Shrimpbox
Gold Member
The events of the last months are disconcerting. The gravity of the situation seems to be snowballing. More people,than ever are fearing that things could easily get out of hand. There are no leaders who are able to calm an anxious nation.
How does one navigate so much confusion?How does one process the constant drumbeat of death on every nightly news broadcast? Should an outside observer even bother with these video events that don't even exist in his or her world? How do you keep yourself centered.
You must think it through. Categorize all the headline racial events. First none of the incidents are connected. A Latin guy and a black kid, a cop and a wannabe thug kid, a cop and a twelve year old, a lot of cops and and a petty black criminal, and a whole bunch of subset killings involving black on black and black on white. So many are senseless violent acts that just can't be explained in any way. Many seem to be tragic and avoidable.
So you go back and say what principles do I believe in and what prejudices will I honestly admit to. I have to say I lean heavily towards giving law enforcement the benefit of the doubt. I also believe that there is a two tiered justice system not of black and white but of the moneyed and connected and the rest of us. I also subscribe to the life is not always fair and you have to learn how to deal with it school, as well as you make your own bad or good luck. The principles that would apply universally for me in these cases is that everyone of us has a duty to be responsible and accountable, actions have consequences, and none of us are above the law.
Trayvon had too much attitude and George had too much attitude. They both got into a scuffle like a million other people do every year but this one ended in tragedy, like winning some kind of twisted lottery where one man loses his life. This was not an incident that reflected on anyone else and these two had no relation to the police.
The story in ferguson reminds me of an old saying, " if you go looking for trouble chances are you are going to find trouble" . Michael Brown apparently did not feel any responsibility for acting properly in the convenience store, preferring to adopt the thug persona. When you adopt a thug persona bad things are very likely to happen to you. Bad things happened to Michael. The trial was as transparent as any legal proceedings I know of and if anything justice bent over backwards and went naked to assure fairness. Michael did not respect authority or other people. Why are we producing so many children like Michael who will meet similar fates?
I am not as familiar with the 12 year old shooting. I don't know how big the 12 year old was or even why the cop was there but the policeman sounds as if he didn't go down a checklist of possible actions he could have taken prior to pulling his gun. Maybe there is some truth to a lack of communication between some police and those they police over. Would a black cop have handled it different. Would there not have been any cop who might have started out by just talking to the kid. Police have a responsibility to use lethal force as a last resort and to have training that comes to play in these situations, but children who point real looking firearms at anybody have not had any lessons in responsibility from their parents or any other authority figures. Those who produce children must be accountable for their safety and protection. Those who serve and protect must value every life as much as their own.
In New York the tragedy seems so unnecessary. If this guy had been arrested 30 times before some of the cops should have known him or at least be familiar with his case . They certainly had enough manpower to overwhelm even a giant. All the officers on the scene bear some culpability for not speaking up about lightening up. I have no doubt that none of the officers wished any lethal harm to come to the subject but they have to be accountable for their actions irregardless of their intentions. Was the guy unhealthy and more prone to injury than most, yeah for sure, but just as the punishment needs to fit the crime, the arrest procedure needs to fit the crime. It's sad that some officers might lose their careers and even do some jail time over this, but no more sad than a man losing his life.
If we are going to ask the welfare recipient to be accountable, the chief executive to be accountable, then all the rest of us have to live up to the same standards irregardless of our fates. That is how I navigate these racial hurricanes. The figures are already out about black murders by police being no more common than whites murdered by police. Blacks are not special and police are not above the law and most Americans believe the same. Pray that we learn to obey the laws that preserve the greatest humanity.
How does one navigate so much confusion?How does one process the constant drumbeat of death on every nightly news broadcast? Should an outside observer even bother with these video events that don't even exist in his or her world? How do you keep yourself centered.
You must think it through. Categorize all the headline racial events. First none of the incidents are connected. A Latin guy and a black kid, a cop and a wannabe thug kid, a cop and a twelve year old, a lot of cops and and a petty black criminal, and a whole bunch of subset killings involving black on black and black on white. So many are senseless violent acts that just can't be explained in any way. Many seem to be tragic and avoidable.
So you go back and say what principles do I believe in and what prejudices will I honestly admit to. I have to say I lean heavily towards giving law enforcement the benefit of the doubt. I also believe that there is a two tiered justice system not of black and white but of the moneyed and connected and the rest of us. I also subscribe to the life is not always fair and you have to learn how to deal with it school, as well as you make your own bad or good luck. The principles that would apply universally for me in these cases is that everyone of us has a duty to be responsible and accountable, actions have consequences, and none of us are above the law.
Trayvon had too much attitude and George had too much attitude. They both got into a scuffle like a million other people do every year but this one ended in tragedy, like winning some kind of twisted lottery where one man loses his life. This was not an incident that reflected on anyone else and these two had no relation to the police.
The story in ferguson reminds me of an old saying, " if you go looking for trouble chances are you are going to find trouble" . Michael Brown apparently did not feel any responsibility for acting properly in the convenience store, preferring to adopt the thug persona. When you adopt a thug persona bad things are very likely to happen to you. Bad things happened to Michael. The trial was as transparent as any legal proceedings I know of and if anything justice bent over backwards and went naked to assure fairness. Michael did not respect authority or other people. Why are we producing so many children like Michael who will meet similar fates?
I am not as familiar with the 12 year old shooting. I don't know how big the 12 year old was or even why the cop was there but the policeman sounds as if he didn't go down a checklist of possible actions he could have taken prior to pulling his gun. Maybe there is some truth to a lack of communication between some police and those they police over. Would a black cop have handled it different. Would there not have been any cop who might have started out by just talking to the kid. Police have a responsibility to use lethal force as a last resort and to have training that comes to play in these situations, but children who point real looking firearms at anybody have not had any lessons in responsibility from their parents or any other authority figures. Those who produce children must be accountable for their safety and protection. Those who serve and protect must value every life as much as their own.
In New York the tragedy seems so unnecessary. If this guy had been arrested 30 times before some of the cops should have known him or at least be familiar with his case . They certainly had enough manpower to overwhelm even a giant. All the officers on the scene bear some culpability for not speaking up about lightening up. I have no doubt that none of the officers wished any lethal harm to come to the subject but they have to be accountable for their actions irregardless of their intentions. Was the guy unhealthy and more prone to injury than most, yeah for sure, but just as the punishment needs to fit the crime, the arrest procedure needs to fit the crime. It's sad that some officers might lose their careers and even do some jail time over this, but no more sad than a man losing his life.
If we are going to ask the welfare recipient to be accountable, the chief executive to be accountable, then all the rest of us have to live up to the same standards irregardless of our fates. That is how I navigate these racial hurricanes. The figures are already out about black murders by police being no more common than whites murdered by police. Blacks are not special and police are not above the law and most Americans believe the same. Pray that we learn to obey the laws that preserve the greatest humanity.
