It is somewhat bizarre to realize just how much crap Quentin Tarantino has gotten just for attending and speaking at some anti-police-violence rallies. Other celebrities have said and done many more controversial things in the past few years, but the wrath against Tarantino feels… lop-sided, I guess. For the record, he never said all cops are murderers. He did say that SOME cops are murderers and that there needs to be a larger conversation about police violence and police accountability. And for that, police unions around the country have been issuing threats against QT, threatening to boycott The Hateful Eight and “hurt” Tarantino professionally and financially. Tarantino spoke to The Daily Beast a few days ago about the ongoing controversy. I love that he’s not backing down. I love that no one has told him to offer an apology.
Whether he’s worried about the threats from police unions: “People ask me, ‘Are you worried?’ And the answer’s no, I’m not worried, because I do not feel like the police force is this sinister black hand organization that goes out and f–ks up individual citizens in a conspiracy sort of way. Having said that, a civil servant shouldn’t be issuing threats, even rhetorically, to private citizens. The only thing I can imagine is that they might be planning to picket us, picket one of the screenings or maybe picket the premiere, or one of the 70mm screenings.”
He respects good cops: “It’s unfortunate because I do respect the good work that the police do. I live in the Hollywood Hills and when I see a cop driving around there I actually assume he has my best interest at heart and he has the interest of my property at heart. I think if you go to Pasadena they’d say the same thing, and I think if you’d knock on doors in Glendale, they’d say the same thing. [But] go down to Century Boulevard and start knocking on apartment doors in Inglewood, and they’re not going to say the same thing. I think all that was put into place 30 years ago when we declared a War on Drugs and started militarizing the police force. You’re not going to have the police force representing the black and brown community if they’ve spent the last 30 years busting every son and daughter and father and mother for every piddling drug offense that they’ve ever done, thus creating mistrust in the community.”
We should be able to have this discussion: “At the same time, you should be able to talk about abuses of power. You should be able to talk about police brutality and what, in some cases as far as I’m concerned, is outright murder and outright loss of justice, without the police organization targeting you in the way that they have done me.”
Am I crazy for being in complete agreement with Tarantino? I’m really asking. Because I’ve honestly not seen any problem with anything he’s said this entire time. Some police officers are violent sociopaths who should not be allowed near a job that gives them the opportunity to use deadly force. Those officers make it harder for the good cops to do their jobs. The War on Drugs locked up generations of black and brown bodies for minor offenses. Civil servants should not publicly threaten private citizens. These are all, in my mind, facts. Who would have thought that Quentin Tarantino would have the moral high ground here?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
As a LEO family member I’m glad to see him praise good cops. Even they don’t like bad cops because it makes everyone look bad. But as a private citizen, QT can’t understand just HOW difficult a good cops job is. Maybe he should go on a ride along. As for protesting bad cops, by all means keep doing so.
Sure. But when the DOJ has conducted a lengthy investigation on institutionalized racism in dept after dept around the country–not just once, in Ferguson, but time and time again over the past half century establishing a record and pattern of police brutality–you have all the facts you need to characterize the problem. The good cops are irrelevant to the problem. It doesn’t matter how many cops do a good job or how hard the job is if you have a problem with institutionalized racism creating a permissive attitude toward police brutality.
I always find these “but what about the…” kinds of arguments tainted with the stink of a red herring fallacy. It is banal, absolutely baffling, that with such a long history of federal investigation into police murders, the commissioner of police would take such great offense to QT’s observations. This is part and parcel of the institution in America (police + race + oppression) and my head srsly explodes at how defensive the police are. And really, that explains everything, doesn’t it?
It really does explain everything. QT has really hit a nerve. We should be able to talk about it without fear of threats. Things are really raw here in Chicago, and the mentality of “you’re either with the cops or you hate them” is insane and unreasonable.
It also shows you just how out of touch–how insular–the whole institution is, that someone at the top is willing to make public statements like this.
