We all have our problems in life, right?
When you have an issue in your life, and we all have them from time to time, at the very least, that’s just life, right?
An example of what I’m talking about might be, let’s say, your neighbour upstairs plays loud music all hours of the day or night when they’re off work. You’ve been and spoken with them and they just laughed at you each time. What do you do? You take it up with your landlord, the building supervisor or maybe if it has gotten to an extreme point, the police. At least you’ve got some options, right?
Another example perhaps could be, you are being harassed by a guy, shouting names at you, embarrassing you as you go to work, come home from work, take your children to school or the park. Perhaps this time you don’t confront them for a lot of “common sense” reasons. So, perhaps this time you go to take advice from a lawyer or maybe go to the police. Well, at least there’s a choice of who to turn to.
What about if every time you go out at night, to the gym, or to meet your friends at a bar, a guy confronts you, always waiting until there is no one around to see his confronting you. This guy makes it clear he hates you, for whatever reason. He intimidates you, demeans you, physically threatens you and perhaps even physically assaults you. This time, this time there’s no alternate. You go straight to the police, right? No choice.
Those examples are fictitious, simple instruments to illustrate how it might be if you or I had to cope with real-life problems and where, ordinarily, we wouldn’t hesitate to go for help, support and lawful justice.
OK. And….?
What if in the example the upstairs neighbour with the music, the weirdo hurling abuse at you and your kids and the guy that threatens you when on your own with no witnesses…... is the same person?
Does that change anything?
What if this person is a cop? Now, does that change anything?
How can you go to the police and complain about one of their own? What will happen then? What retribution will this unleash on you…..or even worse, on your loved ones, your wife, your parents, your children? What alternate do you now have? Where do you go? Who do you talk to? If you can’t turn to the police there is literally no one to turn to.
So, when one of your community is choked to death by a police officer, in broad daylight, whilst being filmed, whilst being begged to stop by onlookers as they can see this is going to end with the death of a 46-year-old man, a black man, George Floyd, where does that community turn to? Who do they go to for the justice that so clearly needs to be meted out? The police? No. At best that yields nothing but more frustration. At worst, well, it’s hard to visualise what worse than what is happening now could possibly look like.
The protests in Minneapolis, by my estimation, were inevitable. The thought of having nowhere to go, no one of authority to speak to, no way to register any complaint, the desire to put an end to this frightening way of life, when neighbours are being killed with impunity in broad daylight would fill anyone with dread, impotence and shame, anxiety, impotence and guilt, fear, paralyzing fear, impotence and self-loathing until those feelings are replaced with anger and then rage and ultimately unstoppable motivation.
I’m white. No one of my skin colour would ever have to accept or be forced to accept this sort of tyranny in a so-called “Western democracy”. The tyranny of constant threat of violence that could ultimately lead to death. At least not openly, blatantly and under the guise of some sort of lawful action.
How do people survive this onslaught?
People of colour and minorities, in general, have to be two people and to teach children to be two people. Who are these “two people” and why do they need to be two people?
The first person is the ordinary, normal person they are. The person that has family and friends, goes to work, plays sports, you know, people just like you and I.
Then there’s the person they have to be when around those in authority. This second person has to be ever vigilant, always on guard, to make sure they don’t look at anyone the “wrong way”. That they don’t say “the wrong thing” and to make sure that above everything else, it can never, ever look as though you pose a threat of any type. Sometimes, even being no threat, adopting a totally passive posture, even being totally still, without life isn’t enough.
Given the slightest provocation, as they would see it from their twisted, racist and self-proclaimed superiority over the people they are charged with protecting, viewpoint would entitle state forces to act in any way they see fit. This, of course, means being able to use legalised force. “If that leads to the death of another innocent person, well, so be it.” seems to have been the normative posture.
“I must be in the right. We’ve always done it this way and none of my colleagues have been punished for it. Hell, we’re encourage to do this. How else do we keep control? Why do you think we have access to military-grade equipment? It isn’t just to look the part!!!”.
