While I'm grateful to those with the courage to speak truth to power by protesting against injustice, I often find American protests to be lacking a certain something. I find myself inspired by the courage of the protestors yet uninspired and disheartened at the same time.
It seems to me that even those of us who protest against the status quo are influenced by it. We want things to change but we can't be the change we seek in the world. In a funny way, it's easier to protest against something or someone else than it is to change ourselves.
And this emphasis on the individual reflects our lack of community and our inability to come together as a group to seek the greater good. In the end, we're still self-serving. In Ferguson, for example, protestors seek the indictment of Darren Wilson and others like him. But is Wilson really the problem? Or is he also a victim of the system, a system that trains police officers to act as soldiers fighting the American people who live in their communities. Is it Wilson's fault that the police are being armed with military-grade equipment and being asked to view people as guilty until proven innocent? Isn't there a larger problem that goes beyond Darren Wilson and Mike Brown?
I'm talking about our loss of civil liberties, the militarization of the police, our violent culture, our dwindling sense of community and camaraderie, the lack of concern for our fellow human beings, and the ignorance combined with a disdain for education and the educated, etc.
While I seek out inspiration from movements such as the erstwhile Occupy and the current Ferguson anti-police brutality protests across the nation
(http://fergusonaction.com/),
I find myself disappointed by what I consider to be somewhat narrow and self-serving goals. Instead of concern for the common good, it seems many protestors are focused on individual concerns and reducing complex issues into sound bytes or memes.
Am I a perfectionist?
Some of the attacks I've received in the comments section of this article prove my point. Are you here on the DailyKos wanting to make the world a better place? Standing up for a cause? Do you really believe in something? Or do you just like to protest against other people because it makes you temporarily feel superior?
Revolutions that lead to democracy don't result from selfish, antagonistic people who seek their own piece of the pie. They result from a sense of community, togetherness, a greater good that goes beyond ourselves as individuals.
https://www.youtube.com/...
"Enough is enough. Not one more Darren Wilson. Not one more Mike Brown."
Ah yes, agreed but disagreed because the problem is much bigger than just those two people. Much, much bigger and much more serious.
Is it possible for us Americans to see the big picture? Or have we been so indoctrinated into this "rugged individualism" nonsense that we're unable to see how our individual actions influence each other, how we're all a part of an overall society and a big world that's out there and influenced, perhaps if in only a small way, by everything that we do?
Darren Wilson was a police officer who'd been trained by his bosses, by those with power over him, to act aggressively. In that sense, he did not act alone. Mike Brown was a tough kid with a tough history. (I'm not at all suggesting it was okay for Wilson to shoot him, but I am suggesting that Brown was not the innocent we're being told to believe him to be.) And Darren Wilson was doing his job as he'd been trained to do it. What should a police officer do when confronted with a potentially aggressive suspect? How can a police officer become a peace officer and calm disturbances rather than create them? How does a police officer disarm an opponent in the least violent manner possible? Why are we not hearing more about the many cases of completely innocent, nonviolent people who've been attacked, even killed by police officers who we know could not have possibly felt threatened by the suspect?
https://www.youtube.com/...
And an article from DailyKos here: http://www.dailykos.com/...
There are people who know the answers to these questions, but obviously, they are not in power right now. In fact, we've had calmer days here in the USA. We've had police officers in our history who were much less violent, much less aggressive and, perhaps not coincidentally, we also had much less crime back in those days. What happened?
I also found this interview with Ferguson protestors from Democracy Now to be very interesting. Check it out at 9 1/2 minutes into the clip:
https://www.youtube.com/...
At 9:30, Amy Goodman asks one protestor:
“How do you think things could change where you'd feel some hope?”
The protestor replies with:
“I mean, really, I feel like all they had to do was indict him [Darren Wilson.] And things could have been peaceful. Things have been peaceful up to the point where they said that they don't care, and he didn't do anything wrong, so all they have to do is admit that they were wrong and right that by arresting him [Wilson], and things will calm down at least a little bit until they try to tell us he('s) innocent again.”
You see, this is what's disheartening to me. Yes, I agree that racism is a problem. Yes, I agree that Wilson shouldn't have shot an unarmed man.