Damn, it gets me so worked up. I don’t live in the US but I landed in Chicago last week after a 15 hour flight, went to Starbucks, glanced at the front page of the newspaper and was like, Welcome back, Greenie. Nothing’s changed.
You know who takes offense to QT’s statements? The same people who blame rioters for rioting (not the systemic injustice that elicits the rioting). The same people who praise a mother for slapping her rioting son (correct parenting!)–completely blind to the fact that mother is driven by FEAR, not anger. The same people who blame the homicide victim for wearing a hoodie. The same people who think it’s perfectly okay for unarmed teenagers to be riddled with holes by cops while at the same time advocating more guns for all. Sometimes I think the entire world is ass backward and upside down.
Damn. You just shut the Internet DOWN with that!
You said it all, Greenweenie.
Wife of a sheriff deputy here and agree with Greenweenie completely. The good guys in law enforcement have to deal with a lot of crap because of the bad apples. Trust me, the good guys could work more effectively if sketchy officers and top brass didn’t feel above the law. My husband gets very frustrated watching higher ups getting away with a lot by expecting underlings to cover for them and those who do get rewarded professionally and those who don’t play the game have a hard time promoting. And the code of silence makes it very hard for individuals to stand up for what’s right.
Damn, you said it all Greenweeenie. There is nothing more to add.
Well said Greenie.
Agree with all of you, and Esmom, I also deal with so much crap about how you can’t point out the fact that there are some bad cops out there without being accused of thinking all cops are bad. Of course they’re not. But the evidence is clear that excessive force is being used by SOME, primarily against black men.
Preach Greenie! I’m so tired of the strawman arguments that people use when discussing this issue. Youre practically labeled treasonous if you’re troubled by police inaction and defensiveness regarding brutality. I m not a huge Tarrentino fan by I stand shoulder to shoulder with him on this one.
Greenie, yes, yes, yes!
If you are crazy Kaiser I am too, what QT says seems to have been taken out of context, his views above seem well thought out and reasonable to me. I am not sure how the pro gun lobby reconcile their support for the police with the danger that the lack of gun control poses to police.
he is telling the truth that many people don’t want to hear. And I have family members and friends on the force. But as a Black woman; I get scared for my brothers and boyfriend. My brother and boyfriend have been stopped on many occasions because of the car they drive.. I get pissed because it seems that success in your field marks you for the things you can buy. that is all kinds of wrong. Then when my brother is recognized because of some fame he has; the whole thing changes. But the point is what if he weren’t that person and just an average JOE. And until you know what that is like then it is hard to hear someone say feeling this way is wrong.
I have a great deal of respect for law enforcement. They come when they are called; but with any profession or occupation there are people that shouldn’t be on the job. And sadly they too represent the whole. (right or wrong). And he is also right in saying that “shouldn’t be issuing threats, even rhetorically, to private citizens” there is something so scary about that. It opens the door to crazies that just need and excuse.
Black women aren’t exempt from police violence. I worry for my nieces and nephew.
Exactly! What about the cop that targeted black women for rape!? What about the young black girl that was violently beaten up in the classroom by a cop?! I am sick of the black lives matter movement only focusing on black men.
Black women face both racism and sexism! And the cops get away with it because we are the most unprotected group with no men to defend and protect us and white feminism obviously do not care because they don’t even see us as equals/women/humans.
I don’t know why feminists hate patriarchy so much, I bet you wouldn’t like being without that white male protection though.
@nn your comment reminds me of something that isn’t really spoken about in any of the white feminist circles that I’ve been in and that’s how white women are protected because of this idea of white female purity. I feel a lot of white women aren’t aware of or don’t want to acknowledge how they benefit from so called white patriarcjy. Think about some of the worst lynchings like Emmett Till and how they were instiggated by white women being threatened. Or how black men are profiled by both white men and women and seen as a threat and the false rape or attack stories placed on them. White women aren’t exempt from microaggressions and erasure in feminist circles either and this is actually one of the most common places they occur as feminism often espouses to idea thatwomen all have same problems even as woc are silensilenced and made to play second fiddle while being told our rights are being fought for for us.
