Public Safety vs Police Brutality - The Need For A Cultural Change
Change is inevitable, at times instantaneous, which is rare. More often than not it is a long hard-fought battle for justice taking years, decades even centuries.
The Right to Vote for Women was a long, difficult battle against an institutionalized patriarchal culture stretching back tens of thousands of years.
This nation and the world are better off for the sacrifices, dedication, and determination of the Suffragette Movement that shattered the "Glass Ceiling" and freed our "better halves" from their bondage.
Has it not been the same for Afro-Americans? The difference is the length of time it has taken for humanity to realize that "no one" should be held in bondage by another. In America, slavery has been a blight on this nation and the world for over 400 years.
Gay folks, Transgenders, the LGBT movement have advocated for their "rights," often block by Religious Taboos established thousands of years ago, possibly since the dawn of time.
We had to fight for Child Labor Laws, Safety in the Workplace, Human Rights, Animal Rights, and, now, we are fighting for Public Safety vs Police Brutality.
"We are better than this!"
The process and procedures that we have been using to acquire "peaceful tranquility" for all, has come under scrutiny, and, is ripe for a twenty-first-century reform.
We are an imperfect nation with imperfect people striving for perfection. We can do this! We need Justice for All, an atmosphere of respect, co-operation vs. intimidation.
The first step in that direction is the removal of Donald J. Trump, followed by the recognition that the enemy is not the people, it is the abuse of power.
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It is time to look towards the future. Our nation must evolve or rot.
It is time to look towards the future. Our nation must evolve or rot.
What is justice? Everyone seems to be suffering from selective memory. There were also protests over the shutdown of businesses, public spaces, and government. Yes, we have experienced a government shutdown that no one seems to recognize since that government shutdown wasn't the result of political conflict.
The shutdown adversely affected exercise of rights, freedoms, and liberty. The shutdown was justified by safety. But was the shutdown justice?
But not everyone's safety was protected. The country still needed food processed, packages delivered, shelves stocked, and property and lives protected. Was that justice or was that expedience?
If the idea is only to get what you want when you want it, is that justice or is that just selfish expedience?
What have the protests actually accomplished? There have been demands that people get what they want, when they want it. But no one has stepped up to do the work of governing. There hasn't been any political parties established to actually govern. There hasn't been new candidates pledging to represent what people are demanding. There hasn't been any sort of political challenge to replace the system that everyone is complaining about. The protesters have been demanding that the system pander to their demands. Not surprisingly, that's the only thing that will result from the protests. The protests have changed nothing.
So, what is justice? Is justice nothing more than selfish expedience to get what people want, when they want it?
Nerm_L: I am reasonably certain that you are familiar with the Preamble to the Constitution, it was a requirement for every student to memorize, this poetic summary of what our nation's purposes are.
I was required to memorize it in the 7th grade. It was that year that I was struck with the power of the word.
We were required to memorize Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, also. The sheer poetry of Lincoln's words, and, those of the American poets and writers we read mesmerized me.
It was about the time I was getting interested in girls, too. And, I would listen to our family radio, which sat atop our Refrigadire and listen to love songs.
"How do people write words like this," I thought to myself. These songs, Lincoln's words, and poetry invaded my soul. Their lyrics lingered, filled me with joy.
Perhaps, the one that cut the deepest was the Preamble:
We the People of
the United State, in Order to
form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the
common defence, promote the
general Welfare, and secure the
Blessing of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.
To this day, it is the most beautiful thing that I have ever read. Even as a 13-year-old boy, it comforted and soothed me as no other written word has ever done.
Even to this day, I have found reading the Constitution a difficult task. It is filled with words, phrases and concepts I find awkward. As an adult I tried reading it cover to cover, but, could never get completely through it in one setting with out taking a break.
The subject, the Articles, the legislature rules it establishes are the bases of our form of government, and, as Citizens, it is wise to understand this document written by hand with a quill on September 17, 1787, going on 233 years ago.
There are libraries filled with books, manuscripts, legal cases, dusty documents dedicated to understanding it. Many have read it, few, clearly understand it.
Nearly, every law Congress writes must conform to its meaning and purposes. Cases have been argued in the highest courts of the land over its interpretation, and, the amendments made to it since it's the origin.
The Preamble, however, is a swift, easy read that expresses its intent very sweetly.
I would encourage all of us to read it first, before quoting a phrase or two from the Second Amendment as if it was an order from their Deity.
This, to me, is what I believe JUSTICE in America, should be!
Where in the Preamble to the Constitution does it say we should sit back and demand someone else do the dirty work of governing? Where in the Preamble does it suggest that the politician who panders best, governs best?
Insuring the domestic tranquility doesn't only fall on the shoulders of those who are elected. Providing for the common defense isn't accomplished by attacking those we demand defend us or by buying the cheapest stuff from the lowest foreign bidder. We don't promote the general welfare by heckling from the peanut gallery.
The Preamble to the Constitution is no justification for systemic complacency. The Preamble can be viewed as a call to action but what is being overlooked is that the Preamble is a call to govern. Governing is the action the Preamble calls for. The Preamble doesn't call for civil unrest, doesn't call for demanding political pandering, doesn't call for expecting the most while doing the least, and doesn't call for shifting the burden of justice onto someone else's shoulders.
There are an awful lot of prejudicial assumptions you are making about others. Most, if not all that you cite, are the spittal of toddlers from Right-Wing Conservatives "Toothless, WorthlessTalking Points" that slander every one that is not them, with accusations that are unfounded and only apply to the few.
Pigeonholing those that disagree with one's position on a host of issues is not wisdom, or, a solution. It is a verification of one's deep-seated, undeniable prejudice.
