Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Symbolism and Incrementalism Are No Longer Enough


Another week--another half dozen or more local protests in support of Black Lives Matter and against police brutality and militarization. A local group of Muslim activists and allies stand on a busy street corner and receive many positive honks and waves from passers-by. It seems more and more ordinary Americans feel that we can no longer wait and simply hope things get better. Now is the time for change, and now is the time to take action!
Our special guest blogger has a lot to say to those who think little (or no) change to our current corrupt system is what Americans need to survive and thrive in 2020. He's not afraid to lay it out in no uncertain terms, either.

The current protests are not only a condemnation of police brutality, but a condemnation of everyone who has been in power who have opted to kick the can down the road as opposed to truly reforming this entire system.
An Open Letter to the DNC, Corporate Media and The People: Why Symbolism and Incrementalism Are No Longer Enough! 
By The Independent Reformist

To the Democratic Party:

Recently, the House Democrats (led by House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi) unveiled their bill to address police reform. According to Vox, the key details are as follows:

The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 contains a number of measures that make it easier to prosecute police misconduct and demilitarize police departments around the country.
The bill’s biggest provision seeks to end qualified immunity, a thorny legal issue that gives police officers and other public officials broad immunity from civil lawsuits. The US Supreme Court, which has upheld the qualified-immunity doctrine in past rulings, is currently deciding whether to hear arguments next term in a case challenging qualified immunity.
The legislation also incorporates a proposal from Sen. Cory Booker that would create a new national registry to track misconduct as a way to prevent repeat offenders from being rehired at other police departments.
In addition, the bill seeks to ban the use of chokeholds and certain no-knock warrants at the federal level, as well as to incentivize state and local governments to do the same. Both tactics have been factors in police killings of unarmed black people: A no-knock warrant used by police in Kentucky in March ended in the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT who died after officers broke down her door without warning and fatally shot her.  --Vox: Democrats' Sweeping New Police Reform Bill, Explained by Ella Nilsen and Li Zhou

There is some decent legislation in this bill, but before we get too excited, let’s take a step back for a moment. This bill will likely never make it into law as long as Mitch McConnell and the Republicans hold the Senate, and Donald Trump is president. At present, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans have avoided criticizing Barr’s authorization of force used to peaceful protesters for Trump’s recent photo op in front of a church.


If Republicans can’t criticize their leaders when excessive force is used on non-violent protestors, how can we expect that they will support a meaningful police reform bill? --MSNBC, MTP Daily: “GOP Senators Avoid Comments On Trump’s Photo-Op, Use Of Tear Gas On Protestors”

Assuming that this is the case, then the question becomes, “What will happen if Democrats gain power?” It would be their responsibility to push this and a couple of other tweaks and get it done early into the new term. If history is a guide, the push for reforms stop as soon as the cameras stop. This cannot happen. Understand that if Democrats end up taking power it will be because a lot of leftists and independents held their nose to get rid of Trump as opposed to supporting Biden.

Part of the disconnect with the left and left-leaning independents is that the Democrats are as guilty of serving the wealthy and the powerful as Republicans are. Also, Democrats sometimes act as though they are about reform when they are out of power, but only do the smallest reforms (if any) when they gain power. Years of this tired strategy has made people less aligned with parties and helped to increase the percentage of independent voters and non-voters.

After their announcement, Democrat took a symbolic knee to show solidarity with protesters of the murder of George Floyd. If there is anything that politicians are good at, it is using symbolism to score political points and sometime hijack the purpose of a movement. Symbolism is fine and dandy, but symbols aren’t the same as real reform. The lack of real reform is the reason that people are out in the streets in great numbers across the nation and around the world. 

People are tired of seeing the same game played. This is why you have the AOCs, Rashida Tlaibs and Ilhan Omars winning elections. This is why insurgent candidates are mounting real challenges to the seats of long entrenched power-brokers within the DNC. People are done with symbols. It’s all about results and quality, tangible reforms now. If you are not truly interested in fighting for and bringing about the reforms that the people in the streets want, it is time for you to step aside for someone who is willing to do so. If that’s you, then you too are culpable for the police violence and the protests in our streets right now. Do better, resign, or be ready to be voted out of office.

To The Corporate Media:

Recently, you have been covering and complaining rightfully about the abuse of fellow members covering protests. Your journalists have been shot at and arrested live on TV and on the internet. You have every right to be unhappy about the injustices that your members have experienced.


CNN journalists being arrested by police in Minneapolis, MN
https://youtu.be/ftLzQefpBvM?t=94

Welcome to the rest of us. You have only experienced a taste of what people of color have experienced their entire lives. It is only recently that your employees have had to look over their shoulders for police with their media credentials in full display. You have been “safe” and “protected”.

Imagine for a moment that you did not have your media credentials to protect you. Imagine that you did not have a multi-million dollar corporation and its multi-millionaire owner available to make a call to the police and demand your release--and it actually worked. Think about that for a moment. One phone call by a wealthy tycoon and press credentials were the only things that separate you from being treated like the rest of us.

