We need to do better … but the pendulum has to stop. We can’t knee-jerk our way into change, whether it be social or political. We can’t. Look at the outcomes throughout time: One group that feels angered or oppressed wins power; then they immediately put in policies that angers or oppresses the other group that lost power. This is the pendulum theory (which I probably just made up?). How do we stop the swing and settle in the middle? How do we get everyone to move forward, not just one group or another?
Look at countries around the world that have had seismic shifts in political power: They have gone after those in power before them, sometimes taking and redistributing wealth, and sometimes just killing them off, literally. What did that solve? In every case throughout history it has solved nothing.
And here we are today in the US, with all the protests over police brutality. I can, without hesitation, promise everyone who reads this that every officer and deputy I have known (and that numbers into the hundreds) are professionals. But there are bad elements in law enforcement that need to be identified, inappropriate conduct met with justice, and badges removed when appropriate. But that is a very, very small element of the hundreds of thousands of law enforcement professionals around the nation. What happened in Minneapolis was wrong and will be punished; it should have never happened. It was angering to watch – I frankly couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and yet I responded to calls as the paramedic when the hobbled suspect high on cocaine stopped breathing; those police reacted quickly, fortunately.
Inappropriate and illegal actions by law enforcement has, sadly, happened far more than once. But in Atlanta in the last 48 hours when a man whom was contacted by police (and found to be under the influence of a substance based on roadside tests) resisted arrest, after 20 min of friendly conversation with the two officers, then fought with the police (who had been respectful and friendly to that point), took a taser from an officer’s belt, runs, turns and fire at the officers, is then shot… Well, I side with the officers on that one. Why aren’t others? The threat posed by this man was real; the taser may not have been seen by the public as deadly, but he resisted, fought, fled with a weapon, and discharged it at the officers. Story over. A taser shot in the wrong place on the body could be deadly, or cause serious injury, incidentally. And the overhead video shows everything. You should watch it.
And what happened after that incident in Atlanta? The Wendy’s restaurant that called the police in the first place for this man who was passed out in his car blocking their drive-thru was burned to the ground. And the protestors that burned it blocked the fire department for over an hour. Where is the outrage in social media for that? Why are so many silent then?
What else is happening? Well, now we have renewed pushed nationwide to tear down former Confederate statues and rename US Army posts that have Confederate general names. Really? So, we want to erase history, instead of learning from it? Nancy Pelosi is now on that bandwagon, too. It didn’t bother her for the first three decades in Congress, but it suddenly outrages her now. Even former generals like P.G.T. Beauregard are facing statue assaults, Fort renamings, and possible New Orleans street renamings… yet history shows that he was a graduate of West Point, he did fight on the Confederate side, but was a bit of an enemy with Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederacy), refused to participate in his funeral, and most importantly, Beauregard was a champion of voting rights and education for the Black Americans after the war.
Where is the outrage as we attack the memory, history and legacy of 10 of our first 12 presidents that were all slave owners? Do we want to pretend that never happened? Do we want to punish them for what was not considered wrong 250 years ago, but we now know is? Or do we want to instead educate ourselves and our children, using those markers, text books, and other pieces of history to show where we’ve been, so we can see the path we are pointing toward as we look ahead? What will we try to abolish 200 years from today? Should we vilify all pharma stockholders because 200 years from now we found they were responsible for causing mass immune deficiencies and thousands of deaths because we ate too many antibiotics? It sounds ridiculous, but think of the times in the past when things were looked at differently than today; and when we then evolved, matured, and learned, we changed …and grew.
My thoughts are really these: If we don’t find a way off the pendulum, we’ll limit our ability to advance as a society as quickly as we could. Movements like “defunding the police” are ridiculous. Period. Taking out school resource officers, especially in the state that has more school shooting than any other in the nation…is ridiculous. Sending in a nurse or a counselor to an armed, active situation, is ridiculous. Deterrence and mutual respect works. It does. The good stories around successes in community policing and providing role models to kids by having police in schools where kids aren’t scared of them, but instead trust them, come to them for advice, confide in them, etc… Those stories are real and good (and as many of you know, firsthand experience of this runs deep in this household). But nowhere…absolutely nowhere do I hear that side, or anyone on social media to state it. But the pendulum swings far, and here we are.
We have a lot of work to do to level the playing field for all in this country, but the violence and protests aren’t going to get that change to happen; it will, however, cause the pendulum to swing very hard back the other direction soon. But what does that do to help anyone? It was really heartwarming to see many examples of black men carrying white (injured) men out of crowds, protecting them from further harm. It was just as heartwarming to see lines of multi-racial citizens blocking protestors from getting to police lines, effectively protecting the officers (who, by the way, are mostly minority officers in most major cities). Those people get it. They understand the pendulum and its consequences. If it works in your favor today, it won’t work for you tomorrow. What can we do collectively and individually to stop the pendulum?
Thoughts to ponder.
