4 - Punishing Disrespect: No Free Speech Allowed Here

Summary

“Punishing Disrespect,” bemoans the loss of free speech. Here’s another constitutional right that I dare not share with the young people at risk for police stops: their First Amendment right to tell an officer what they think about his harassment. If the Supreme Court was right when it stated that the “freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state,” then stop-and-frisk threatens our very republic. Police routinely punish disrespect. Masculinity theorists describe the policing profession as hypermasculine and resistant to change. Coercing respect lies deep within police culture, and punishments range from arrest to brutality. Just as wolf whistles and other forms of sexual harassment on the streets remind young women that they don’t control their bodies, repeated stops and frisks convey a similar message to young men of color. The culture of coercion underpins all the aggressive policing stories throughout this book and makes it almost impossible to exercise rights during police stops. Any exercise of any right might be viewed as disrespect.