In one of the most ridiculous examples of the anti-police attitudes that have taken over America, Berklee College of Music in Boston apologized for allowing cops to use its bathrooms. Yes, you read that right. During the May 31 Black Lives Matter protest, college employees committed the dastardly deed of allowing cops stationed nearby to enter the building to go to the bathroom.
Berklee’s Public Safety Department posted the following message on Instagram:
The fact that Berklee would apologize for this boggles my mind. “We have heard from many of you personally and across social channels of your hurt and anger that this access was permitted,” the letter reads. “We understand that many members of our community feel betrayed. We are deeply sorry for the impact this had on our community and for perpetuating feelings of oppression, silencing, and marginalization… This should not have happened, and going forward, it will not happen again.”
It is also incomprehensible to me that someone could feel hurt, angry, or betrayed that cops were allowed to go to the bathroom. How does letting cops use the bathroom perpetuate feelings of oppression, silencing, or marginalization? If you require that cops be forced to wet their pants in order for you to feel comfortable, you have some serious problems. Anyone with such a mean-spirited, messed-up way of looking at the world does not deserve to be accommodated in any way.
Berklee’s promise that “it will not happen again” is disturbing. What are the cops supposed to do if they have to go to the bathroom?
“Are you allowing Berklee protestors to use the bathrooms?” asked one commenter on Instagram. I disagree with the implication that fairness requires the college to let protesters use the bathrooms as well as cops. People who attend protests are doing so because they want to. They are doing so on their own time, and they are free to go home at any time if they need to go to the bathroom. Cops, on the other hand, are at the protest because it’s their job. Their job requires being stationed in public places for hours at a time, often far from the bathrooms at the police station. They do not have the option of going home until their shift is over. And over the course of a shift, it’s pretty likely that every worker at some point will need to use the bathroom.
Letting cops use the bathroom is the kind, humane thing to do. It does not hurt anyone in any way. How could anyone be against that?