Well said to it all, especially regarding white female purity and how it is held above the care and protection of black individuals.
Quentin hasn’t done or said anything wrong. His courage to speak out against the threats is so impressive! Brave man. And smart too – because now it’s all on public record.
I don’t even understand why people are mad at him. Every day a new scandal showing that police forces have been covering up abuses and lies comes out. Why are people angry at him and not at the corrupt police forces? I’m a Catholic and I don’t attack people who say the Church has been encouraging and then covering up crimes against children…It’s true!
This is exactly what I was thinking about: the Church takes a lot of heat. So does the military, and they aren’t out there taking public offense at anyone who dares criticize them. And even though the Church has been SO CATEGORICALLY WRONG in its treatment of the sex abuse scandal, they don’t come across half as defensive as the police (not in public).
No I agree. There’s a wall of blue that protects cops from any accountability. When you can empty a clip into someone laying on the ground and not be prosecuted for 400 days…that’s police privilege. And yes there are good cops but none of those good cops say anything against bad cops. A lot of them stand around while the bad ones do something awful. QT is right and the way these unions behave is downright scary
+1
THIS.
Those good cops stay silent and go home and don’t report on the horrible things they’ve seen their colleagues do, so yes, guilt by inaction.
Then for the few good cops who do report they are bullied and threatened just like what’s happrning to QT until they quit the police force.
Exactly. From the top down there’s corruption and racism running rampant in our police force. Its downright ridiculous. Yet over the weekend in Scotland (I believe) they took down a man wielding a knife sans bullets. Yet last week one guy was shot by 5 officers in close range all at once. You cannot tell me that our cops cannot do what they do abroad. We just hire people that should not be owning a gun and a lot are the lowest denominator for intelligence. Then you have cops threatening prosecutors if they dare to bring charges because they rely on police to do their job. Its a vicious cycle. The whole system needs to be dismantled. Frankly the rest of the world is starting to look at us like we have a problem…and we do.
We have a big problem sadly. It is coming from so many different directions and it is sadly enough making us all look bad as a country.
It’s embarassing how many of our politicians hours to say after the Paris attacks, “They should have guns. If they had guns they could have stopped them. GUNS GUNS GUNS!” while Parisians were calm and cool refusing to let themselves be bullied into fear or giving up their identity.
Then you have police forces that would rather riddle a body with bullets than have to do police work. Cops from overseas come over here and show us how it’s done, cops in other countries take down criminals without needing guns. Over here we shoot small children within seconds and wrestle teenage girls to the ground. Pathetic and deeply frustrating.
You’re right the whole thing has to be dismantled and fixed.
I respect law enforcement and have several police officers in my family but I agree 100% with what he said. Conversations need to continue because there is a real problem.
I’d respect him far, far more if he stopped complaining about “threats.” They threatened an economic boycott. That’s not a threat of harm, that’s other people exercising their 1st Amendment rights. I can respect what he said, but he needs to stand it up and say, “If they want to boycott my films, they can. I believe in what I said, and that’s that. They can respond in any legal way they wish.” Because that’s true. He’s turning into the Dixie Chicks Part II – regardless of how correct he might be, he’s complaining about other people exercising their right to disagree in a lawful way.
I think there was also talk of not volunteering to protect his sets anymore? I remember something to that effect.
He said that law enforcement shouldn’t be threatening private citizens and they shouldn’t! He also clearly states they are more then welcome to picket and protest his film he doesn’t care but the picket threat was incredibly valed and considering how many cops murder, rape or just beat innocent citizens it was impossible to take that statement as anything as other then a warning that they could do physical harm if they wanted.
