"...The mere existence of a separate union for Black police officers rubs many in Little Rock the wrong way. White officers, some city officials, and many white residents see the Black union as unnecessary, a stubborn refusal to move beyond the city’s ugly racial history. Black officers said that sentiment reveals a misunderstanding of why the union exists: It isn’t to win special rights for Black officers, they said. It’s to demand they be treated equally."
This passage should have been earlier in the report. Before, the report emanated a stench of trying too hard to find racism behind every rock.
Instead, the reporter later describes a story of a bureaucractic racket - primarily driven by state powers and labor, to promote corruption & nepotism, which has disproportionately impacted black officers.
To be quite frank, this is a really unfair mischaracterization. The article describes black police officer's direct interactions with racism. One of them describes often hearing "She’s one of the Blacks that’s OK." Another described hearing the N word by white officers at work since their very first day. They also pointed out things like the fact that the mostly white Fraternity of Police voted 84% no confidence in the Black police chief (they had also been very vocally opposed to him even during the campaign that led to him being chief). While a vote amongst Black police officers found 89% approval of the chief.
This isn't just "trying too hard to find racism behind every rock". This is very clear examples, using both data and personal experiences, that illustrate what it's like to be a Black police officer in that department
"...The mere existence of a separate union for Black police officers rubs many in Little Rock the wrong way. White officers, some city officials, and many white residents see the Black union as unnecessary, a stubborn refusal to move beyond the city’s ugly racial history. Black officers said that sentiment reveals a misunderstanding of why the union exists: It isn’t to win special rights for Black officers, they said. It’s to demand they be treated equally."
This passage should have been earlier in the report. Before, the report emanated a stench of trying too hard to find racism behind every rock.
Instead, the reporter later describes a story of a bureaucractic racket - primarily driven by state powers and labor, to promote corruption & nepotism, which has disproportionately impacted black officers.