Because I have friends on all sides of the social spectrum I get a dizzying collection of statements and agendas scrawling across my Facebook feed. Lately its been busy with pro and anti law enforcement memes and articles. I wont go into my ideas on institutional and passive racism here except to say that all of us - all of us, are genetically wired for tribal bias and that transcending that takes massive rises in consciousness and a brutal ability to look in the mirror that most of us are really unwilling to do, whether youre black, white, rich, poor, christian, atheist, liberal or conservative. Its hard, awkward and necessary before we as a society will make any great advance toward coexistence. Were not there, yet. As far as scrutiny toward police I will say that the overall trend towards militarization disturbs me. I have had both good and bad experiences with police. I have also lived in a second world city. Cops have a tough job and theyre human. They listen to bullshit all day long. They become desensitized to a usually ungrateful public. They also have guns, power and all the failings as the rest of us. And like the rest of us they are apt to lean on each other, circle the wagons and have each others backs. Therefore I fully support redesigning the grand jury system to take it out of the purview of the local D.A. which has an inherent bias toward protecting its enforcement branch. I also fully support body cameras. Because any episode of COPS will show you what kind of drunken, shirtless, batshit crazy idiots police have to endure to keep us all safe - but it doesnt show their sometimes brutal cynicism and flagrant abuse. Because cameras. Its a win for everyone.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 01:05:07 +0000
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