But they didn’t “threaten” him. They said they would undertake an economic boycott. That’s a perfectly legal activity, so no threat involved. That’s the whole point, and I think you’re missing it.
@sam and like I and he said they are more then welcome to protest or boycott or whatever they want in terms of the film he sounded remarkably indifferent to the entire thing, like they were being pathetic children (my take not his words).
He said they shouldn’t be threatening private citizens which they do, and I am sorry but I read that interview and it was horrifying and didn’t feel like just an economic boycott it felt like a clear warning to us all that cops can hurt us at any time and get away with it. It was creepy. QT, never said that. I did he said they are planning a boycott on him but that if you ask people in certain areas they’d probably tell you they have been and do feel threatened by police and that shouldn’t happen.
I find the police’s attitude that they are above question and the law scary and horrifying and their “economic boycott” didn’t come across like an economic threat to me it felt a lot more like a physical one.
Let’s look at the language used: “Something is in the works, but the element of surprise is the most important element… The right time and place will come up and we’ll try to hurt him in the only way that seems to matter to him, and that’s economically.” Jim Pasco, the executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police
They’re not threatening a dignified boycott. That’s unprofessional and threatening language.
That’s not what he said. Re read it. He clearly makes the distinction you’re criticizing him for not making. He doesn’t care about the economic boycotts. It’s the other stuff–real threats, and not necessarily about him–that causes concern.
Except the union didn’t make those threats. If he’s being threatened personally, that is a different issue – but how is the union responsible for those? That’s like arguing that PETA or the Humane Society bear responsibility for the individuals who may cross the line. He seems unable to distinguish between legally protected boycott activities and threats coming from individuals. But the unions that have threatening the boycotts don’t deserve to be lumped in with any illegal threats he’s actually received. But he seems unable to distinguish them, which seems crazy.
@sam the union threaten to boycott which he doesn’t care about as he clearly states go read the article he says it.
He just says in general police shouldn’t threaten private citizens which they do! Like I’ve said I read the article by the police union head as a physical threat against QT and a gental warning to us all frankly. QT addressed the boycott with little caring, he also addressed overall behavior by police with citizens and said threats shouldn’t happen. He wasn’t making it about him.
I can’t find a thing wrong with anything he said. I found it inspiring.
I’m married to a Canadian Police Chief, and I agree with everything QT is saying here.
99% of cops are good, there are always a few bad apples. Some US cops are ex military complete aholes, most are not. Also, the war on drugs is stupid and cops shouldn’t be mostly ex-military.
Love & Light to you all.
Stef
I hope you dont mean 99% of Canadian cops, because honey, that just isnt true. The RCMP have had many issues come to light over the years regarding dishonesty, brutality and general assholery, especially towards aboriginal women.
We may have a police force that pulls and uses their deadly weapons less, but dont kid yourself into believing that means they are less corrupt.
He hasn’t said anything wrong or untrue. In fact everything QT has said has been honest, truthful and frankly respectful to the situation. He hasn’t painted anyone with broad stroke brushes and the reality is until the police union stands up and forces the bad cops who rape women, and murder men and children face the concequennces of their crimes then I won’t trust cops (and I don’t fall in to a category typically attacked except female).
The police don’t like that people don’t trust them, they need to look in the mirror. Their actions got us here and they could fix it by holding themselves to the law.
Being able to freely critique your police, military, and your civil society is an essential part of a healthy democracy. QT should keep speaking out (articulately) because these are clearly conversations that need to be had. There should be no sacred cows when it comes to looking at the government and how it runs.
We need only look at what’s currently happening in Chicago to see how far the police force has fallen as an organization.
You have a police force refusing to prosecute one of their own for hundreds of days, you have suppression of a tape as evidence, you have multiple reports from police AT THE SCENE that contradicts video evidence, you have a major corporation accusing the police of deleting their own video evidence and hours of video surveillance going missing.
