An incident in the Raleigh, North Carolina, suburb of Garner serves to illustrate just how pervasive the War on Police — which is part of a larger War on Society — has become. Police officers dining in a local Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q restaurant Friday night found themselves serenaded by the employees and manager to the tune of the “classic” gansta rap song “F*** tha Police,” from the group N.W.A.’s 1988 album Straight Outta Compton.
A member of the Raleigh Police Protective Association (RPPA) posted about the incident on the group’s Facebook page. That post — which was later removed due to the tone of the comments — said:
Thank you Smithfield’s Chicken & Barbeque Jones Sausage location for the class and professionalism as you sang “F the Police” as my brothers at Raleigh Police Department attempted to eat at your restaurant. The manager sang along as well. Do you really feel that was appropriate?
“F*** tha Police” is an iconic song from the early days of gangsta rap’s commercial success. Released in 1988 (that’s right, almost 30 years ago), the song is purported to be a protest song against police brutality, racism, and negative stereotyping of black youth, including lyrics such as:
F*** the police comin’ straight from the underground
A young nigga got it bad ’cause I’m brown
And not the other color so police think
They have the authority to kill a minority
and:
F***in’ with me cause I’m a teenager
With a little bit of gold and a pager
Searchin’ my car, lookin’ for the product
Thinkin’ every nigga is sellin’ narcotics
You’d rather see, me in the pen
Than me and Lorenzo rollin’ in a Benz
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In reality, the song is itself the very expression of the things it is claimed to be against. The lyrics are rife with vulgarity, glorification of crime (including drug dealing, the murder of rival gangs and drug dealers, and the murder of police officers). There are no fewer than 20 references to the rappers Dr. Dre (who is styled in this song as “Judge Dre”), Easy E, MC Ren, and ice Cube dealing drugs and committing murder. Most of those references are about killing police officers. Here is just a sampling:
Beat a police out of shape
And when I’m finished, bring the yellow tape
To tape off the scene of the slaughter….
Huh, a young nigga on the warpath
And when I’m finished, it’s gonna be a bloodbath
Of cops, dyin’ in L.A….
A gang, is with whoever I’m steppin’
And the m***erfu**in’ weapon is kept in
A stash box, for the so-called law
Wishin’ Ren was a nigga that they never saw….
I’m a sniper with a hell of a scope
Takin’ out a cop or two, they can’t cope with me….
I kick a**, or maybe cause I blast
On a stupid-a**ed nigga when I’m playin with the trigger
Of any Uzi or an AK
‘Cause the police always got somethin’ stupid to say
The song is a product of its culture and is itself racist and politically incorrect. One part of the song implies that police officers who frisk young, black men do so for homosexual gratification, using a vulgar terms to refer to both homosexuals and the lower regions of the male anatomy. The song ends with a police officer — having been “tried” in the court presided over by “Judge Dre” — being found “guilty of being a redneck, White bread, chicken shit m***erf***er.”
The fact that employees and a manager would play and sing this song while police officers were paying to dine in their restaurant is a clear indicator that the War on Police is moving into new territory. It also illustrates the decline in basic morality that the War on Society (of which the War on Police is a significant part) has helped bring about. Even in the absence of the references to violence and the overwhelming anti-police sentiment of the song, it simply does not belong in a setting where families come to dine. If that same language were in a movie, it would not belong on the TV in the corner of a family restaurant. That should go without saying, but it doesn’t anymore; society is further down the chute into the abyss of immorality than it was even a few short years ago.
After the RPPA post on Facebook went viral, the franchise owner, David Harris, posted a response on Facebook, saying he would investigate the incident and that any employee “that doesn’t share our RESPECT of ALL law enforcement” would be terminated. The RPPA expressed appreciation for Harris’ apology and said it hopes he will follow through.
As stated above, RPPA President Matthew Cooper removed the initial post (which had been liked and shared more than 2,000 times) due to the tone of many of the comments below the post. It was replaced with the following post on Sunday:
We really appreciate the support we have received from the incident involving Smithfield’s Chicken and BBQ. We are confident that a positive resolution will occur as a result from our effort. Currently, the conversation between some people on the previous posts have deviated from our original mission which was to raise awareness to that particular situation and to show what police officers have to face now on a regular basis. For that reason, we decided to delete the original post.
We believe that all people should be treated with dignity and respect. Our officers do their best to complete this mission every day.
We are comforted that the community at large has our back. We greatly value your continued loyalty and support in the future.
Thanks again and best wishes.
Matthew Cooper
President R.P.P.A.
While the vast majority of the comments on the new post express support for police in general and the local department in particular, the very first comment accuses police officers of overreacting because their “feelings were hurt.” That comment — by a black man named Carl Ward, whose Facebook page contains multiple posts of news articles about supposed police violence against black people — said:
With all do respect Mr. Cooper while officers have a challenging occupation it is one they chose however you may feel a law was not broken in this incident. Our country is founded on the constitution which certain rights are protected free speech being one of them. I certainly feel that officers shouldn’t be as offended or sensitive as they are this is the career they chose and they must uphold the law as they swore to do. As everyone should be shown respect but in the world we live in if something offends us we all have the option to just walk away everything doesn’t have to resort is a Facebook post because a officers feelings were hurt.
Of course, Ward’s reference to “free speech” misses one important point: These were employees on the clock and on private property. This is not a matter of “free speech.” It is a matter of those employees behaving badly because of their own anti-police ideology which was at odds with the respect their employer has for police officers. That bad behavior has cast Smithfield’s in a bad light. If Harris does follow through on his promise to fire those employees, he would not be quashing free speech; he would be making a decision about what he believes is in the best interests of his business.
RPPA responded to Ward’s comment, saying, “Freedom of Speech is not a freedom from consequences. Our feelings were not the primary concern.”
The fact is that — in an age of growing anti-police sentiment manufactured by the War on Police — police officers are daily seeing an increase in this type of disrespect. And — Ward’s misinformed comment duly noted — that is not what they signed up for. A predictable consequence of the War on Police is that young men and women who may be considering entering police work have to ask themselves whether they want to be the recipients of that degree of disrespect. As a result of answering that question, many may decide to go into other lines of work, and communities all across the nation will find themselves deprived of the service those young men and women could have offered.
Thankfully, the people in and around Garner, North Carolina, have come forward to show that those employees do not speak for them. It appears that the people of this Raleigh suburb understand the value of supporting their local police.
