Madame:
There is MUCH more to
say on all this I have been posting about, but those other important things are
cropping up as well, everything from catastrophic risk coming back from Wall
Street actions, to deception, deflection, and obfuscation from the
security-intelligence complex in the wake of the Senate report. But to continue, at least once more, this
blogstream on injustice and its many ramifications:
People are fond of
saying we should stay safe and be completely, surrendering-ly subservient to every
police demand, and accommodating to all police behavior. How nicely set up that would make us for
authoritarian or even totalitarian rule.
We have to worry and
adjust OUR behavior to avoid being shot by our supposed protectors? And then, if there is ANY trouble from or by
the police, we are supposed to merely file a complaint—with the organization
and system that perpetrates it? An organization and its members who are sole
judge and jury (and, too often, executioner)?
Police impunity. Willful ignorance by the white public. Institutional racism. Refusal to acknowledge black reality. Even otherwise powerful black CEOs have to
worry: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141204174020-261404895-it-s-time-to-revolutionize-race-relations
And some further evidence we sure as hell don’t have a post-racial America: How Obama has been treated, spoken about, disrespected, obstructed, hated and reviled with such a passionate, frothing fervor. I dislike intensely many of his actions and policies, but I can recognize when there is a treatment difference that is consistent among many members of one color against a president of another one.
To think that racism doesn’t
exist is delusional. We desperately need
a dialogue (and willingness to act and change) about race.
Police often have a hard
job and need our respect. But respect
has to be earned AND warranted. Community policing works best when the
community trusts that the police will treat them with dignity and so that
community WANTS the police to come in and make them safe from the criminal
element. That trust is missing in far
too many places, particularly for African-Americans, and in those places only
systemic bias exists instead.
Of course, police and
prosecutors too often are given impossible tasks because the plutocratic
economy has emplaced all over this country drastic economic inequality, lack of
opportunity, and few or no livable jobs.
This bleak picture is intensified many times over in too many African-American
communities.
Maltreatement and disproportionate
focus on certain people and certain communities are bad enough. In
this society we have become, however, one of disconnection and lack of community
and affiliation with and for our fellow citizens, we then make things even
worse. We take away most chances of
making it economically and then wonder why there is crime? And for the unfortunate citizens who are
picked up for bogus reasons and then get bogus trumped up felonies because they
have no resources to defend themselves legally against? What then?
Felons can’t get most jobs, and certainly no decent ones. And yet we are astonished that people turn to
or return to criminal ways? We are
fomenting the behavior! What does
society truly expect?
The bitterly ironic
thing is that White America’s 99% are economically stressed, yet largely without
a clear idea of who is responsible for that stress. And so too much of that White America falls
back on simplistic blame spewed forth by demagogues with agendas, instead of
seeing its true adversaries and true threats.
We need systemic change
to really make a difference, including about police and minorities. But in the meantime, there are some things
that can be done:
State and local court
systems are separate from federal ones for a reason, and constitutionally need
to retain that separateness. But that
doesn’t mean that there can’t be procedural protections for all citizens no
matter where they reside. With that in
mind, here are some proposals for federal legislation or amendments (or even just things people can urge their state legislatures to adopt) to standardize procedures:
1. Each state must conduct a wide ranging
experiment to equip law enforcement members with body cameras, funded initially
by the federal government.
2. Require all law enforcement officers, even state
police/highway patrolmen, to work together/ride and travel together 2-3 days a
week, to decrease isolation, increase resiliency, improve well being and sense
of security, and boost humanity and compassion. This is not a panacea, of course, for two law
enforcement officers have often done bad things. But it can decrease the chances.
3. Whenever a citizen dies at the hands of the
police or in police custody, an independent prosecutor from another state, chosen
at random from a pool of special prosecutors, is required appointed by the
governor of the state where the death
occurred. This independent prosecutor will
have at least two investigators from outside the state. If criminal charges are not filed, a public
report will be released.
4. If the citizen was unarmed, the deceased citizen’s family lawyer is appointed as a special
temporary assistant prosecutor and acts as a member of the investigation and prosecution
team. This lawyer must agree before a
police officer is allowed to testify before a grand jury on their own behalf
(civilians under investigation by grand juries aren’t allowed to testify on
their own behalf). Otherwise, the police
officer would have to wait to testify at a trial.
5. If the citizen was unarmed, the officer or
officers involved are automatically indicted UNLESS ALL 12 GRAND JURORS
UNANIMOUSLY VOTE NOT TO INDICT. This
differs radically from present, where 9 of 12 jurors are required to agree to
indict.
It’s not enough. But it could be a start.
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