Kaiser, you’re not asking if you’re wrong to be on QT’s side, you’re asking if it’s possible that for something as truthful and mild as what he said that an organization that is supposed to represent public work, community service, and law enforcement can really so aggressively target one citizen. The answer is yes. The answer is they can and they’re so blinded by their own blue line and power that they don’t even realize the ugliness of their actions they’re publicly showing.
They picked a fight with the wrong person because QT won’t back down and everyday the police’s own corrupt actions makes his words look gentle in the face of their own guilt. They’re turning more and more of the public against them.
Yes, yes and — “they’re so blinded by their own blue line and power that they don’t even realize the ugliness of their actions they’re publicly showing” — hell yes.
I was talking about this with some friends and someone say how maybe the younger cops were less likely to be corrupt and I said I completely disagree. I think this culture of corruption and silence has been handed down through generations and it’s not as simple as getting the old guys out.
In Germany if the cops “lose” evidence like a video or a rape kit they lose their jobs. Period. German cops HAVE TO BE trustworthy and that is the expectation. They get punished VERY VERY hard for even such little things. It makes them behave correct. Once a German cop ripped up the speeding tickets of a famous soccer player which were worth less than 200 Euros. The cop got kicked out of the police force for life and he had to pay a HUGE fine.
Additionally German cops are paid better and they are looked after a lot better in many ways. They are also educated a lot better.
I don’t get why the USA can’t improve their police force. Most western countries manage.
Quentin is right! Sadly, there are a few bad apples in the profession. They need to be weeded out.
The war on drugs has been a completely useless waste of tax dollars and doing nothing but strengthen the murderous cartels. IMO.
Crumpet, I agree. Even if weed was the only drug completely legalized, I believe that this would greatly diminsh the power of drug gangs/cartels. As for QT-he is citizen, he has the right (as all of us do) to speak about gov’t, law enforcement, and any issue he has. In my heart, I believe 99% of cops are doing a job I could never do and they are doing well. That being said, there are so many cases where people are just straight up being MURDERED and it can’t be denied because there is video, FFS! I don’t know what all of the answers are here, but one of them is that we, as a country, have the right and the responsibility to monitor our public servants. ALL of them.
In a democracy the people get the government they deserve e.g. vote for 😉
How comes that those civil servants who threatened Tarantino aren’t facing legal charges or a law suit? It is possivle in every other western country to sue a civil servant for misconduct and that includes threats! why not in the USA?
THIS
SOOOOOO
QUENTIN Tarantino hit the proverbial nail on the head
As a person of color….I have trouble seeing cops in my best interest…. because I know my actions will be misinterpreted by them as 105% negative…. where as a WASP (or WASP looking person) will get the benefit of the doubt. This sentiment and reality really started since Jim Crow ruling and intensified during the civil rights movement (yal remember those dogs they set on the black people peacefully protesting) and the solidified during the drug wars of the 70’s-90’s
Cops actually don’t make really any money…. but the power and kick back is tremendous
– subsidized housing (not considered section 8)
– free food or discounts on everything
– Power over people’s destinies (get a charge and you could lose you livelihood, station in life, etc)
– Cops’ word is law (if they testify against you in any thing even a traffic stop… it’s never questioned you’re GUILTY)
– Cop murder is pretty much capital murder off the jump… (no villain-ization of the slayed cop only to have it reduced to 2nd degree or manslaughter like it would a civilian)
– No question self-defense (you’re a cop that chose this line of work…. you cant use i feel for my life then unload a round into them)
for one person to have that much power in life and even death over another person due to a badge….. is to say the least disturbing and something to be reviewed.
But honestly…… this just my pov
It’s people of all color and genders, who have been the recipients of Draconian drug laws. I work with poor children of all colors who have at least one incarcerated parent. The extent of these laws reaches far beyond the limits of urban areas and into the rural ones as well.
It’s amazing that police can publicly threaten a person and no one is outraged. Seriously.