Mean what you say: Why I call cops pigs in all seriousness

On what I mean when I call a cop a pig
I started calling cops pigs after studying the Black Panther Party in college.  According to the movement's publications, "a pig is an ill-natured beast who has no respect for law and order, a foul traducer who's usually found masquerading as a victim of an unprovoked attack."  (Bobby Seale (1996)  Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton at p. 404 [quoting BPP second issue of its newspaper in 1967.])

Apparently, Huey Newton wanted to find a term that was easy to use and simple enough to understand for children, teenagers, older people, and everyone.  (Ibid.)  He wanted to convey what police officers were doing to their communities with one easy to remember word.  Police were demonstrating lawlessness by ignoring the constitution and physically brutalizing, including killing, black folks.  Newton compared the police in Oakland to the German Gestapo. According to Newton, many had referred to the Gestapo as swine (I could not find support that people referred to the Gestapo as swine, but I did not spend too much time researching it).  So pig was just an extension of swine to refer to police in the United States. (Id. at 405.)

There was great controversy over the phrase "off the pig" and a cartoon which you can see here (I'm not a total asshole so I won't repost).  The Black Panthers defended the phrase, which started at a protest during Huey Newton's trial for the homicide of a police officer (his conviction of manslaughter was ultimately reversed and the DA did not retry him) by saying that the BPP did not advocate actually killing cops without lawful justification. Instead, their message was that black folks had the right to defend themselves with lethal force (stand your ground!), that Huey Newton shouldn't be executed, and that they wanted the police out of their communities--they would police themselves.  (Id. at 408)

I am, obviously, not a Black Panther alumni. For the reasons stated below, I do, however, respect their movement which was largely misrepresented by the media.

I am always, though, someone who is intentional with the words I use and mean what I say.  I joke and will joke a lot about police being pigs.  But, I am not someone who uses words without knowing their meaning, their historical use, or their effect on the subconscious.  I may not have lived to be a part of the BPP movement, but I believe in their message and will convey it when I can.  Given the historical context of using the term "Pig" to refer to police officers, why I called John Pike a pig, and why I will call stories about law breaking cops  "Pigs in the pokey," is understandable.

On why I heart the BPP and the movement

What is not to love and admire about black folks asserting their constitutional rights to defend themselves against police officers acting lawlessly? These folks, in addition to advocating for valuable goals and distributing free clothing to the community, offering classes to their community on politics and economics, establishing free medical clinics and teaching folks self-defense and first-aid, providing transportation to prisons so families could visit their loved ones (you can donate here to an organization in California that does this today called "get on the bus"), and helping people with drug and alcohol problems (Molefi K. Asante (2005) Encyclopedia of Black Studies at pp. 135-137 ), physically followed police as officers detained or arrested black folks.  They stood at a lawfully acceptable distance away, careful not to interfere with the stop, and told these folks their constitutional rights as they were arrested.  They ensured the police did not brutalize the person, at least not without a witness.  Yes, they armed themselves.  If the police were killing my brothers and sisters under the color of the law, I might have armed myself too.

This picture captures the beauty of the movement.

JCC VERDICT: Pigs are pigs, Is calls it like I sees it.  Power to the People.