It would be uncool of me to withhold actionable intel from my fellow citizens in their time of need. And if you are a person who has a bumper sticker on your car or a sign in your yard with any variation of the slogan “Back the Blue” on it, you are in need. I understand how condescending that sounds but it is only fair that you extend to me the patience and courtesy that I extend to you when I resist the temptation to blindside you with an aggressive public debate about that silly black and blue ‘American’ flag you insist on waving. So please, settle down and settle in. This will not take long and regardless of the course of action you take going forward, you will be better off than you were before.

I walked into my local police precinct early last summer to meet with the captain in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests that had started to pick up in my neighborhood. As you are certainly aware, the murder of George Floyd was the spark that had finally set off the powder-keg that was American race relations in general, and racist police violence in particular. I was not worried about the police harming any of the protesters because, to put it bluntly, police officers are not in the practice of using violence to silence a bunch of well-off White women in their own well-off neighborhoods. My lack of concern for their safety was not because I am Black and my neighbors are White. My mission was to engage law enforcement directly about how they manage the dreaded “routine” traffic stop.

I needed details because, as I made clear to the Captain, I have three young adult children who live in my home and drive these streets daily. They have not been taught to behave like visitors or invaders in their own neighborhoods, nor have they been taught to beg for what belongs to them by birthright. In my view, a blown-out light bulb under a license plate should not put their peace, their dignity, or their lives in any jeopardy whatsoever. To me, the only reasonable thing to do was to go straight to the top for a direct engagement.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well received I was. Not that I was expecting a Bull Conner styled Alabama redneck or a Rudy Giuliani styled New York meat-head to shout epithets at me when I walked through the door. But the professionalism of the Captain and his staff matched my own- and I was there for serious business. After we got the basics out of the way, exchanging pleasantries, back stories and direct contact information, we got to the meat of the matter. No, none of my family will ever be asked to lay face-down on the street or sidewalk- unless of course they are in a gang outnumbering officers responding to a distress call ( a comic scenario if you saw any of my kids). No, none of my family will ever be told to stop recording an interaction with police. Yes, any of my family members will be permitted to call me (and here’s the kicker) OR HIM if they ever run into trouble with a police officer. And most important of all- yes, any officer found to be lying or misrepresenting any fact whatsoever regarding an interaction with the public will be fired and- if a crime was committed- charged.

It is fair to say that things went well. The natural skeptic in me might say they went almost too well. As I prepared to deliver my parting remarks, I had to give the officer something to chew on that I thought might really help him. “Captain, I noticed when I came in that you sell all of this ‘We Back The Blue’ paraphernalia out front.” “Yes, we’ve been selling it for years- it’s picked up lately with all that’s been going on” he replied. “Right. You dig the fact that whenever somebody says, ‘I back the blue’ that includes Derek Chauvin too, right?” The captain paused. At that point Chauvin had not become a household name so I helped him out. “Chauvin is the cop who killed George Floyd.” “Oh…” he managed, as he searched for a creditable response. I will save you the suspense and tell you there isn’t one.

“I’m sure there are a lot of motivations for people to buy and fly that stuff, but you’ve gotta know that when a guy like me sees one of those ‘back the blue’ bumper stickers or flags, we get a hostile message. That’s why a lot of the time, pick-up trucks with those flags and stickers also have Confederate shit all over them, too. These dudes are a lot more interested in antagonizing guys like me than supporting guys like you.”

Neither of us had an inkling that six months later, police would be attacked, beaten and killed in the nation’s capital by a mob of racist domestic terrorists with law-enforcement ties and cop-ocracy leanings that made them view the Capitol Police as traitors against their cause. I knew I was right about the point I was making; I just did not realize I was damned right.

I ultimately left the Captain with this: “Obviously you’re running a good law enforcement operation here. But there’s 18,000 different outfits. Why not have a printer make merchandise next time specifically branded to your department? What’s wrong with saying ‘Support Cobb County Police?’ That’s ‘the Blue’ that you actually control. Do you really want to be lumped in with Chauvin and all the other d-bags that are on tv every night acting a damned fool?” The Captain gave me a polite smile and nod, thanking me for a constructive conversation.

Three months later I noticed a sign on the lawn of one of my most jingoistic neighbors that read “Support Our Cobb County Police.” I cannot prove any connection between my meeting at the precinct and this sign showing up, but I know I had not seen one before. I did not bother to mention the sign the next time I followed up with the Captain. If there was a victory lap to be taken, I decided against it. Instead, I drilled down on my commitment to maintaining an open dialogue with law enforcement leadership in my community. It may be difficult to calculate how much constructive engagement helps but what is absolutely certain is that deliberative discourse beats reflexive expressions in every imaginable scenario. I encourage any reasonable, non-racist ‘blue-backers’ out there to recognize this and do likewise.