But does anyone seriously believe that indicting one police officer would change anything? Does anyone really think that Darren Wilson was the problem? 'Cause if that's what you think then it's hopeless, people. Hopeless.
“At the end of the day, black lives don't matter to them (the police)... At the end of the day, black lives don't matter to these cops... We be locked up more than anybody, this our own community... Everybody on this police force needs to be fired, including the captain, all the way down to whoever...”
True 'dat. But again... Who trains these police officers and their captains? Where did they learn that the American people, particularly poor people and black people are guilty until proven innocent? (Read the 4th Amendment of our Constitution. Do you think it was being enforced by Darren Wilson when he approached Mike Brown? Do you think police officers in general enforce the 4th Amendment across the country?)
We've been so indoctrinated into this "rugged individualism" nonsense that we forget that individuals do not act in a vacuum. We won't prevent police violence by arresting Darren Wilson. In fact, we may not be able to ever prevent it completely.
But we can reduce police violence by changing how those in power (i.e., Darren Wilson's bosses) choose to train police officers and by changing which police officers they choose to hire in the first place.
And how about resurrecting our 4th Amendment and, as I mentioned in my previous blog, repealing the Patriot Act? How about our Bill of Rights?
The police serve our local politicians, not us. Ever think about that? Who shot Fred Hampton? Yes, it was the police. But who asked the police to do it? The white people who lived next door to him? Uh, no. A racist police officer? Wrong again. Apparently, some people in the federal government felt threatened by Hampton, thought he might be the next MLK, so they used the police to eradicate that threat.
Hampton was interested in bringing white people and black people together. He saw how we were all connected in this struggle for democracy. He knew that some people wanted us fighting among each other--divide and conquer!
http://www.democracynow.org/...
I'm sure there are lots of opinions on this, but I think we can all agree on this: Militarizing the police, arming them with military-grade weapons and encouraging them to think of civilians as guilty until proven innocent is not the best way to keep our communities safe and calm. Yet politicians across the country are allowing these weapons to be distributed to their police departments and bragging about it to their constituents. Why do you suppose this is?
Could it be, as some people suggest, that militarizing the police is a way to get around the Posse Comitatus Act?
http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/...
https://www.youtube.com/...
And...
Here's an article (and a link) from legislator Betty Jean Grant's web site:
http://www2.erie.gov/...
"Legislator Betty Jean Grant Advances City Acquisition of Erie County Crime Fighting Technology
Buffalo, NY - At a session of the Erie County Legislature held on July 24, 2014, Democratic Leader Betty Jean Grant (D-Buffalo) and the members of the Legislature approved a transfer of Homeland Security Equipment to the City of Buffalo for its use in patrol cars for homeland security purposes.
10 Mobile Date Terminals (MDTs) – computerized devices used in emergency vehicles, such as police cars, in order to communicate with a central dispatch office – will be transferred to the Buffalo Police Department to assist the BPD in fulfilling gaps in the prevention, defense, preparation and mitigation against terrorist attacks..."
Yes, yes, Buffalo, NY (as we all know) has had such a big problem with terrorist attacks. Haven't you heard? Too bad Stephen Colbert isn't still around to report the news. Guess we have to find our own truthiness on local politicians' web sites...
Actually, Buffalo is one of the poorest cities in the country, but, sadly, there isn't "enough money," apparently, to help all the poor people (who are mostly black) of Buffalo. Miraculously, though, there's plenty of money to arm the police with Homeland Security Equipment 'cause... uh... that's just so much more important.
By the way, Buffalo has a large African-American population who are mostly segregated from the rest of the city and who mostly live in poverty. Big surprise, eh?
Oh, but this additional factoid might surprise you. Take a look at the picture of Betty Jean Grant on her web site. Yep, she's black. African-American. And she's very much proud of arming her city's cops with homeland security equipment. (She's just trying to keep her constituents safe, after all.) And yes, she's a Democrat too.
So sorry, I'm not checking my "white privilege" at the door. 'Cause I don't have that sort of privilege. Ms. Grant is much more privileged than I am (and so is Obama for that matter.) Both have more power and influence over society than I do.
(But Grant's against fracking. So the Limousine Liberals of NY are happy. We can live in a fascist police state, but at least our water will be clean. Yipee!)
