We must end injustices! We must take a stand! We must not stay silent!As a white (previously) mid class woman who is happily divorced from a malignant narcissist and now residing in extreme poverty with a dual masters unable to get hired; I feel for these individuals who must face racism daily.
I know injustices as I deal with them daily on the front line as a volunteer having received the highest honor our nation offers to community service from our 41st President in the form of the Points of Light Award.
Witnessing how there are two faces to many who vow to help those in need has caused me to question why and how these toxic individuals have been able to maintain so much power and control over us all.
I've seen the violence, I've witnessed the lack of empathy, I've been threatened and forced into silence and yet here I stand before you to tell you that I will never stay silent and will speak up for such injustices so long as I have breath.
This was a read that truly took the soul out of me because many of these victims are not causing mass havoc, they are not violent offenders, they do not have rap sheets a mile long, they are not doing anything different than anyone else in trying to stay alive and survive in economic uncertainties that favor the wealthy and powerful.
Since when is selling bootlegged cigarettes a crime that's worth taking a life?
Since when as is the case of George Floyd (2020) in using allegedly a fake 20 bill worth a 'lynching' as many have noted simply because of his race?
When have we lost our souls as a nation to not possess an ounce of moral compassion, empathy, or love for our fellow man or woman as the case for Breonna Taylor when she was shot multiple times. Sadly she was an ER tech fighting against the Corona Virus pandemic that overtook our nation and yet she lost her life to such violence.
Why?
Why do we have a President who feels it necessary to send armed and dangerous yet trained to kill & unmarked officers to keep the peace within the blocks of the White House?
Why do we have a chief and so called leader in the top office of the land that's using tear gas to chase out 'peaceful protesters' from a house that belongs to all of us while he sits behind a fortified fence with heavily armed agents protecting him so he can have photo ops on a whim?
We have either lost our minds or are in some serious help going forward because policing is not about using our own military against our own innocent people.
Using words such as keeping "the right people" off the streets is no different than targeting individuals that have a right to be out on public property peacefully.
Eric Garner and the choke hold that was used against him with such an excessive use of force are meant not to restraint but in my personal and professional opinion to kill.
As a Master in Criminal Justice we've been taught many things from the cases that came before to prevent such force to the statues and limitations that are in the crimes code manuals of each state and I'll tell you -we need effective change in policies and politics.
The only way such reform can be accomplished is by peacefully protesting, voting, and sharing these personal stories and yes* thank god* we live in a camera driven word including body cam footage or else much more would never be uncovered.
This was murder that just happened in front of all our eyes with George Floyd. We all should be offended and alarmed.Positional asphyxia is not to be used and the police knew that continued use would be deadly even after they were warned from a previous case from 2010: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865341322/minneapolis-police-were-sued-a-decade-ago-in-similar-restraint-case
This is just not right and it's time for a revolution, it's time for change, it's time to understand that all lives matter . Yes, Black lives matter. Defunding the Police is just one pro-active step.
Community policing needs to come back to life with respect, honor, and validation not reactive but proactive.
We need to stand united. We need to act as one. We need to love one another.
Thank you to Bibliotheca for this Cloud Library E-read.
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