  • Put yourself or someone you love in the shoes of nonviolent protesters who get shoved to the ground or beaten. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3DX3SLGB34
  • Imagine it is you or someone you love who was going about their life and had the life choked out of them by police.
  • Imagine it is you or someone you love who is shot in a car by police just because you informed them you had a weapon in your glove box, and the officer claimed you reached for it.
  • Imagine it is you or someone you love who is going for a run and gets chased and gunned down by a couple of people in pickup trucks who claim you were stealing.
  • Imagine it is you or someone you love who is being killed by two cops who are using mag lights to beat you to death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HMYEgrv-ho
  • Now imagine that this happens (and many of these cases were recorded on video) but the police are never charged and never convicted!

How would you feel if this happened to you and your family repeatedly for decades? Each time no substantive reforms are made to policing, and the rest of society only cared for two or three weeks. How would that make you feel about the people around you? What would you think about the people who only paid lip service to your plight while continuing to arm police with more military grade equipment? Would you not be angry?

Part of the problem is that media only follows the flavor of the moment and quickly moves on. The families of the victims don’t get to move on after two weeks. The people who constantly have to live in fear of racists in society don’t get to move on after two weeks. They don’t have that luxury.

Your job is to be the watchdog of democracy and justice. This is the entire reason that you are protected by The First Amendment. It is your job to hold all facets of government accountable and keep the light shined on their wrong doing even after the news cycle has ended. Now that you have had a taste of what a police state could look like perhaps now you will pay closer attention to what the police and the government are doing. That being said, I’m not holding my breath.

This is why independent online media is growing so quickly. No one, left or right, trusts you to actually do your job. Being part of the DNC’s “McResistance” is not the same as accuracy in reporting and being an advocate for justice. Take time to think on this, and don't say you’ll do better but actually do better.


To The People:

First, thank you to the people who are protesting the injustices that happen every day to people of color. It can be difficult to understand what it is like to be in another persons shoes until you have walked a mile in them. The fact that you have done so is truly appreciated. Secondly, this solidarity that we see right now is what needs to happen everyday. The conditions that brought this about are entrenched and systemic. This is a long term fight, and we will need every ally to overcome it.

For those who don’t understand what people are calling for when they say “Defund the police,” let’s start by what the majority are not calling for.

  • It is NOT having absolutely a lack of law enforcement in the community.
  • It is NOT throwing more money toward the police departments for “training.”
  • It is NOT leaving the structure in place as it is.

Here is what the idea is:

  • Completely rebuild the police department from the ground up. You can’t expect to reform an institution that is corrupt all the way to its foundation with the same foundation in place. It must be demolished and rebuilt!
  • The new institution will allow for applications from everyone and include former police officers, but there will be no favoritism and past records of violent tendencies will disqualify applicants.
  • The current system that protects police from being prosecuted and convicted for unwarranted violent actions will be abolished. Being a representative of the law does not exempt you from the consequences of breaking those laws. We must have equal justice under the law. Period.
  • The current amount of money spend on policing will be reduced. The remained of what would be previously budgeted would be allocated towards other programs for the city such as education, job training, mental health and other social programs.


Collectively, the country spends approximately $100 billion on policing as well as a further $80 billion on incarceration.  Source: Statista, “How Much Do U.S. Cities Spend On Policing?” by Niall McCarthy https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/

One of the many reasons offered to justify increasing police funding is the argument “more police equals less crime.” While there are some publications that support this argument, there are others that indicate that it may not be accurate. According to Statista:

Cities across the United States have been setting larger amounts of money aside in recent years in order to fund their police departments. Collectively, the country spends approximately $100 billion on policing as well as a further $80 billion on incarceration. Crime levels have dropped substantially over the past three years, in tandem with larger police budgets. A report published last month argues that the drop off in crime is not directly related to the larger budgets, however.
--Statista, “How Much Do U.S. Cities Spend On Policing?” by Niall McCarthy https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/

If the increase in police funding is not what is lowering overall crime, what is? A link references a second article stating the following:

The analysis of crime in the United States is generally split into two broad categories, violent crime and property crime... A tracking of crime rates over the last 20 years shows that violent crime in the United States has been on the decline. In 2018, reported violent crime was down almost 50 percent from 1990. However Americans still perceive a crime problem in their country, despite evidence to the contrary. Some 60 percent of the population felt there was more crime in 2018 than the year prior. --Statista, “Crime in the United States – statistics & facts” Published by Statista Research Department, Oct 29, 2019 https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/

Brookings, which references a research paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, suggest a different idea. Providing health care may have a big impact on lowering both violent and financial crime rates.

