Symptoms

I have a subject that needs breathing on. We here in Open Discussion come from a wide range of ages, socio-economic statuses, and educational as well as consciousness levels. So everyone has a particular perspective to advance and we respect them all. What makes our forum great is that here in U.I., we have the opportunity to have our ideas and points of view fact checked, evaluated and disassembled. What this practice does that other groups lack is we tend to emerge from discussion better thinkers and hopefully better actors.

With that being said, we have all been understandably upset and frustrated by the events in Ferguson as well as other places around the country. WE are finally beginning to take a stand and demand better treatment from the status quo. To keep this momentum going, we must divorce the unproductive from the productive. What I charge each of you to think about the rest of this day and comment on tomorrow, hopefully on the Urban Intellectuals page is what we can do to use these events to better our situation as a whole and not as individuals. How do we not just focus on a symptom of the problem and not the problem itself, that problem being white supremacy, economic inequality and the fact that mostly every single issue that plague black communities from coast to coast can be traced back to economics.

For me, the first thing I encourage all of to do, no matter who you are or what your particular ax to grind is, we MUST stop with this “kill the police” rhetoric. One, because most of you softies are not going to do it and if someone does you are not going to be there for the aftermath, not even in support. So that needs to stop. Just as each of us are individuals who deserve not to be lumped into a category, each police officer, white or black, are not “bad” or “rogue” cops to be executed because of the acts of another. How do you reconcile killing an officer in Philly for the acts of officers in Miami.

Secondly, we must not fall into the trap that has been set before us. We see it but we disregard it with all this talk about “the only good cop is a dead cop.” These are the people who are like hype men behind a rapper, he can't rap but he can coon around and excite the crowd. These are the people who talk that shit but are the first ones to call the police when something goes down involving themselves or their property. I'll agree, I have somewhat unconventional views when it comes to law enforcement. I actually believe that change won't come to law enforcement until the good cops start standing up to the bad cops and the powers behind them that control what they do. That's the part of the story that we miss in our anger, rage and emotionalism. Law Enforcement is a TOOL of the dominant society. They don't care how many of them are killed just as they don't care how many soldiers that they send off to fight meaningless wars come back in body bags. They are the shovels throwing black and brown, and increasingly poor white bodies, into the bottomless hole of the Prison Industrial Complex. Our problems are bigger than police/community relations.

Third, lets not be short-sighted. Instead let us be more discerning. Intellectually as well as instinctively we know that not all police officers are bad. If we take the “kill the police” stance, what about your Uncle Bobby whose been the police for 25 years. What about your cousin's husband or wife who is the police. What if someone kills them for the acts of another officer? Then again, what constitutes an officer, who exactly IS the police? Do we count the officers who work in the county jail who brutalize and kill brothers every day? What about child support enforcement officers who carry badges and have arrest powers? We also can't be hypocritical, if a black officer kills a unarmed white man, why do we not become enraged then? Why do we not march if a black officer kills an unarmed black kid?

The long and short of it is, let us use this issue to develop strategies that uplift us as a whole and not be distracted by what is, in the long run, a symptom of the problem not the problem itself.



Drops mic and walks from stage drippin blackness.