TJ WALKER - THE HABIT INFLUENCER - Personal Development | LIVE STREAM

8 Dec 2014 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:36

TJ Walker breaks down a story about two Ohio police officers suspended for racist texts, including messages with slurs and lynching jokes. He argues cops need to watch what they say privately because it damages the profession's reputation and public trust.

Questions this video answers

Captain Thomas Flanders and Detective Michael Shellenberger.

One text: 'I hate' followed by the N-word; another: 'What do apples and black people have in common? They both hang from trees.'

Chapters

Two Ohio police officers suspended last week for making racist text messages to each other. You're not going to believe these. Now, according to the news reports, I can't tell if these were text made on official government property phones or these were private phones. Either way, it's simply not smart to be texting information that makes you look like the worst possible evil heel to your enemies. There's a Captain Thomas Flanders and a Detective Michael Shellenberger. They are Ohio police officers and a couple of their text messages have surfaced. They're now on suspension. Folks, there are some who just reflexively say that any police officer is a racist, any white police officer is a racist. And they're all, that's going too far. Certainly don't buy that. But there are others who claim that cries of racism are too simplistic. Knee jerk. And that's not fair. And there's really not a problem with racism. Well, listen to what was texted here. I hate and spelled out the N word. That is all. That's from one of the folks. There's no ambiguity there. There's no subtlety there. There's no reading the tea leaves there. Someone says I hate and they insert the N word. That's about as pure an unbridled definition of racism and racist as you can find. Now here's some of their other nuggets. What do apples and black people have in common? They both hang from trees. This is apparently what passes for humor among the racist police set in Ohio. Obviously references to lynchings of blacks, especially in the South, a long time ago, at least in theory. So folks, the idea that something is personal just because it's a text, no, it's something that the whole world can hear about. The whole world can see on every major news site website now. YouTube. So you've really got to think twice about it. This doesn't mean that you can't ever have a private moment or a joke between a friend. But if you're in a highly sensitive industry where people already believe you unfairly kill people, maybe you should just think twice before playing into people's worst stereotypes about you.