I gotta tell ya', that term "white privilege" is so insulting and divisive that it makes even the most bleeding hearted liberals--hearts nearly hemorrhaging from sheer compassion for the underdog--shudder with righteous indignation. When I hear that term, I lose respect and trust in those who utter it because I know what they seek. They seek to get people arguing amongst each other. Who's better than who? Who's suffered the most? It's blacks vs. whites.
Nope. Sorry, but it isn't that at all.
Look, I have no problem with healthy, productive discussions about racism. Racism does exist, and it is an abomination. Unfortunately, I've experienced it in the work place many times, and I've found it troubling to watch a black employee forced out of a job or treated like a second-class-citizen by a racist supervisor. I've also seen black employees segregated from white employees, only hired for certain positions, only seated in certain areas of the office. Yet no one talks about THAT.
It's very true that African-Americans, black people, don't have the same career opportunities as their white counterparts. Men have more opportunities than women. People who come from wealthy families have more opportunities than those who come from poverty. And the children of Beverly Hills have lots more good luck (trans. "opportunities") than the children of Buffalo, NY.
So yeah, there's privilege everywhere ya' go. But if you're going to look into the eyes of someone who is white and poor and struggling and lecture them on "white privilege" then you, my erstwhile friend, are part of the problem. A big part of the problem. Maybe you are the problem.
Perhaps this is why some of the people claiming to want to end police brutality keep insisting we force the police to wear body cameras. Oh yes, more surveillance. That'll solve the problem. But wait... we've increased surveillance since 9/11 and oddly enough there's been an increase in police brutality as a result. But... they want us to "check our white privilege" while they increase surveillance over all of us because, you see, it's we the people who are the problem. We're all a bunch of racists, so the wealthy elite who run this country (and sadly, that includes some liberals too) know better than the rest of us about what's right and wrong. So we need to let them videotape everything we do so they can decide whether or not we're doing what they think is right.
You know,... I'd really appreciate it if people would stop chanting catchy memes, motivational platitudes or simple slogans and start thinking again. I can't say that I know all the answers and certainly one individual can't have all the answers. I think that it will take many intelligent people to gather together to find solutions (if any exist) to the many problems facing our country today.
But you have to know that police brutality is not just a racial issue, right? That this problem is much bigger than racism, that we're dealing with a government that wants to keep us all in fear--white, black, immigrant, native-born, rich, poor, middle class, male, female, etc. We're all connected. Some people want us arguing about who's better than who and who's to blame for what, but if we turn off that TV set and start listening to our own thoughts instead, we can start to think for ourselves for a change... Then maybe we can create change.
Well, gosh, maybe we'll all spontaneously combust a revolution!
And how about resurrecting our 4th Amendment? Hey, if Jesus could do it, why can't we?
As I mentioned in my previous post, one of our biggest problems in terms of liberty is the Patriot Act, resulting in the legalized militarization of the police, surveillance, government officials and people in positions of authority being given tremendous power to spy on us, imprison us, even to kill us, with little accountability or oversight.
That's the problem, people. Yes, racism is a concern. But there will always be an "ism." Some police officers don't like women, don't like Muslims, don't like poor people, don't like the mentally ill, etc. There's always an "ism." We all have our prejudices. We all have our biases. None of us is perfect.
That's why the founders of this country wrote the 4th Amendment which clearly states that law enforcement cannot search or seize us or our property without "probable cause," proof that we've done something wrong. Because all throughout history there have been abuses of authority and groups of people scapegoated by law enforcement. The 4th Amendment is an attempt to protect such people by placing a check over police power.
There have been many Darren Wilsons and will continue to be. Some of them will be white but some will also be black. Some will be Muslim. Some will be women. Maybe the next victim will be you. But right now, most of the Darren Wilsons we hear about are white. Many, though not all, victims are black and/or poor.
But that can and will change at any time. We had a law, though, that provided us all-- black and white--with legal recourse. That was the 4th Amendment.
As Fred Hampton warned before he was assassinated, we need to be educated, to understand how politics works and doesn't work, not to just focus on our individual self interests but to understand how democracies and healthy, functional societies are created and destroyed:
"Everything would be all right if everything was put back in the hands of the people... [but]
...With no education you have neocolonialism... [and] before you know it we'll have negro imperialism..."
https://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.democracynow.org/...
http://www.alan.com/...