Why should a person’s skin colour ever come into such a question?
That, in itself, is a whole other conversation which needs to be had, should have already been had and settled. It is one I intend to resurrect as part of a video series coming starting in the next few weeks.
Really! How complicated is it to know why we should protect everyone?
I really struggle, in fact, I really can’t believe that we are a fifth of the way into the 21st century and I have to clarify this situation for people living in the richest, most powerful country on the planet. No matter who you are, male, female, Muslim, Jew, Christian, black, white, brown, gay, straight, able or disabled, whatever the defining features of the person, everyone’s life, by virtue of being a human being, your life is protected. Simple morality is enough to know this. Every child knows this. It doesn’t or shouldn’t require age, experience or wisdom to know this.
Hobbes, in Leviathan, writes that in the state of nature i.e. where there is no state, there can be, “. . . no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
We have "The state" and yet for a large section of our "society", they must endure
"continual fear, and danger of violent death" for nothing more than the colour of their skin.To quote from the ECHR, Section 1 Rights And Freedoms, Article 2 Right to life, the first paragraph, the first sentence, the first, substantive words of this document state, 1. Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. Protected by “law?” Ironic isn’t it?
Surely, this is just in the US, right?
Growing up in a majority-black neighbourhood of South London, England, I saw and experienced first hand how racism manifests itself by those in “authority”, those that have the backing of the state.
I have always known that, in the UK, there were a different set of “rules” applied based on at least the colour of your skin. I am talking about the full gamut of potential to rub up against state authority. Whether stealing a bag of sweets to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
For those of you reading this thinking, “thank fuck I’m white.” Or for those of you that actively encourage this sort of action based on your lack of understanding or experience, I have some news for you. The “Out” group that consists of people of a different skin colour becomes enlarged. It becomes enlarged by the “sympathisers”, the “black/jew….fill in your own hatred based epithet here….lovers”, anyone that simply doesn’t take it on face value that treatment at the hands of state officials is acceptable.
The initial targets for organised and indemnified racists, people of colour, are easy to identify and so they get the brunt of the hatred. Those that don’t fit into this demographic but speak out for their oppressed neighbours or simply their fellow human beings, very quickly become part of the “expanded ‘Out’ group.”
Simply put, no matter your colour, if you don’t agree with the systematic subjugation and state-sanctioned killing of a portion of society, then you are against those that do and you are now part of the out-group. They’ll be coming for you!
Where does this end?
The one thing I didn’t foresee growing up was the militarization of the police force. If you don’t know what I’m talking about search google with “police militarization” and “police militarization uk” and look at “Images”.
What place do APC’s have on domestic streets?
Perhaps even worse is the use of military tactics by civil police forces. This gives police officers the skills that would ordinarily be deployed against opposing, warring soldiers. Armed, if not exactly as themselves, then very similarly.
If you arm, train and deploy state officials as soldiers, exactly what distinguishes them from soldiers?
Police officers are there “To protect and to serve.” Soldiers are there to
Is this just a cynical way to legally ignore posse comitatus and allow, to all intents and purposes, the military of the US or UK to operate legally on their own soil?
What can you do?
Until such a time as a fairer, just society is brought about by us, the people, we can only operate within the society we currently live. That is no reason to not do everything that can be done to make individual changes.
The system we have gives us a “representative” that is there to push the needs of our communities, to fight for how we want and need our future to be. Contact them. Everyday. Via every means possible.
Tell them that a “lottery” for life and death isn’t any sort of society.
Tell them that a black man being 2.5 times more likely to be killed by the police isn’t any sort of society.
Tell them that having a system so corrupted that those that are supposed to “protect and serve” the communities that pay for them being responsible for any number of deaths isn’t any sort of society.
Contact your MP - UK Parliament
Find Your Representative | house.gov - US House of Representatives
Advice and Information - Liberty
Amnesty International: Home - Amnesty Intl
Black Lives Matter: Home - BLM
Stonewall | Acceptance without exception - Stonewall
Stop Disability Hate Crime - Disability Rights, UK
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