- Pope Paul VI, 1972
People of color are treated differently. Women are treated
differently than men. Young people are treated differently. Old people are
treated differently. Immigrants are treated differently. Native Americans are
treated differently. Tall people are treated differently. Short people are
treated differently. Blue collar workers are treated differently. Service
workers are treated differently. Poor people are treated differently. Homeless
people are treated differently. Religious people are treated differently. Don’t
start me on LGBTQ community treatment.
If you ever fell into one of these categories, you have
experienced people judging you without knowing you. I have.
In mid-30’s dropping my van off after hours for service in
morning. Sat in my truck filling out the form, and putting in spare key.
Dropped it in slot and checked inside my truck because thought was forgetting
something. Then I looked at the price sticker on a new Jeep Cherokee across
street. Starting walking mile home. All the sudden stopped and surrounded by 4
policemen.
There had been break-ins on cars and they were staking the
dealer area out. Being tall, thin and with a baby face looked early 20s.
Explained dropping van for service and first question was “did I touch any car
besides my own?” No. Still a young policeman said I looked like a description
of a suspect. The older officer said no shutting that down quick. My response
was “There can’t be too many 6’3” redheads on your list.” However I realized to
police everyone looks like a potential criminal. That is why not having
committed anything resembling a crime, got stopped for being young.
Everyone has equal rights. Everyone deserves to be heard and
acknowledged. We need to improve our nation’s culture.
Things we can do:
1. Greet and Welcome people who are different than you.
Everyone has to become part of our community. Especially if their political
views, age or appearance are different than yours.
2. De-escalation Training works. Great results have been
seen in Elementary, Middle and High Schools. Works well for consumer businesses
like Starbucks. Works for police
handling clients with mental illness.
3. Retire the War on Drugs. Using drugs should become legal.
Many states have legalized marijuana with no increases in crime. Instead they
gained tax revenue. Our focus should be treatment and recovery. People of all
ages are dying of addiction.
4. Misdemeanors need to expire automatically after a period
of time. People suffer for life if they have ever been convicted of a crime.
Can’t find work nor housing. Youthful mistakes should not haunt people during
their 40 year careers. Limit misdemeanor records to about 4-8 years unless they
commit more. 3 strike rules should be for felony convictions only. Long jail
sentences for small crimes are not appropriate nor constitutional.
5. Eliminate ‘No Knock’ Warrants for non-violent crimes like
drug possession. There have been so many disasters where police have entered
the wrong house, or raided innocent people on an informant’s say so with no
other proof. Constitutionally this should be reserved for violent or terrorist
organizations. Even then regular warrants put police at less risk apprehending
people outside rather than invading homes.
6. Police should be trained to be Guardians of community.
Their job is not to arrest people, but to maintain peace by de-escalating
conflicts and protecting people. SWAT teams and tactics have to be limited and
only rolled out for active shooters.
Our job is to write local, state and national government
officials to change laws and training. Culture change is hard and takes years.
Then love people. Only love will conquer
hate.
