Man we are not robots!
But we're not irrational animals, either. We're something in between and a lot of how we behave in certain situations is learnable.
How we behave and act (especially when being betrayed by the uniform we are supposed to trust to protects us) is based entirely on our emotions and thoughts at the time.
Wouldn't any behavior, under any circumstances?
To say that we should just calmly ask why he is doing what he is doing is not realistic
I can say for myself that I would never physically attack a police officer in uniform, especially one who talked to me in a calm and professional manner like the one who proceeded to escort the boy off the premises by grabbing his arm. That's instinctive for me. I actually don't think most people would, either. If I were treated unreasonably by someone I was supposed trust like a police officer, I might be boiling internally, but I would not yell at them or attack them physically. I actually have some experience with this type of situations. Once I was visiting a friend of mine with a ten or so other friends of mine. It was about ten pm. We were quietly sitting down at the kitchen table and in the living room playing two-player board games that required no talking but a lot of concentration when the doorbell rang. I was closest to the door, so I went to open it. A bodybuilder-looking guy (not too tall but quite muscular) started to loudly complain to me about the noise he thought we were making. It took him a moment to realize that I wasn't the host. He looked quite agitated but once he saw that there were so many of us present he calmed down a bit. He and the host exchanged a few words after which he left. About half an hour later, a policeman arrived at the door. He ordered us all out of the apartment except for the host who lived there. We could've started to loudly complain, argue and debate the matter with the officer but we all left. The officer must have realized that there was no loud party or anything in the place but he still ordered us all to leave. Now, we left because standing our ground would've resulted in more cops being called to the scene to prepare for us being forcibly removed if necessary. Had we gone all the way to resist, we would've been all overpowered and arrested. We did try explaining the situation but to no avail. It was word against word and the bodybuilder had told the cops that he had a baby in his home below us who could not sleep because of the "stomping noises we made". (We were basically sitting still and talking quietly. There was no music at all. All guys, no dancing.) But the fact is that the one who calls the cops first in this kind of situations gets their way.
and it is extremely naive to think that anyone could just go to the press, raise a huge stink then watch the police cower away with there tail between there legs. Thats a fantasy. it just doesn't work like that
That's exactly how it works. Haven't you noticed that we live in a world were public scandals are
constantly generated from much less? People share stuff on social media, stuff goes viral and every news outlet in the country on the case of the ostensible wrongdoers. The local police department is having to defend itself in front of the press. This case is at best a major nuisance to them. You and I are talking about it. There is an ocean between where I live and where this happened. The superiors are not happy having to explain themselves in front of the press. Spun a certain way, this sort of bad press can cause all kinds of trouble.
The only option you have got is to resist tyranny as much as your courage will allow and teach your kids to resists it as much as they dare.
Tyranny? Some kid who had received warnings for selling his CD's in a mall, the owner of which has every right to forbid anyone from doing without permission gets removed from the premises by a cop who judging by the video is patient and professional and who gets assaulted by the kids aunt is tyranny? That is not tyranny. Not even when the kid was not selling his CD's at that particular time. What they have in North Korea is tyranny. Yes, the charges against the kid are ridiculous. Nobody should be at risk of going to jail for what he did. But this is not tyranny. It's a situation about which we probably don't even know all the facts.
Assaulting a cop is an extremely stupid idea, particularly if that cop is armed with a gun. Do you want your kid to risk getting shot to death? If you're unlucky, you'll encounter a triggerhappy cop. It's dangerous to physically attack them and a very irresponsible thing to teach your kid especially if you're black.