White cop shooting an unarmed black teen. I see the news, I read the stories and I am still of mixed emotions. I hate to see any part of USA look so much like a war zone, hate to see the photos almost indiscernible from the military action in the MidEast. Clearly the cop, for an instant, was not a police officer with training but an angry man exerting his power. Pretty clearly too, the young man, at 6 feet four inches tall, was having a bad day. Five minutes in any direction and this might not have happened.
I hate to think that nothing good will come of this. Maybe it could be an opportunity to talk? I wonder how many other areas of our country are sitting on the precipice, on a razor's edge to oblivion?
I have a tendency to believe that we have been given the perfect world and seem to have a basic instinct to screw it all up! We don't learn from history because we no longer read and any art to dialogue has long disappeared. We let our emotions deal with issues even when from experience we know that is never a good thing.
It is easy to blame this on one, maybe thuggy black kid, or the militarization of our police, but maybe there is a lot more to it. any time you have a society of "them Vs us" you are asking for barricades, gated communities and particular laws to protect the privileged. Having been in the construction industry for most of my life I have always thought that when a building permit for a million dollar house was issued it should come with a permit for a hundred thousand dollar house! That's just my idea. I don't like gated communities and isolated cheap housing. I like a mix.
If the police had heavy munitions and were on my side I think that would be great! But what happens when we disagree? The police in my community wear cameras. They are inexpensive and should be required of all police, everywhere. It is a cheap way to solve a problem of what happened. Personally, I would like to see the car cruising police to ride in pairs. I think an extra officer would supply a degree of safety and maybe an emotional foil. I have long been a supporter of community police, officer's living in the areas they patrol. Seems pretty nuts that in Ferguson there were only 3 black officers in an area 70% black. How in the heck does that happen? Seems to be enforcing a them Vs us and that is always a recipe for trouble.
I can't end my blog today without talking about Education! I wonder how all this might have been different had the kid who was shot been familiar with Shakespeare? Or Plato, or Socrates? or any classical literature? or theater or dance? or the mechanical arts? None of these are taught any more.
Just saying. Has anyone ever thought about what we are losing?
No government works without the consent of the governed. Any community in America is pretty much limited to one cop per a thousand citizens. The system only works when we agree to it.
Maybe it is time to sit down and discuss what we really want? I think more "free stuff" isn't working and what we might really want is dignity, respect, some way to self satisfaction and, of course, a job!
I hate to think that nothing good will come of this. Maybe it could be an opportunity to talk? I wonder how many other areas of our country are sitting on the precipice, on a razor's edge to oblivion?
I have a tendency to believe that we have been given the perfect world and seem to have a basic instinct to screw it all up! We don't learn from history because we no longer read and any art to dialogue has long disappeared. We let our emotions deal with issues even when from experience we know that is never a good thing.
It is easy to blame this on one, maybe thuggy black kid, or the militarization of our police, but maybe there is a lot more to it. any time you have a society of "them Vs us" you are asking for barricades, gated communities and particular laws to protect the privileged. Having been in the construction industry for most of my life I have always thought that when a building permit for a million dollar house was issued it should come with a permit for a hundred thousand dollar house! That's just my idea. I don't like gated communities and isolated cheap housing. I like a mix.
If the police had heavy munitions and were on my side I think that would be great! But what happens when we disagree? The police in my community wear cameras. They are inexpensive and should be required of all police, everywhere. It is a cheap way to solve a problem of what happened. Personally, I would like to see the car cruising police to ride in pairs. I think an extra officer would supply a degree of safety and maybe an emotional foil. I have long been a supporter of community police, officer's living in the areas they patrol. Seems pretty nuts that in Ferguson there were only 3 black officers in an area 70% black. How in the heck does that happen? Seems to be enforcing a them Vs us and that is always a recipe for trouble.
I can't end my blog today without talking about Education! I wonder how all this might have been different had the kid who was shot been familiar with Shakespeare? Or Plato, or Socrates? or any classical literature? or theater or dance? or the mechanical arts? None of these are taught any more.
Just saying. Has anyone ever thought about what we are losing?
No government works without the consent of the governed. Any community in America is pretty much limited to one cop per a thousand citizens. The system only works when we agree to it.
Maybe it is time to sit down and discuss what we really want? I think more "free stuff" isn't working and what we might really want is dignity, respect, some way to self satisfaction and, of course, a job!
1 comment:
I think the militarization of the police is a huge problem. It's as if the police think they are here to protect and direct, as opposed to protect and serve...
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