A Blue Wall of Humanization

One of my all-time favorite bands, The Police, lead by one of my favorite songwriters, Sting, released a single called Rehumanize Yourself in 1981 for their album Ghost in the Machine. The first two verses of the song refer to a skinhead who was randomly terrorizing people in his local community and the culture of policing, making violence normative, respectively. The song’s refrain followed these verses.

He goes out at night with his big boots on
None of his friends know right from wrong
They kick a boy to death ’cause he don’t belong
You’ve got to humanize yourself

A policeman put on his uniform
He’d like to have a gun just to keep him warm
Because violence here is a social norm
You’ve got to humanize yourself

Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself