Obviously nobody cares (rightly) what I think about the ongoing protests. But it feels wrong to express opinions on twitter about other topics while ignoring the most-important thing going on in the US today - the protests and the unhinged, ultra-violent response of cops.1
Are there cops who are decent people? Sure. But the problem with American policing is that it’s rotten and racist as an institutional matter, and, the few good apples too often get quickly ruined by the rest of the barrel. Last few days have left no doubt about this. 2
I’m no expert in police reform or this history, so, never really seemed like my place to talk about any of this. But you don’t need to be an expert to see that far too many police treat Black people like the US is their open-air prison and cops are the guards.3
If you’re a cop and you’re not horrified by how your peers have acted in recent days, you’re a bad person and a bad public servant and you should quit. If you’re a policymaker, radical police reform needs to be high on your agenda. 4
From now on, I’ll mostly go back to econ-related tweets and will try my best to make my profession a larger net plus for society than it currently is. But we need FAR more cops who will try the same and we need leaders who will force this change. 5
