Let me preference this post by saying that I do NOT prescribe to the whole ACAB thing (all cops are bad). I know they aren't all bad because I know several police officers who are amazing people and who are sickened by the unnecessary brutality and murder that takes place.
Having said that, we cannot change one faction of our justice system without changing all of it.
We
Can
Not
Change
One
Faction
Of
Our
Justice
System
Without
Changing
All
Of
It.
Racism is still very much a problem in this country. It hasn't gone away, it was just quietly kept in a box, in an attic and not openly spoken about.
In 2016, that all changed. Republicans and racists had someone who wasn't afraid to wear his white robe loud and proud. So they elected him to the highest office in this country and made him the president. This emboldened the racists and brought them out of hiding, giving them the courage to act like the last 50+ years never happened. Social media gave them a platform to loudly and proudly go after BIPOC.
I'm not naïve enough to think that police brutality and systematic racism didn't exist before He Who Shall Not Be Named was put into office. I know it did. But it seems to me like, since 2016, it got so.much.worse.
The cops no longer had to watch themselves because they had the GOP there to back them up. They had Republican strong courts and internal affairs, city officials, etc to find a way to warp the truth to make it the brutality/murder justifiable.
If we want to fix the racism that is running rampant in the criminal justice system, we have to fix the government that supports it. We have to fix the laws, with their loop holes and their double standards. We have to stop allowing white people to play the victim at the hands of BIPOC people. We have to stop coddling white murderers and writing their behavior off as a mental illness while we justify shooting a person because they didn't put their hands up the first time.
We endured 4 very long, very tiring years of having a bully in the office of the president, who encouraged other bullies to beat us up and take our lunch money. We took away his platform, but they created a new one. It's become almost cult like and it is frightening.
Fixing this issue starts with us. It starts with you, it starts with me. We have to use the white privilege we have and fight for our BIPOC and AAPI brothers and sisters. We have to be their voice when they are voiceless, their strength when they are weak, their hope when they are hopeless. We need to change our government and stop letting old, rich white people decide the rules for a country that isn't completely made up of old, rich white people. We need young people to be willing to vote, to pound the pavement and bring in people who they know will change the world. We need to stop trying to silence the youth of this country and accept that they are more woke than we will ever be and they are the difference makers. They are the future.
Do I have a solution to the problem of police brutality and racial bias? No, I don't. But I'm raising the next generation and that's one little way I can change it.
Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This month 5 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.
My subject was "Do you have a solution to the problem of police brutality and its inherent racial bias as it is seen across the world but particularly in the U.S.?" and it was submitted by the awesome and through provoking Jenniy from Climaxed. Thanks for the prompt!
See what my friends have for you by clicking below!
Although I agree with a lot of what you say, and I've said similar myself, I've come to the realization that too many of us do not want to change the racist direction this country has headed in. I fear those of us who want peace and justice and equality may just be spitting into the wind.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to have that realization. I've reached it as well. This country is fractured so much.
DeleteI applaud you for doing a phenomenal job at raising the next generation. But so do the others. As much as I hate to say it, it's a numbers game. They who have more children (and manage to keep them safe and alive until they are 18) will have the majority.
ReplyDeleteIt was little short of a miracle that East and West Germany reunited. I'm not positive here Israel and Palestine are concerned, and frankly the same goes for entitled conservatives and, well, the good guys.
So whatever we can do in our own little bubble will make a small change, but it probably won't change the world.
Probably not...but then, the idea of the world is subjective, right? My little bubble is changing "our" world and right now, I'm good with that.
DeleteBesides, as Katniss Everdeen once said...every revolution begins with a spark. Our just need someone to flick the match.
I love this! I say that to my family all of the time "be the change" don't just "see the change". You're right the racist and bullies have become empowered because who wants to call himself Hitler (look at his little hand signal) look familiar? It does have to be a cataclysmic change from the top right down to the lowest. White men need to loose their power!
ReplyDeleteI'm an ACAB person. And normally I just wouldn't comment, but I wanted to make it clear that cop in this instance is the job. It isn't the person behind the job. It isn't personal about whoever's uncle. It is about the job "cop" and all cops are partaking in an oppressive system that unfairly punishes those outside the majority. ACAB all day because our idea of policing is buried in slave patrols and union busting. I highly recommend the miniseries of the podcast Behind the Bastards called Behind the Police for a real in depth history of policing worldwide and in this country. We absolutely can come up with something better than what we're doing right now.
ReplyDelete