Calling people "Socialists" is a fear-mongering technique used by Right Wing Conservatives who have convinced themselves, that they alone know what is best "fer 'Merica," because they "be bible thumpers", and, therefore, know the will of their angry, Evangelical Red Neck God of Vengeance.
Most people want to work, want a good-paying job. But those good-paying jobs have been sent overseas to China, and elsewhere so that Corporation might pay their workers a DOLLAR an hour and force them to work TEN HOURS per day, SIX DAYS per week, that the Board of Directors and the stockholders might get immensely rich.
It was not the workers who pressured the owners to send their jobs, more than FIVE MILLION, to Communist China. It was the CEO making in excess of 137 million dollars, plus, plus, plus.
Corporations have turned their backs on their employees, as the police have turned their backs on their fellow citizens. They (the police) are not protectors of the Ruling Class.
A handful of Republican Donors control the Republican Party. They dictate through money. During the last Tax Cut for billionaires, they told the Republican leaders that there would be "No More Donations If they did not pass the Tax Cut for the RICH."
This, my friend, is a recipe for disaster. The end of our country as we know it, unless we, the citizens of this country, put a STOP to it. Because our elected leaders will not. They are getting rich at our expense. It is no more evident than in the leadership of the Republican Party.
The Party that does not object to Russia interfering with our free elections.
The Party agrees with locking children in cages, taking babies from their mothers, and building walls instead of bridges.
The Party that embraces the Industrial-Military complex as "good for America, good for the economy."
The Party that enshrined Donald J. Trump as a legitimate leader, an agent of God, a symbol of what America stands for and where they want to see this nation headed --- right into their own pockets!
It is GREED & CORRUPTION that is killing the American Dream, not citizen suppressed, beaten down, marginalized by the ruling One
JUSTICE is justice for all.
Justice is for all . . . not just for some.
Yes I see a need for cultural change in areas where minorities commit a disproportional amount of crime and then as a result of that crime end up receiving a disproportionate amount of police brutality.
Spot on.
That and the fact that most interactions with LEO's are good, even with bad actors. So people are freaking out over a minority of LEO actions. Defunding the police? Completely asinine.
Better control over making bad cops accountable for inappropriate behavior? Completely reasonable.
The cry for "Defunding the Police" is a call and a recognition for a Total Reforming of the Police Departments in America.
The same applies to Police Officers. They are not WHITE KNIGHTS, some are KKK members, some are corrupt, some are sadists, and, yes, we all hope, the bulk is made of good people.
Is that not true of MINORITIES, too?
No solution will ever be found if we start with the position that one side is right and the other is wrong. It is time for this nation's citizenry to grow up.
And, do you see a need for a cultural change when White Neo-Nazi dresses up in Military Outfits, carry load weapons to Walmarts, a protest, or, a sit-in at a statehouse because they do not believe that the COVID19 is a real threat?
Do you see where there is a need for a cultural change in the way that police are policing their jurisdictions?
Do you see a need for a cultural change when Evangelicals are injecting their "Talking-In-Tongue," primitive religious views into every public forum in America?
Do you see a need for a cultural change when 6 Major GOP Billionaire DONORS control the legislation in Congress?
Do you see a need for a cultural change when the Administration pursues a policy of locking up kids in cages, taking babies from their Mothers?
Do you see a need for a cultural change why the Fake POTUS, Real POS in the WH is openly stealing billions, and, lying to the public over 17,000 times in 3.5 years?
Or, is the so-called "cultural change" that needs to happen ONLY takes place with WHITE FOLKS telling Black Folks how to live, speak, act, live, vote, etc.?
Racism has always been a MAIN plank of Southern Crackers still smarting from the Arse Cracking they got during the Civil War and are still loyal to the Confederacy, but, not to America!
Trump is the PROBLEM!
Every right we enjoy has cost someone their life, liberty, or justice. We need to find better methods of resolving disputes rather than resorting to CAVEMEN swinging clubs at everyone.
We are an imperfect nation with imperfect people striving for perfection. We can do this! We need Justice for All, an atmosphere of respect, co-operation vs. intimidation.
Of course we can !
Time to set up little "Social" areas within each state, where everyone within that little Social enclave polices themselves. We can set up "Hard" border's around these New surveyed borders, with a couple of egress/ingress gates you have to go through. I.D.'s would need to be checked to make sure you belong in that little slice of life area. Armed guards would need to be set at those gates though, because, ya know, there are BAD people out there. Only those folks that are "Just Like everyone" in your little "Social" border circle will be allowed in.
You would definitely need "Negotiators" and some type of "Protectorate" within your little Enclave too. Those Next Door "Socially awoke" nieghbor enclaves may get jealous, and want to start trouble one day.
It's a start !
Thats been tried before and it hasn't worked out that great.
The Berlin wall, the DMZ in Korea, my neighbors fence that still doesn't hide all the Sanford junk in his back yard .......
Perhaps, the place to start is with RESPECT for others, Justice For ALL, not just for some, Inclusion in American, instead of Exclusion based on race might be a better start.
I’d call working on the family unit a better good start. Known fact that kids from single parent families tend to get in more trouble.
Much of the rest will take of itself.
I have to agree with that, also. It took me a long time to realize that. I was more like that song, "I'm a lot like you, Dad."
As a grandparent, the wisdom of family means more to me each day, as I approach my 80s.
WTF?
I imagine that laughing at Funeral is, also, acceptable protocol.
Going to a BETTER Place...… Happy Times …... Good Times !
Always, the jokester. Every King needs a Court Jester.
Are they going to HELL ?
Jealous?
Lettuce Hope so!
A little bit, yes.
Honesty? Very refreshing for this place.
Justice is for all . . . not just for some.