You may have noticed and wondered why I have reserved comment on the recent protests against killer cops. It is because I have ambivalence about the particular situations that have been singled out, and it is because I don’t believe the problem to be as racial as many black groups would like to indicate.
As evidenced by the many related columns on TOCC.tv, I see a problem with militarization of municipal police forces, and I see white victims nearly as often as I see black victims. And, I think it’s related to the same causes as the apparently color-blind Occupy movement. Therefore I think that the law enforcement reformation movement would have more credibility if protest organizers recognize the use of excessive force, and other civil rights violations, when it is applied to others than those in minority groups.
It certainly has occured in Huntsville, and Alabama, as noted by the Farron Barksdale case. What Farron Barksdale did isn’t the point. That he was murdered at the hands of corrupt jailers is the perfect commentary on the inappropriate militia-style justice that the black community is so sensitive to. Obviously, I count jailers who ignore jail-house problems as an extension of law-enforcement, and part of the larger problem of militia style police activity. A more recent example is the case of Reginald Owens who was shot down and killed when he had nothing but a knife. To this day, I have been unable to determine from media reports the names of the officers involved, or even whether Owens was white or black. Where were the protesters then?
As mentioned in this column title, Oakwood College students have a history of protest and kudos to them for responsible public action. They protested last week during rush hour traffic and pulled it off without violence or even an arrest, and still managed to shut down traffic on University Drive for several minutes.
Here is another article, newly re-posted, that first appeared on TOCC.tv back in 1999:
WE WON ! LOTTO DEFEATED!
How it is possible that anyone in the State of Alabama would like to associate a lottery with education funding is a mystery that only the Mafia, thugs, and thieves could possibly understand.
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© 2014 – Jim Casey
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