It’s 1983. Leroy Logan has been married a month. Both he and his father have had bad experiences of the police. Being a black man in London isn’t easy. He arrives at Hendon Police College to start his training for the Metropolitan Police On his first night he listens to the other guys’ conversations:
‘Some of them were quite strong in their views about the world, and saw things in a very ‘them and us’ way, with the police being the ‘us’ and the rest of the public as ‘them’… Sadly the ‘them and us’ mindset I picked up in the canteen on my first night at Hendon never changed throughout my 30 years in the Met.’
In the police force Leroy found the ‘us’ of police, the ‘them’ of criminals… the ‘us’ of white people, the ‘them’ of black people.
I head it last night’s news, listening to folks on the streets of Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, the ‘us and them’ mindset of people who give different accounts of the incident…
I hear it in daily conversation in our Lowestoft community,., the ‘us’ of workers who pay their way, the ‘them’ of scroungers on benefits… the ‘us’ of true British folk, the ‘them’ of immigrants… the ‘us’ of the kind and generous, the ‘them’ of the poor people who need our help… the ‘us’ of Norwich City football supporters, the ‘them’ of Ipswich Town supporters.
I see it in religion in general and Christianity in particular… the ‘us’ of those who believe as we do, worship as we do, practice their faith as we do, the ‘them’ of those who disagree with us and are therefore wrong…
This morning I’m musing… I need to challenge my opinions and prejudices, to seek to listen, to understand the ‘them’ better, without condemning them, to build bridges and not walls… I’m reflecting on Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan, who went out of his way to intentionally help the man who was one of ‘them’…
malcolmsmusings.org 
An excellent musings Malcolm.
Unfortunately, the police, and especially the MET, spend much of their working life dealing with miscreants (I use the word miscreants because there is still a small element of the determinist within me). And because of this some officers are bound to have a jaundiced view of certain members of the public.
Similarly, I know that some social workers can be apt to view all men as potential abusers.
I know, as an ex-teacher, that one must fight biases that can so easily form. I have to admit that even the look of a child, well usually boys, can influence one’s initial opinion. Some children have an angelic look and some the look of the Bash Street Kids.
However, within the first lesson you soon get a reasonably good idea how wrong you are.
I think this “Them and Us” mentality can be due to a number of things: fear of the unknown, envy, insecurity and even a inner desire to actually be accepted by what one is against.
Happy New Year to everyone.
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Certainly in school we sometimes met the ‘them’ (children) and ‘us’ (teachers) – which certainly didn’t help. I agree Alan. I think that sometimes the mentality comes from fear or insecurity… for example when the ‘them’ is groups of young people and the ‘us’ is older folks…
…And now in the prejudice of more advanced years, maybe we’re still influenced by looks – perhaps it’s the parents/grandparents of angels or Bash Street Kids
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Amen, Malcolm. Nothing more Christlike than learning to see others as Us.
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Thanks, Mitch. In church we sometimes talk about learning to see others with Jesus’ eyes… perhaps this involves including them in the ‘us..
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Very easy to fall into the ‘us’ and ‘them’ trap – thanks for the reminder!
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Very easy to fall into the ‘us’ and ‘them’ trap – thanks for the reminder!
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It’s always easier to identify with people like us, Lynn. It’s more comfortable, particularly when the ‘us’ people encourage us to be more distant from ‘them’
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