salon piece.
