George Floyd death: What US police officers think of protests

By Boer Deng

BBC News, Washington

26 June 2020

When massive protests against police brutality broke out across the US in May 2020, Charles Billups was not at all surprised.

Massive: 巨大的，大而结实的；巨大的，严重的      protests against ：抗议··· break out：爆发

brutality/bruːˈtæləti/ 暴行，残忍 police brutality：警察暴行

A black policeman in New York for decades before his retirement, the former officer, 60, tells the BBC: "It's the chickens coming home to roost".

roost /ruːst/  a place where birds sleep （鸟类的）栖息处

It's the chickens coming home to roost：俗语--自作自受，One's previous actions will eventually have consequences or cause problems.

-Fred is in hospital with liver problems. I guess the chickens have come home to roost after all those years of heavy drinking.

"This is something that's been mustering for a while," says Mr Billups.

Not for the first time has anger against law enforcement in America spilt out into demands for change - national attempts to reform the country's patchwork of nearly 18,000 police departments have periodically cropped up since the early 20th Century.

muster /ˈmʌstə(r)/~ sth (up) to find as much support, courage, etc. as you can 找寻，聚集，激起（支持、勇气等）；to come together, or bring people, especially soldiers, together for example for military action 集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）

law enforcement：法律的实施   enforcement/ɪnˈfɔːsmənt/  If someone carries out the enforcement of an act or rule, they enforce it. 执行

Spill out:（使）溢出，（使）溅出；突然涌出；说出（真相、内情）

attempt /əˈtempt/ 1,~ (to do sth)~ (at sth/at doing sth) an act of trying to do sth, especially sth difficult, often with no success 企图；试图；尝试; 2,~ (on sb/sb's life) an act of trying to kill sb 杀人企图 •Someone has made an attempt on the President's life . 有人企图刺杀总统。3,[ C ] ~ (on sth) an effort to do better than sth, such as a very good performance in sport （为超越某事物的）尝试，努力

periodically/ˌpɪəriˈɒdɪkli/定期的，周期性的，偶尔

Patchwork: patch-work

1.（不同图案杂色布块的）拼缝物；拼布工艺a patchwork quilt 拼布绗缝盖被

2. a thing that is made up of many different pieces or parts 拼凑之物

crop up ：If something crops up, it appears or happens, usually unexpectedly. 意外出现; 突然发生

But outrage over a spate of deaths of black Americans at the hands of police, especially the death of George Floyd, a former club bouncer asphyxiated during an arrest, has spurred a clear bout of soul searching within police departments themselves.

out·rage /ˈaʊtreɪdʒ/  1，a strong feeling of shock and anger 愤怒；义愤；愤慨；2，an act or event that is violent, cruel or very wrong and that shocks people or makes them very angry 暴行；骇人听闻的事

spate n. /speɪt/  ~ of sth a large number of things, which are usually unpleasant, that happen suddenly within a short period of time 一连串，接二连三（通常指不愉快的事物） a spate of ：接连串，大量

bouncer n. /ˈbaʊnsə(r)/保安，门卫   Asphyxiate ---as·phyxi·ate v. /əsˈfɪksieɪt/  [ VN ] to make sb become unconscious or die by preventing them from breathing 使窒息；闷死

spur /spɜː(r)/  1.~ sb/sth (on) (to sth/to do sth) to encourage sb to do sth or to encourage them to try harder to achieve sth 鞭策；激励；刺激；鼓舞   •I was spurred into action by the letter. 那封信激励我行动起来。

2. to make sth happen faster or sooner 促进，加速，刺激（某事发生）

3. to encourage a horse to go faster, especially by pushing the spurs on your boots into its side 策（马）前进；（尤指用马刺）策（马）加速

bout n.   /baʊt/  1.~ (of sth/of doing sth) a short period of great activity; a short period during which there is a lot of a particular thing, usually sth unpleasant 一阵；一场；（尤指坏事的）一通，一次

•a drinking bout 狂饮一通   •the latest bout of inflation 最近一阵通货膨胀

2.~ (of sth) an attack or period of illness （疾病的）发作；发病期

Officers are divided over if and how reforms should come about.

