Don't blame it on the sunshine
Don't blame it on the moonlight
Don't blame it on good time
Blame it on Obama...
But it has been a fact that public emphasis on the treatment of black people has happened more in the media since Obama took office, coupled with the amount of cell phone videos showing police beating up, shooting and killing, and trying to cover up their actions, resulting in the loss of black lives. Obama himself, has tried to balance along the tightrope, often sounding like the only voice of reason in the NRA wilderness...
Our society is in turmoil and a crossroads: either we find solutions to our broken systems like criminal justice, or we can watch as we sink deeper into chaos and violence, without any group like ISIS lifting a finger. One beginning is to emulate the new Canadian prime minister, who is going to release from prison every person convicted on marijuana possession... Another is to look at our communities and find a way to make them more accepting, to rebuild the dying ones and make us all thrive. For example, if we ruled that all buildings are not to exceed 10 stories and every building and house should have solar panels, use Bill Gates's money on slums along the west coast, the Koch brothers funds for the Midwest, and a coalition of GOP donors on the eastern seaboard, we could make a dent in renewal...
I grew up in the city of Torrance, Calif, which for many years prided itself on being lily-white. Any black man driving through the city after 10 pm would be stopped by the cops and hassled. The police department was all white, even after the Rodney King beating put emphasis on more diverse hiring practises. There was an incident where a local LA television news reporter, who was black, went inside the Torrance police department to inquire about their being one of the last two all-white departments in the state of California, along with Simi Valley, and in front of the camera, the officer manning the desk jumped over it and started beating up the reporter... A few weeks earlier I had a friend beaten up the same way, and the chief ignored our complaints afterward... one good thing that resulted was the installation of a large plexiglas barrier along the reception counter. Most people feel it's for the officer's safety, but I point out on every visit that just the opposite is true, and get a stink-eye from some overweight officer with a bad attitude every time...
Just like the videotaping of the Rodney King beating, so too the combination of cops killing innocent black men, compounded by the heroic action of cops in Dallas when they were under attack by a black sniper last week will give us determination to actively change our policing methods and interactions with the community. Ironically, the Dallas police department has a reputation as being one of the best in this area, and could give lessons to places like Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Florida, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Kansas for a start...
I'm in my 60's, and can count on one hand the bad interactions I've had in my life with the police. But if you asked every black man my age, they can give you lots of stories of bad encounters, both for themselves and every male member of their family. It really is up to the younger folks to keep protesting and finding ways to publicly embarrass the political leaders who ignore the problems. No little girl should have to sit in the back of a car watching her daddy get shot because the officer was badly trained and worked himself up into a hysterical mode of behavior... This really has to stop...
Our society is in turmoil and a crossroads: either we find solutions to our broken systems like criminal justice, or we can watch as we sink deeper into chaos and violence, without any group like ISIS lifting a finger. One beginning is to emulate the new Canadian prime minister, who is going to release from prison every person convicted on marijuana possession... Another is to look at our communities and find a way to make them more accepting, to rebuild the dying ones and make us all thrive. For example, if we ruled that all buildings are not to exceed 10 stories and every building and house should have solar panels, use Bill Gates's money on slums along the west coast, the Koch brothers funds for the Midwest, and a coalition of GOP donors on the eastern seaboard, we could make a dent in renewal...
I grew up in the city of Torrance, Calif, which for many years prided itself on being lily-white. Any black man driving through the city after 10 pm would be stopped by the cops and hassled. The police department was all white, even after the Rodney King beating put emphasis on more diverse hiring practises. There was an incident where a local LA television news reporter, who was black, went inside the Torrance police department to inquire about their being one of the last two all-white departments in the state of California, along with Simi Valley, and in front of the camera, the officer manning the desk jumped over it and started beating up the reporter... A few weeks earlier I had a friend beaten up the same way, and the chief ignored our complaints afterward... one good thing that resulted was the installation of a large plexiglas barrier along the reception counter. Most people feel it's for the officer's safety, but I point out on every visit that just the opposite is true, and get a stink-eye from some overweight officer with a bad attitude every time...
Just like the videotaping of the Rodney King beating, so too the combination of cops killing innocent black men, compounded by the heroic action of cops in Dallas when they were under attack by a black sniper last week will give us determination to actively change our policing methods and interactions with the community. Ironically, the Dallas police department has a reputation as being one of the best in this area, and could give lessons to places like Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Florida, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Kansas for a start...
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