It's so sad that this is even news. A mother posted on Facebook her heartfelt gratitude to a white state trooper who helped her son with a blown-out tire in the middle of the night. What really surprised her is that the cop never even asked the young black man if he'd stolen the Mercedes he was driving.
Dr. Nada Owusu writes that her 20-year-old son, a student at Virginia Tech, was on his way home when one of his back tires blew out "in the middle of nowhere." She doesn't mention race in her Facebook post. But the photo tells you everything. It's been shared over 22,000 times and counting.
//Facebook friends, join be in expressing my gratitude to God and to Officer Okes, Matt a Virginia State Police officer. I...
Posted by Nada Owusu on Friday, May 15, 2015This is good news worth sharing no matter what the race of the participants. Any mother would feel grateful to a police officer who helped her son in a vulnerable moment.
But in a year when there's been one case after the next in which white policemen shoot and/or kill a black man, we are weary. And this story comes as healing relief -- and an example of what American can be when we're at our best.
In the wake of the Baltimore riots I was listening on the radio to a retired cop talk about how police work has changed in the past several years. He said when he was on the beat, part of his job was to connect with the community. He got to know the people. He was there to serve, not just "protect."
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Will we ever get to the point when a white cop stopping by a black man pulled over on the side of the road and helping him instead of accusing him of theft (or worse) becomes completely ordinary? So ordinary that a mother's thanks get passed around among her friends but doesn't go viral because shucks, cops do that all the time? I hope so.
How often do you think something like this happens?
Image via Nada Owusu/Facebook