Speaking Out Against Injustice

My guest blogger today is Bill D. (a member of my family):

“The murder of George Floyd absolutely horrifies me. It is simply unconscionable that a human being could be so careless, so cold. I was a police officer and have been in public safety my whole life. I wholeheartedly agree with calling out the bad apples and having zero tolerance.

I understand but do not condone (that is different) the rioting and protests. Rioting against injustice, although destructive, and ‘illegal’ has been a part of civilization since the beginning. When the anger, frustration, and helplessness reaches a level where it cannot be contained, it is released in an explosive manner. I cannot even begin to guess the amount of pain and anger minority communities have gone through over this time after time. Looting is different, and then it’s not about your anger and wanting to be heard, wanting change, anymore. Looting is a selfish criminal behavior.

But after the release of anger, where do we go from here? How do we move forward together? Painting all cops as bad is not helpful. I worry this would lead to increased confrontation, increased reaction, and increased violence with every interaction. Just as every black person is NOT a ‘thug’, not every law enforcement officer is racist. Every case is different, and not every law enforcement killing is criminal. Some are justified, some are terrible mistakes, and some, like Minneapolis, are negligent and egregious enough to be murder.

White agitators and professional inciters are harmful. As a white person, who can clearly see how wrong it is that a black man cannot jog, cannot bird-watch in Central Park, who cannot exist safely, what can I do to fix this?

How can ‘wrong’ be so clear and still exist? How can a person with so many use-of-force complaints still be a cop? How does the Minneapolis leadership explain that? There has to be absolute, no exception, zero tolerance.

“What if it were your son?” – sign from May 2020 protests (taken by Travis Heying)

And I am not just pandering as a white man. My son is black. I love him with all my heart and greatly fear for him. He has special needs. His disabilities make it where he cannot process information normally. He naturally argues ‘everything’. And no, it’s not normal teenage arguing (I am so sick of hearing that). He mentally processes everything as a challenge. He believes things that are not true. He honestly thinks if I tell him something, it doesn’t apply when he’s with Mom because she never told him. I know how he’ll react if confronted by law enforcement. He is not mentally capable of ‘going along’ and waiting to call me. And that haunts me every day.

I don’t have all the answers. The best solution I’ve seen so far is to film everything. Good officers, if you’re not interfering, should have no issue with you holding your phone out in public. Even if you’re white, speak up. Don’t just tell minorities that we see you as human beings equal in rights and safety. Speak that we’ll stand with you whenever needed. Speak up and tell the police that we need you, we support you, but we’re watching you too. Who watches the watchers?

I am blue, through and through. I believe and support the very concept of law enforcement. And I believe in my heart, sitting in the safety of my home, that if one of my peers, my friends, crossed the line, I could stop them and call them out. But I had a wonderful mentor in my small hometown that taught me honor and integrity are paramount.

If by speaking out, even a little, can help create a safer world for my kids, then this is me speaking out. We have to change. We have to have leaders at all levels willing to lead that change.”

Warren to Biden Voter?

I never met Lean Axially but this powerful message grabbed me on Facebook. Since Lean said it was OK to share with quotes and attribution (Thanks, Lean, for speaking up for those who will suffer and telling how it affects you personally.) Too many voters think only of their personal lives and disregard others when chosing a candidate. We must think of the greater good.

Are You a Warren Voter Thinking of Switching to Biden?

 

“It’s annoying that this needs to be said. If you were voting for Warren and are now unapologetically voting for Biden, you really only wanted a white [Christian] woman to be president—you don’t give a shit about the platform Warren ran on, and you still haven’t learned a damn thing all your life + the last four years, which is a fucking feat at this point to still be so willingly obtuse.

To vote for a man who not only is/was a segregationist; who plunged us into debt when in pursuit of higher education; who continued to make healthcare unaffordable and inaccessible to those who need it most; who had a devastating impact on Black and brown communities via legislation he’s passed throughout his political career and who has gone on record to say that he didn’t want his kids going to majority Black schools in fear that they would “grow up in a jungle”—I shit you not); who opposes abortion rights (where the f-ck are your pussy hats now lol); who opposes gay marriage (which is such a low bar at this point for many politicians to check off and your boy still can’t); who voted in favor of devastating wars and trade deals; like, y’all are really something else. I hope you trip and break your hip on the way to the polls.

P.S. there’s no way I’m apologizing for my tone, or fervor because this election is literally life-or-death for me. Having no foreseeable options for getting a citizenship application passed, living in fear of ICE, of having my healthcare pulled on a daily basis living with multiple chronic medical conditions, and barely being able to afford rent or utilities while working a job that puts me in direct risk for communicable illnesses for $12 an hour—I really don’t give a fuck if this offends any sensibilities because being polite to people who would rather stay comfortable in a bubble isn’t going to do me, my family, or my friends who are in similar or worse conditions any favors. To be clear, I’m not recruiting; I’m not a part of Bernie’s campaign; I’m speaking for myself, and I refuse to be shut out by people who have my life, and so many others’, in their hands and are literally balling it up and throwing it out with their vote.

If you want to share this post, just put quotes around it and credit me (Lean Axially).”