Reflection on Social Media Case 6: Basketball Cop

Any more in the United States, it is sad to say that Police do not have the same force as they used to. They are said to be brutal, not understanding and acting out without reason because of the few that have ruined it for everyone else. 

Something I like to do as a person is to defy the stereotypes, I say this because I am a 20-year-old college woman who is in a sorority. What was the first thing that popped in your mind when you read that? Probably partying, being a “typical white girl” or anything else that society hates when it comes to a sorority. However, I am proud to say I am President of my local Chapter Kappa Delta, am in a National Leadership Honors Society and Spanish club. I am Majoring in Communications and Minoring in Spanish and Marketing and absolutely love it. In Kappa Delta, we have raised over $10,000 last semester for our Philanthropic efforts of Prevent Child Abuse America. All our girls have leadership positions and or GPA is above the USU all women’s average. We focus heavily on development of women in these four years by promoting confidence and the value of our founders to help make them the best human beings they can be. However, from stereotypes of the few, you think we are terrible girls who don’t respect ourselves and drink our problems away. This ties directly into stereotypes that our nation has created in its mind with police officers, a few have ruined it for the majority, and Officer White is here defying those stereotypes in this story.

The story is, the local station received a noise complaint at about kids playing basketball too loudly in the streets. So, Officer White went to check out the situation and see what was really going on. When he got there, all he found was young men shooting hoops together not causing trouble. He continued to play with the boys and told them he would be back for a pickup game. Officer White edited the footage and posted it on social media, and sure enough, it went viral.

Too much anymore, the media dwells on the negative things in life. They don’t focus on the positives and how great this world actually is. Such as a white police officer playing a pickup game of basketball with young men of minority descent. If Officer White didn’t put this out into the community himself, the world would have never known. However, if a white officer told them to get off the streets, it may have turned into a negative situation, meaning that it would have been on the news, and that is just sad.

Overall, I really appreciate the efforts of Officer White and wish more people would break the stereotypes.