by DAVID FRENCH October 30, 2015 3:55 PM @DAVIDAFRENCH Narratives of oppression are simple; life is complicated. After the Internet lit up over video of a South Carolina police officer dragging a high-school student from her desk, tossing her to the ground, and handcuffing her, the Left instinctively began making its “larger points” about the “school-to-prison pipeline,” police brutality, and institutional racism. It was the launching pad for another “national conversation” on the Left’s terms, about one of the Left’s favorite topics: the big, bad, racist police. Yet videos from other schools show more complex realities. Campus teachers, administrators, and police officers often do face the real threat of violence — and waiting to intervene until after a fight breaks out can be terribly dangerous. Consider the incident, this week in Sacramento, where a student slammed a school principal to the ground in a lunchroom brawl: Or consider the incident, during an after-school fight in Allentown, Pa., yesterday, in which a female officer was dragged to the ground and beaten by at least one person, and four other officers were injured:
And if you think it’s safe to try taking away a student’s cell phone, think again. Blogger Matt Walsh highlighted the video — apparently from earlier this year — of a student slamming his 62-year-old teacher to the ground in a classroom altercation: In a piece earlier this week, I noted that police officers in schools aren’t symbols of an oppressive state but rather symptoms of a “cultural disease — a crisis of morality and responsibility.” In other words, cops are in schools because we need them in schools, and videos like the three above show us why. RELATED: Don’t Like Police Officers in Public Schools? Blame Lousy Parents There are very good reasons why prosecutors and juries have generally shown deference to the snap judgments of police officers. Officers have the experience to understand the consequences of failing to keep the peace, they have mere seconds to make crucial decisions, and it is plainly difficult — if not impossible — to use force in any way that looks gentle or respectful. That doesn’t mean cops are always right — no group of human beings is infallible — nor does it mean that we shouldn’t film police encounters. But it does mean that Monday-morning quarterbacking should be done with a great deal of care and humility.
Is this why there are a so many blacks in prison?
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