Bad Boys, Bad Boys

Guns are a sickness, an ingredient, like racism or mental illness.

Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys…

As a kid, I used to be too afraid to watch COPS. The craziness, the disorder, potential for terror. The bad guys scared me even though they were usually minding their own business at home when the officers came a-knocking. Since it began airing in 1989, one of the original reality TV shows, built tension from the idea that at any moment, something truly terrible could happen.

The theme song was the only part I ever liked, and if I landed on it while channel surfing, I would stop, grit my voice a bit, and sing along. Then when the chaos started, click click, I could whisk away to a happier channel.

Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when the come for you? Bad boys, bad boys…

I also used to think that the COPS theme song was about the subjects being arrested by the good guy cops. These days I think about how naive and foolish I was.

I just watched the videos of the shooting deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. There was no catchy song. Instead, there were moans of pain, terrifying shrieks, the unmistakable sound of gunfire up close, and in both videos, onlookers telling you what you already knew: that these two men were dead.

We are in an age of this new, deplorable, heinous version of COPS. It doesn’t air on FOX after The Simpsons, but on Facebook Live, Periscope, and internet streams. It happened twice on Tuesday, to two different men, in drastically different places in America. Murdered by police, ON CAMERA. And this shit is unedited.

It is real life for entirely too many people.

Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys…

We can’t just click click away from this though. And we shouldn’t. It is as important to watch as it is devastating.

The Philando Castile video is narrated by his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who is sitting next to him, and explains that her boyfriend has just been shot four times. You know, in case you can’t tell that the man covered in blood, groaning, WITH A GUN STILL POINTED AT HIM, is taking his last breath. It is our closest look yet at the expiration of a human being’s life, again, at the hands of a trigger-happy cop.

Closest look yet. What a fucked up superlative that is. Because it can be compared to so many other videos of other men and women dying similarly. Closest yet. Fuck us.

Meanwhile, the Alton Sterling video may be even more upsetting because the video shows us that there were no last gasps for life. There were no final moments of clarity or closure. Sterling had already been handcuffed with two cops sitting on him, and still, one officer puts multiple bullets into his skull. The end.

This is the XXXth and XXXth shooting of minority American citizens by police officers in the past few years. Though they are staggering, I didn’t bother putting the real, documented numbers because so far, numbers have failed in telling the story of what is happening in our country.

Take a moment to think about it. What number would you have to see to believe that this tragedy is any more likely to evoke change? What number would you have to hear to be convinced it won’t happen tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow? We don’t even get the first stage of grief anymore. When was the last time that you denied that this problem is real?

There are documented numbers and they are staggering. They matter, but they only account for the problem. They’ve done nothing to solve it.

That is why we have to watch these videos; have to watch COPS every week on the news or on social media platforms.

Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys…

We watched and heard pleas from Eric Garner as he was choked out on COPS. We saw Walter Scott run from a cop with a gun, who shot him over and over in the back. Jason Harrison was mentally ill and holding a screwdriver during his episode of COPS. On the Michael Brown episode, it was the aftermath, lying in the streets for all to see, akin to a hunter lying a bearskin run along the floor of his living room.

The lifecycle of these murders is as formulaic as the episodes: Grief. Protests. The generic speeches from government types. “Thoughts and prayers.” Vows for change. Vows for justice. Vows for peace. Continuous numbing of our senses.

Three months later, a grand jury or police chief will clear the cops in question (apparently no one was responsible for killing that person in the police van or with the cigarettes or holding the baggie of weed or driving the car with perfectly fine tail light). “Thoughts and prayers.” No change. No justice. No peace. Continuous numbing of our senses.

From the top down, We keep asking for better and not demanding it.

Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys…

Fuck us for bickering and caring about a wall that is supposed to protect us from outside countries when we are doing a great job killing each other within our borders. Fuck us for having the luxury of talking about “safe spaces” for feelings, when others don’t have safe spaces for living. Safe spaces from the people who are supposed to protect them.

You know what happens when if I get pulled over for a busted taillight? I get nervous about having to replace a taillight. I had the privilege of growing up afraid of the TV show COPS because I am white. All men may be created equal, but they sure as hell aren’t treated that way.

Bad boys, bad boys.