Most people who cycle through our criminal justice system have serious health care needs. Three out of every five state prisoners and sentenced jail inmates have a substance abuse problem. Half of state and federal prisoners and two thirds of jail inmates are in serious psychological distress or have a history of mental illness. Substance abuse and mental illness surely contribute to the difficulty many individuals have escaping the criminal justice system: two-thirds of those released from prison will be rearrested within three years. Jails and prisons provide some treatment services, but what if we increased access to treatment in communities, so that people could get help before they get into trouble? New research shows that offering broad access to treatment for these problems is not only compassionate, but also a cost-effective way to reduce crime rates.
One way to increase access to care is to open more treatment facilities throughout the country. Existing facilities often operate at capacity because of limited funding, so that those who want treatment cannot always find help. Sam Bondurant, Jason Lindo, and Isaac Swensen studied what happened to crime when local substance abuse treatment facilities opened or closed. Because facilities are likely to be located in communities where the need is greatest, a simple cross-sectional analysis might show that the presence of a treatment facility is correlated with higher crime rates. Instead, the authors looked at within-county changes over time in the number of facilities and crime rates. This allowed them to see whether a change in access to treatment led to a change in crime, after controlling for a variety of other factors that might independently affect crime (like unemployment rates and the size of the police force). The authors found that an increase in the number of treatment facilities causes a reduction in both violent and financially-motivated crime. This is likely due to a combination of forces: reducing drug abuse can reduce violent behavior that is caused by particular drugs, as well as property crimes like theft committed to fund an addiction. Reducing demand for illegal drugs might also reduce violence associated with the illegal drug trade.
Brookings, “New evidence that access to health care reduces crime” by Jennifer L. Doleac, Wednesday, January 3, 2018

The protests we see are the expected result of years upon years of making marginal changes. People have tried have tried body cameras, lawsuits and peaceful protests that only went on for a week. Still things have not improved enough to where this isn’t a concern. They are tired of being ignored. They demand that this be taken seriously.

Bear in mind that the cases that are most covered on the big news networks are mostly the one caught on camera. How many more cases are occurring without being caught on video? How many more have been swept under the rug? How long can you expect people to put up with it before they snap? Everyone has a breaking point.

Kimberly Jones expresses the frustration in the black community extremely well in the video below.



Black people, people of color and others who are protesting have good reason to be angry. It’s time to actually fix the numerous problems instead of deploying more rhetoric, symbolism and half measures.
 
Source: ThinkLogical, Author Kimberly Jones Explains Why People Protest, Riot & Loot During Racial Distress https://youtu.be/tuxukAH3lk8

If you still don’t understand how this effects you, consider this. During this period, the police have beaten, maced, arrested or shot with rubber bullets people who were:

  • White
  • Black
  • Hispanic
  • Asian
  • Male
  • Female
  • LGBTQ
  • Relgious
  • Non-religious

In other words, it doesn’t matter what you look like or how you identify. The militarized police have shown that they are willing to crush dissent, nonviolent or otherwise. If you turn a blind eye, you will potentially empowered a police state. If at some point you decide to protest something, you may very well be a victim of the same treatment that you may be cheering on.


David Doel shows video from numerous times when police have escalated and attacked non-violent protests. Source: The Rational National, Watch Police Instigate & Escalate All Across The U.S. , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3DX3SLGB34
If your solution to that issue is the gun, then it will be costly in terms of lives lost on both sides. The least costly option is to deal with the issue now and prevent a police state from ever taking hold. You may think that not doing so is to your benefit, but ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away--it only further empowers potential dictators to crush all opposition. Eventually, it will come to your doorstep.
I will close this with a famous quote, First They Came, by Pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Communists, And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists, And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists, And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews, And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me, And there was no one left
To speak out for me
References:

Image: 2020.06.06 Protesting the Murder of George Floyd, Washington, DC USA 158 20208, by Ted Eytan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/49978001278/in/pool-837331@N24

Article: “Democrats’ sweeping new police reform bill, explained” By Ella Nilsen and Li Zhou Jun 8, 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/6/8/21283841/democrats-police-reform-bill-explained-george-floyd

Video: MSNBC, MTP Daily, “GOP Senators Avoid Comments On Trump’s Photo-Op, Use Of Tear Gas On Protestors” , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN_E1iB63Ko

Video: WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel, 7 VIDEO ARCHIVE: Malice Green dies at the hands of Detroit police officers Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HMYEgrv-ho

Graphic & Quote: Statista, “How Much Do U.S. Cities Spend On Policing?” by Niall McCarthy https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/

Quote: Statista, “Crime in the United States – statistics & facts” Published by Statista Research Department, Oct 29, 2019 https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/

Quote: Brookings, “New evidence that access to health care reduces crime” by Jennifer L. Doleac, Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Video: Think Logical, Author Kimberly Jones Explains Why People Protest, Riot & Loot During Racial Distress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuxukAH3lk8

Video: The Rational National, Watch Police Instigate & Escalate All Across The U.S. , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3DX3SLGB34

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