For Mr Billups, now chairman of the Grand Council of Guardians, an organisation for African-American law enforcement officers in New York state, the problems lie at the top.

'Old-school thinking'

A policy of tough policing put forward in the 1980s, the so-called 'broken windows' theory, has long been destructive for relations between minorities and law enforcement, Mr Billups says.

destructive adj. /dɪˈstrʌktɪv/  causing destruction or damage 引起破坏（或毁灭）的；破坏（或毁灭）性的

Only recently have authorities begun to step away from more draconian policing principles, but Mr Billups thinks that a belief in the efficacy of tough tactics persists among the mostly white, and long-entrenched, leadership of many police departments.

step away from ：远离··

draconian adj. /drəˈkəʊniən/  ( of a law, punishment, etc. 法律、惩罚等 ) extremely cruel and severe 德拉古式的；严酷的；残忍的

efficacy n. /ˈefɪkəsi/ the ability of sth, especially a drug or a medical treatment, to produce the results that are wanted （尤指药物或治疗方法的）功效，效验，效力

tactic n. /ˈtæktɪk/ the particular method you use to achieve sth 策略；手段；招数

entrench v. /ɪnˈtrentʃ/  ( sometimes disapproving ) to establish sth very firmly so that it is very difficult to change 使处于牢固地位；牢固确立

"The head is the thinker. The body's going to conform to the head. If the head is not healthy, the body's not going to gain weight," he says.

conform to：遵守，遵照

"You gotta change the top," says Mr Billups. "It's a large number of [people who believe in] old-school policing that's still running a lot of these agencies, and the old-school way of thinking just doesn't work no more."

Black officers have always known and felt differently, says Terence Hopkins of the Dallas police department.

"We happen to be African-American people before we were law enforcement," he says, "so that gives us a different view as opposed to our white counterparts."

happen to be：碰巧是，恰巧是   as opposed to：与··截然相反；对照

counterpart n. /ˈkaʊntəpɑːt/  a person or thing that has the same position or function as sb/sth else in a different place or situation 职位（或作用）相当的人；对应的事物

Surveys bear this out. A 2016 poll of nearly 8,000 US policemen by the Pew Research think tank found that 69% of black officers believed that the country needed to "continue making changes to give blacks equal rights with whites", compared to just 6% of white officers.

bear out ： If someone or something bears a person out or bears out what that person is saying, they support what that person is saying. 支持; 证实

think tank：智囊团

The survey, taken in the aftermath of another spate of fatal encounters between police and African Americans, found that a majority of white and Latino officers believed such events were isolated incidents.

aftermath n. /ˈɑːftəmæθ/  /‑mɑːθ/  the situation that exists as a result of an important (and usually unpleasant) event, especially a war, an accident, etc. （战争、事故、不快事情的）后果，创伤

• A lot of rebuilding took place in the aftermath of the war. 战后进行了大量的重建工作。

isolated incidents：独立事件，偶然事件，不相关事件

By contrast, 57% of black officers said they were signs of a broader problem with policing.

Pollsof police in the wake of the recent fatal encounters have yet to emerge, but anecdotally, more officers today seem to agree that the problem goes beyond individuals and needs a systematic approach.

White as well as black officers have supported the protests and have publicly called for reforms.

poll /pəʊl/  1.( also oˈpinion poll ) [ C ] the process of questioning people who are representative of a larger group in order to get information about the general opinion 民意测验；民意调查  •to carry out/conduct a poll 进行民意测验

2. [C] ( also the polls [ pl. ] ) the process of voting at an election; the process of counting the votes 选举投票；计票

in the wake of :跟着··而来；紧随其后

emerge v./iˈmɜːdʒ/  1.[ V ] ~ (from sth) to come out of a dark, confined or hidden place （从隐蔽处或暗处）出现，浮现，露出 •The swimmer emerged from the lake. 游泳者从湖水中浮出来。2.( of facts, ideas, etc. 事实、意见等 ) to become known 暴露；露出真相；被知晓

anecdotal adj. /ˌænɪkˈdəʊtl/  based on anecdotes and possibly not true or accurate 逸事的；趣闻的；传闻的 anecdotally：传闻地