I wonder if this man (the author of the article below0 is for more government, just not the "more govt" that kills people like him?
I wonder if this man is for the drug war? Or if he's just as tired of all the black people being killed by other black people? Or why he can't discuss the whole tragedy - the drug war, blacks killing blacks over drug matters, and the fear cops have of the folks in those wars - in the same piece? Why do people with non-black skin have to be the only ones in the wrong?
I've talked to police officers, and been a police officer. Cops are all too human. They fear known risks, of which, the drug trade is a large one. They fear getting shot. They have been shot at. They know the skin color of those who shot at them. They know the gender of those who shot at them.
Can this author allow himself to acknowledge that certain behaviors incur greater risk? And that if a lot of folks of identifiable characteristics - skin color, gender, style of dress, etc - present an excessive risk to those not like them, others of the same characteristics will suffer? You know, like day follows night.
When agents of the state kill unarmed people it is WRONG. It is a gross tragedy. It is wretched and scary. Blaming it on racism misses the point. There are racists of all races, but luckily not too many of any kind of racists in the places I live. But racism doesn't kill. The drug wars kill, the governments kill, and the chaos created by prohibition kills.
The author asks a stupid question, "How many unarmed people have to die?" The question he seems to mean is "How many unarmed people like me have to die when shot by agents of the state who are frightened as a consequence of the drug wars?" I want to know how many have to die in the name of a drug prohibition that doesn't stop people from getting drugs? And since drug prohibition is supposed to protect "us", why do we keep it up when it puts us all at risk? And why can't smart writers at CNN see the obvious difference?
Since we all want the cops to stop shooting us, let's give the cops fewer reasons to do anything to us at all. Let's give them fewer rules to enforce, and fewer jobs to do. Let their job be - keep me safe from you, and you from me. The drug war has become a war on people, citizens, who would largely be of risk only to themselves. When it ends we'll all wonder why we didn't learn the lesson from alcohol prohibition.
Since we all want the cops to stop shooting us, let's give the cops fewer reasons to do anything to us at all. Let's give them fewer rules to enforce, and fewer jobs to do. Let their job be - keep me safe from you, and you from me. The drug war has become a war on people, citizens, who would largely be of risk only to themselves. When it ends we'll all wonder why we didn't learn the lesson from alcohol prohibition.
No comments:
Post a Comment