It’s been a minute since i’ve posted anything, partly because i had been working my way through a few ideas, and then Ferguson happened. Now i told myself when it started that I wouldn’t get sucked into the whirlwind that was online forums regarding this topic, and so far i have stuck with it. This is not because I don’t have a strong opinion on the topic, or because I believe that what and how it happened was right. It was because I am a white male. I come from a middle class family. And i have absolutely ZERO place in this discussion. The best possible thing that I could do would be to listen to the leaders of such communities and do my best to understand what is happening, and promote their message. Not speak on my own.
However, I have broken my promise to myself for one reason, i read a pretty well put together article on Politico about the reaction of a white father who had his white son executed by the police in a town in Wisconsin a few years back. The message was great, about the systemic flaws in the judicial system when it comes to actions by the police force against citizens, however i noticed that the people in my newsfeed that were sharing this particular article were NOT the individuals who also had a problem with the way the proceedings in Ferguson were handled and were trying to spread a message. Instead, all they saw in this story was a white father who maintained his composure and calmly went about trying to solve the problem rather than rioting like these black people. That’s it. They believed that the reason these situations was different was the color of the victims skin. They couldn’t even comprehend the socio-economic differences involved, or the fact that the parents of the Ferguson victim are indeed asking for the violence to stop as well. But I can partially blame the media for the misrepresentation here, as the “protesters” are constantly being portrayed incorrectly as the rioting mobs. There is certainly a large problem here besides the inherent racism still alive in today’s society. To anyone who believes racism has nothing to do with it, please contact me personally and i will explain to you that you are wrong, with examples from my own personal life. And if I, as a middle class, white male, can experience racism in such a disgusting and life-changing manner, I cannot even begin to fathom what it would be like to live life as a minority and be subject to it every single day of my life. For those who are subject, I am truly sorry.
Yet, the only stipulation to my breaking my promise was not to get too far into the race issue, because from my position it is a lose-lose battle from my keystrokes. There is no law, or ordinance that can be passed to fix and heal this problem. I would like to think that each generation becomes less and less captive to such out of date beliefs, but unfortunately i believe only a small percentage truly improves each generation, while the rest simply become better at hiding it in public.
So now on to the non-race issue at hand, the systemic flaw in the accountability of police officers in incidents with citizens. The article that this information can be pulled from is located here. Now, let me first say that I respect the officers of the law, and I accept the fact that depending on where they are stationed, can be put into life and death situations quite often. I understand that they repeatedly put themselves in the line of fire to protect citizens. Also that during these high-stress situations snap decisions must be made that may cost the life of another human being. Being that they are sacrificing themselves on a daily basis to protect me, oftentimes they are given the benefit of the doubt regarding these decisions. HOWEVER, we are all human, and eventually, we all make mistakes. Even police officers. This man in Wisconsin embarked on a journey to research circumstances in which officers were found to be at fault, or guilty for improper use of force. In the 100+ years since the police force had been commissioned in his area, there were 0 instances in which the police officer was found to be at fault. Now, that to me was staggering. NEVER, has an officer in that area made a mistake with the usage of force. Which may very well be true, had this man’s son not been shot in the back of the head, muzzle so close it left an imprint on his head, in front of his mother and sister, surrounded by several cops, because one’s holster got caught on a car mirror and shouted in a panic that someone was trying to take his weapon, and later lab reports came back with zero DNA evidence that anyone else touched his weapon. So I can imagine that there may have been previous instances when the police force were not so valiant.
This leads to another very backwards system, in which the person who investigates the officers is the DA, who was elected partially because he had the support and endorsement of the officers. That on it’s own amazes me that there is not some impartial 3rd party to do the investigating, but the DA, who if he were to find the officer inadequate and guilty, would then lose the support of the police, and likely not be re-elected. And that’s fair. And Just. I’m done.
Embracing the Struggle 