A teachable moment for former Old Dominion star Taylor Heinicke
Former Old Dominion football quarterback Taylor Heinicke caused a bit of drama on social media Saturday night when he mockingly tweeted, “dEfUnD tHe PoLiCe…..” reply to the gun violence in Chicago this weekend.
Heinicke, a known (Donald) Trump supporter’s feed, is filled with rightwing pro-MAGA tweets and liberal-bashing, especially over the turbulent last five months since the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. His likes show tweets criticizing protesters and rioters. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but everyone else is allowed to condemn a woefully ignorant view.
The backlash from his condescension can be a teachable moment. As his tweets garnered more attention, Heinicke stood firm in his position, even calling for a “civil and educated convo.” However, he wouldn’t listen to differing viewpoints in a back and forth with different Twitter users and was very defensive to being “canceled.”
The problem with his position and those with similar ones comes from the privilege of being a white man who, under the current police system, is treated better than any other race in America.
Let’s start with the origin of police in this country — police started in America in the 1600s as elected officials. In the 1700s, the police established as slave patrols, primarily focused on keeping slaves from escaping and preventing rebellions. For example, in South Carolina, The Charleston Force had authorized use of force and concentrated on crime prevention.
Modern-day policing was formed to keep people enslaved. Let’s start there; police are supposed to protect and serve the community, how can one properly serve the community when its foundation is rooted in slavery?
The point Heinicke was likely trying to make was, 20 people were shot in Chicago, so we should not defund police. White Americans have a habit of presenting false care about what’s happening in Chicago to deflect when people call for reform or speak out on issues with police.
The problem is the availability of guns in inner cities such as Chicago. Illegal gun sales in Chicago are just like the drug game. Getting guns off the streets needs to be addressed; however, defunding police does not directly correlate to stopping the seizures of illegal firearms as a way to limit the amount of gun violence in the city. For people like Heinicke, it is a natural deflection to make to maintain a status quo in which people like him benefit.
Defunding the police gets people in arms because they don’t truly understand what it means. Although he conceded there needs to be reform in the current police system, he argued defunding police is no reform, which means he isn’t willing to do the research and inform himself. Change is the improvement of corrupt and unsatisfactory practices, which is what defunding the police does. What exactly does defunding the police look like? According to Rashawn Ray, defunding the police means, “reallocating or redirecting funding away from the police department to other government agencies funded by the local municipality.” The current system in place nationwide isn’t working, and the disproportionate amount of black and brown people who die at the hands of law enforcement or are imprisoned shows that.
The biggest problem is the varying qualifications across cities and states to become officers and how quickly someone can become a cop. In Philadelphia, where I live, you have to have a high school diploma, be at least 22 years of age, pass a physical training test, pass a reading ability test, a background test, and a mental and psychological examination a cop in 30 weeks. In Norfolk, Virginia, where I’m from an applicant, must be just 20 years of age, pass a written and physical test, background check, and a psychological examination. Within six months, you become a Norfolk cop. Most people go through weeks or a few months of training and are assigned a gun and authority. According to Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, “We are very far behind. It’s problematic that we have 18,000 different police departments, and there are no national standards.” Less than a year of training for a job with so much risk, and consequence is not acceptable.
Heinicke offered a laughable suggestion to police training, martial arts.
Heinicke lambasted his detractors, who suggested reallocating funds from defunding police by saying, billionaires should donate money to schools and other government programs instead. Once again, his position comes from one of privilege for a system that has not done him wrong. He deflected by saying people should focus on children abducted and sex trafficked. That’s an All Lives Matter like approach and a deflection on the current topic, defunding police. If he cared about sex trafficking and abduction of children, he would condemn those police officers who, with full funding, aren’t doing more about it or are actively involved in it. His hypocrisy in the situation is alarming. He called for people to “stop turning a blind eye” when he offers no valid solutions and is comfortable in his place of privilege. It’s a teaching moment. Social media provides the opportunity for civil discourse if you’re willing to listen and aren’t trying to maintain your status quo because the current system hasn’t disproportionately harmed your people. Defunding the police offers an alternative idea to a system that needs to be reformed.
