Real Eyes Realize

 By Paris, www.guerrillafunk.com

June 3, 2020

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In the wake of yet another death of an unarmed Black man at the hands of police, our current climate of protest finds us ripe for agent infiltration, cointelpro tactics and the hijacking of the message against police brutality and social injustice.  The media is now increasingly focusing on vandalism and peoples' disgust of it more than detailing the reasons behind the rightful outrage so many feel against state-validated murderers and the system that emboldens them.

 

Many believe the system in question is broken.  It isn't.  It's operating as intended.  "Criminal Justice" was designed to be unfair, and the concept of policing was first introduced in the 1700s in southern slave-holding states as slave patrols. These patrols were groups of white volunteers empowered to use vigilante tactics to enforce laws related to slavery.

 

More formal police organizations were created in the mid-to-late 1800s by the wealthy elite in Northern cities who hired thousands of armed men to impose order on working-class neighborhoods, comprised largely of immigrants.

 

These facts - and this inherently unjust structure - are the roots of modern-day policing.  Its foundation is racist.  It serves to protect interests of, and to maintain stability for, the moneyed class. Everyone else exists to be managed.

 

If you know me, you know I'm a huge proponent of the philosophy of "An Eye for an Eye."  If we all go blind, fuck it, if it's in pursuit of what's just.  But if you want police accountability that doesn't come about as a result of retaliatory violence, start with a few simple steps. Try electing leaders that will pass federal policies mandating body cams on all police, and automatic felony charges for those officers who don't activate them when involved in instances of injury or death resulting from law enforcement actions.  Mandate that officers that serve a particular community be members of - and live in - that same community.  Require that supervisors/chiefs be democratically elected to be in positions of power that oversee officers that impact us.  Obligate that they engage in outreach activities in these same communities for a minimum amount of hours every month.  And throw in some mandatory training in de-escalation tactics as well.

 

These are just random thoughts I've come up with - even though I self-admittedly don't have all of the answers.  But what I do know is that all police and soldiers aren't heroes, and these repeated killings are not the result of a "few bad apples." A few bad apples SPOIL THE BUNCH.  So if All Lives do, in fact, Matter, then ACT LIKE IT - and demand your "heroes" do too.

 

Peace to all who deserve it.