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Horse with no Name

(33,956 posts)
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 02:06 PM Dec 2014

Found on Facebook. Very righteous rant regarding the circumstances

Eric Smith

To those I know on Facebook and in person who have said to me that premeditated assassination of officers is the proper response to what has been happening, I say, now what? To those in law enforcement & on the Far Right, who have glorified the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and justified police genocide of the poor and the black for too long; now that your callous cruelty towards those who you are charged with protecting has led one of them to step from the shadows and slay one of your own, where do you say we go from here?

What will it be America, "chaos or community", in the words of Dr. King? This cycle of violence will not stop unless both sides decide to end it and because it is ultimately the brutal conduct of law enforcement which created this violent environment, the onus thus falls on it to initiate appropriate reforms and change its collective attitudes & conduct towards those who are minority from that of an occupying army to a positive force dedicated to maintaining order, and treating all the people they are charged with protecting with dignity and respect regardless of where they live, what their income level is, or the color of their skin.

America stands on the precipice of anarchy. Today we as a nation are far closer to chaos than community. Token talk will no longer suffice and neither will a continued refusal to address those complex issues of race and class which continue to roil the politics and pervert the attitudes & conduct of a nation which bases its very existence on the idea that neither is relevant; that race and class have no place in American life, culture, or law.

If we as a society continue to tolerate police misconduct and if our political leaders continue to scapegoat an entire group of people because of their color and economic level in order to justify such misconduct, then yesterday's tragic events will surely become the new normal and if that happens none of us will be safe for just as the people needs law enforcement to protect them, so too does law enforcement need the trust of those same people in order to be protected itself.

Destroy that trust and anarchy will inevitably reign supreme and it is in the cesspool of anarchy that evil acts are most effectively incubated and transformed from violent thoughts to violent deeds. We can stop this but we must change our attitudes and our conduct. We must collectively stop glorifying violence and we must especially stop making excuses for its misuse by our public servants in law enforcement under the banner of law and order.

It is in law in enforcement where this cycle of violence has begun and thus it falls upon law enforcement to make those necessary changes needed to rebuild the trust of those poor & black communities in order for this cycle of violence to end. To merely dismiss yesterday's atrocity as that of a crazed lone wolf is to make inevitable more such crazed wolves leaping from the shadows and leaving in their wake even more heartbreak, chaos, and death since doing this will do nothing to drain that cesspool of distrust that has served to incubate their madness and give fuel to their hate in the first place

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Found on Facebook. Very righteous rant regarding the circumstances (Original Post) Horse with no Name Dec 2014 OP
This: 99Forever Dec 2014 #1
Something so simple Horse with no Name Dec 2014 #2
I disagree that LE is where this cycle has begun. CrispyQ Dec 2014 #3
Live by the sword, die by the sword... americannightmare Dec 2014 #4
The problem is that the violence didn't begin with law enforcement. aikoaiko Dec 2014 #5
The violence did start with corrupt LE. Enthusiast Dec 2014 #6
And the broad brush painting of all officers as dirty or corrupt? the_sly_pig Dec 2014 #7
"the broad brush painting of all officers as dirty or corrupt?" NewDeal_Dem Dec 2014 #9
Really? the_sly_pig Dec 2014 #12
I don't read that as painting all cops as dirty, or as painting all cops as prejudging. NewDeal_Dem Dec 2014 #13
I never claimed it was easy. It isn't easy. Enthusiast Dec 2014 #11
True. To American LE blacks and Hispanics have been what the Jews were to the Nazis--victims of Louisiana1976 Dec 2014 #10
"To those I know on Facebook... NewDeal_Dem Dec 2014 #8

99Forever

(14,524 posts)
1. This:
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 02:16 PM
Dec 2014
"It is in law in enforcement where this cycle of violence has begun and thus it falls upon law enforcement to make those necessary changes needed to rebuild the trust of those poor & black communities in order for this cycle of violence to end."

Nothing else will work.

