"The average person doesn’t see those things that make me human"
Police officers in the US have claimed that they are victims of “blue racism”.
A promotional video for the New York Police Department (NYPD) Sergeants’ Benevolent Association that claims officers are victims of “blue racism” has been spread around online.
The video states: “Because I am blue, increasingly, I am vilified.”
Ed Mullins, president of the association said in a post under the clip, “never in my lifetime have I witnessed such division of all people and, yes, this division is now impacting even the members of law enforcement.”
Footage of protesters and violence against officers with clips of police help communities is shown in the video.
“The average person doesn’t see those things that make me human,” says the voice over in the video. “They don’t even label me based on being African-American, Latino, Asian, Caucasian and so on. They tend to see an even broader stereotype, through an even more racist lens.
“When they look at me, they see blue.”
The “strange form of racism continues to engulf the country,” the union said.
The video claims that officers are discriminated by “college professors, politicians, community activists [and] merchants.”
A quote from Martin Luther King Jr’s famous speech is also used: “I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their colour, but by the content of their character.”
Mullins said some may be offended by the term “blue racism” and said, “sometimes you have to make a statement to further the issue. What we’re doing gets the conversation going.”
The Independent reports that the controversial video was made in response to the anti-police sentiment that surged following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.