On the weekend of July 29, police officers in Halifax, Virginia made some not-so-routine traffic stops to hand out ice cream cones to folks in their community. Although the officers handed out nearly 20 ice cream cones to various people, one of these interactions was captured on video and has since gone viral-- ABC News reported just a few days later that the video had 3.5 million views on Facebook, a number that has more than doubled since the report. If you haven't yet seen the video, follow the link above or simply look up the ice cream cone police prank on YouTube.

We all know that police have been a major focus in discussions around America's social and political climate recently, so it comes as no surprise that there are differing views on the ice cream cone police prank (a mouthful to say, I know). While many traditional media sources praised the officers for a good deed-- FOX News, as an example, headlined their article "Virginia police play sweet summertime prank on unsuspecting driver"-- there are also a lot of people who feel the prank was nothing more than a cheap media stunt and an illustration of police officers abusing their power in the community-- Counter Current News stated in an article that the officers were "trying to regain the public’s trust by using further subversive tactics." Obviously these two viewpoints are in pretty stark opposition to one another, which begs the question: "Who's right?"

Unfortunately, there is no plain and simple answer to the question. People will disagree about who is "right" and who is "wrong" for an endless amount of time; it's a dialogue that is never very productive, and in fact divides people even more than they already were divided in the first place. Like most (if not all) other people, I have often fallen into this trap of simplifying issues into a black-and-white, two-sided matter. With the ice cream prank however, I think a better discussion and deeper understanding may come from looking into the grey.

I know I risk pissing off some people when I say this, but I don't think any further bashing or slandering of the police is the proper response to the ice cream prank. Some people might speculate that it was a "subversive" stunt or trick used to give a false sense of repaired police-civilian relations, however that theory seems to be pretty heavily biased and also unsupported. To my knowledge, there is no evidence showing that the police officers had any sort of end goal in mind when pulling the "prank". It seems a lot more likely to me that, in light of all the recent killings and police violence, these officers thought of a new and creative way to try to connect positively with people in their community. It seems pretty ridiculous to just assume that the officers had any ill-intentions when they handed out free ice cream cones.

With all of that said however (and this is what can be so frustrating about looking in the grey), there are extremely valid points on the other side of this issue as well. While I don't at all support the further slandering of police regarding the ice cream cone prank, I think the prank shows a pretty severe lack of knowledge, understanding, and intercultural competency on the part of the officers. The officers should be much more aware of the power dynamic between themselves and the civilians in their communities. Although well-intended, pulling people over with a squad car is a pretty intimidating and scary way to initiate a prank; I think most people are a little bit frightened when they see bright, flashing lights in their rear-view. After all, that's sort of the reason for those lights in the first place: to get a person's attention and alert them that they are being targeted for some sort of wrong-doing. Now imagine being a black individual in America who is probably extremely conscious of how many other black folks have been killed by police officers in routine traffic stops just like this one. Many of us, myself included, can't relate to that sort of fear.

Even though the officers in Halifax had their hearts in the right place, the ice cream cone prank should have been more fully thought out. If the officers were more thoughtful and aware of power dynamics and race relations, they may have opted for something less risky and frightening-- an ice cream social put on by the police department in a local park would be a better alternative. Although I can't label either side "right" or "wrong", the opposing perspectives of the ice cream cone prank tell me two things:

1) A lot of police officers, like the ones in Halifax, Virginia, are really making an effort to improve their relationship with the greater community. Their effort shows that they care enough to try and make things better than they currently are; I think that effort should count for something and should be supported, at least enough to acknowledge that people are trying to make positive change.

2) There is still a lot of work to be done. The relationship between police officers and civilians in America is still very damaged and there will be no easy fix. Ice cream cones do not excuse decades of systemic racism and oppression, and they certainly will never erase the memories of the dozens of black people who have been murdered by police officers in the last year.

With that being said, my hope is that maybe, just maybe, the ice cream cone police prank is still a very small step in the right direction towards repairing police-civilian relations and putting a stop to the senseless and unjustified violence that has taken dozens of American lives in the last year.