CrispyQ

(36,221 posts)
3. I disagree that LE is where this cycle has begun.
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 02:57 PM
Dec 2014

When you are the number one exporter of war & weapons you shouldn't be surprised when the chickens come home to roost.

We need to have a national discussion about why we spend so much more on military expenditures than any other country, but then we'd have to discuss who actually benefits from this & the 1% will make sure that discussion never happens.

There is another thread today about how the 1% want us all competing for the lowliest of paid jobs because we are all so desperate. There will be plenty of people who will work as cops & oppress those they are supposedly to 'serve & protect' as long as they get a paycheck. I do not see an easy way out of this mess.

americannightmare

(322 posts)
4. Live by the sword, die by the sword...
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 03:08 PM
Dec 2014

America's solution (up to now, anyway), get MORE swords! Americans will kill themselves off before climate change does, at this rate...

aikoaiko

(34,127 posts)
5. The problem is that the violence didn't begin with law enforcement.
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 03:20 PM
Dec 2014

It began with bonafide criminals committing violence against civil servants who were doing their jobs.

Nevertheless it is incumbent to be more discriminating with their use of violence since we can depend on criminals to always use violence when they are apprehended.

But to say the violence began with LEO is asshattery of the most stupid.

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
6. The violence did start with corrupt LE.
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 03:41 PM
Dec 2014

What are you saying?

LE is justified in paying back an entire race because of what a few might have done?


White criminals blew up an entire federal building in Oklahoma City but LE wouldn't think of tarnishing an entire race of Caucasians because of it.

The point is, LE personnel have to evaluate each circumstance on its own and not pre judge an entire people. Which is what they have been doing. They have been racist in their actions. This is perfectly clear.

the_sly_pig

(740 posts)
7. And the broad brush painting of all officers as dirty or corrupt?
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 05:05 PM
Dec 2014

How is that any different than racial discrimination?

If it's so easy why don't you become a cop.

 

NewDeal_Dem

(1,049 posts)
9. "the broad brush painting of all officers as dirty or corrupt?"
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 05:08 PM
Dec 2014

by who?

not the poster you responded to.

the_sly_pig

(740 posts)
12. Really?
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 06:33 PM
Dec 2014

"The point is, LE personnel have to evaluate each circumstance on its own and not pre judge an entire people. Which is what they have been doing. They have been racist in their actions. This is perfectly clear."

I refuse to defend corrupt cops or agencies. "They are pre-judging an entire people", "They have been racist in their actions". Explain where the poster differentiates between the vast majority of good cops and the minority of bad cops?

Unless, of course, you think all cops are dirty.

 

NewDeal_Dem

(1,049 posts)
13. I don't read that as painting all cops as dirty, or as painting all cops as prejudging.
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 06:48 PM
Dec 2014

The poster doesn't specifically 'differentiate,' but neither does he explicitly broadbrush 'all cops'.

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
11. I never claimed it was easy. It isn't easy.
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 05:34 PM
Dec 2014

It requires a level of dedication that some will not commit to.

Painting cops with a broad bush is painting a specific group of public employees. That is one thing. Cops are our employees. Essentially we, the citizens, are their boss.

Painting a specific race with a broad bush is far worse and it unquestionably amounts to RACISM.

This is what we are witnessing. Cops are painting an entire race with a broad brush. This is something we, as a society, cannot tolerate. Either the police will have to change or they will have to lose their job. Anything else is unacceptable.

Louisiana1976

(3,962 posts)
10. True. To American LE blacks and Hispanics have been what the Jews were to the Nazis--victims of
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 05:12 PM
Dec 2014

genocide.

 

NewDeal_Dem

(1,049 posts)
8. "To those I know on Facebook...
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 05:05 PM
Dec 2014

and in person who have said to me that premeditated assassination of officers is the proper response to what has been happening"


I want to see these hordes of people who are supposedly saying this.

I think it's bullshit, promulgated to stir up trouble.

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