Go ahead, call me a snowflake. The designation is these days supposed to be a chilly insult. A way to deride one’s hyper-sensitivity and inability to take a joke.
But, as my mother might tell you, snowflakes are complex, unique and beautiful.
My fourth grade teacher, a sturdy no-nonsense nun, might tell you sticks and stones may break my bones but words … yadda yadda yadda.
And the teenagers I used to coach might respond to your little insult with a wicked eye roll and dismissive “Whatever.”
Me? I’ll just tell you OK. So?
Maybe the old, pre-flaky me would have shrugged and thought “meh” when I saw a picture of a black man dressed in a prisoner costume — the sort with thick black and white horizontal stripes (think McDonald’s Hamburglar costume) — sitting in a dunk tank at the Chula Vista Police Department’s Night Out gathering Tuesday. But the new, evolved, aware, “woke,” snow-white me had an eyebrow raising double take.
Why, in 2019, was a black man dressed as a convicted “bad guy” in a dunk tank, a game where people are encouraged to throw a ball at a target and send the dunkee into a tank of water?
Yes, I know there are plenty of bad guys who are black men.
Just as there are bad guys who are white men. And brown men. And women.
As there are bad guys who were cops. And school board members. And council members. And congressmen. Male. Female. Black, white, brown … the bad guy arena is a diverse one.
But for whatever reason on this day in this year a black man was dressed as a “con” and presented as a bad guy at a law enforcement public outreach event.
At one point Wednesday an image of the tank was posted with the caption “Dunk a ‘bad guy’ in the dunk tank” on the city of Chula Vista’s Instagram account. Before the image was deleted one person wrote:
“Why is the “bad guy” black? In this day and age we need to be mindful of the portrayal of marginalized groups and make every effort to not spread stereotypes. Shame.”
I don’t believe the local police department has a recent history of bigotry or racism. To my civilian and untrained eye the Chula Vista Police Department appears to be a diverse, inclusive agency. And that’s what makes this passing moment so perplexing.
At an event clearly designed to present law enforcement’s best face forward to the community, an event in which great care is given to image and optics and public perception and the police want to send a message to the community, what message was delivered in seeing yet another black man as “bad guy”?
Maybe next year whoever is in the tank — the chief of police, a K-9 handler or SWAT officer —will be dressed in a swimsuit or shorts. Or a mermaid costume?
But a black man in a prisoner costume getting dunked under water? My dudes, I hope you think twice.
