Campaign Zero - Something worth taking a look at

I don't often put a advocacy group's graphic on my page without some editing.  But I was a little lazy today, and I also did not want to take anything out of context.

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The folks that organize around the phrase "Black Lives Matter" (BLM) have been getting a lot of press these days.  But what are they really campaigning for (or against)?  As I see it, they are trying to get society to deal with the structural racism hidden in society, rules and regulations that most white people take for granted as benign, but have become very harmful to poor blacks.  And they have some good points....

One of the things we've learned from the Ferguson, MO incidents is that the municipality made a good amount of money from poor people being unable to advocate for themselves after minor contact with the law.  For example, a jaywalking infraction (when was the last time anyone you know got ticketed for this in the USA?) could require a person to appear before a court.  Without adequate and inexpensive mass transit (and convenient court schedules), this person might not be able to appear, causing a default judgement to be assessed against the person.  This person, not being able to afford paying the assessment would have a warrant issued to bring the person into the local jail, causing this person to have a record - and not be able to get a job.  The police did not reflect the makeup of the community, and were totally alienated from the people whom they were supposed to serve. Therefore, BLM has a point to make when it comes to "broken windows policing". (This was also a factor in the Baltimore riots....)

All communities should be overseeing their police forces.  All too often, the law enforcers get a "hall pass" on the degree which they can stretch the law in enforcing the law.  How often in the past was the Billy Club used to "Tenderize" a suspect?  All too often.
In today's world, the police are still much better, but not perfect.  In McAllen Texas, there was a recent incident where a police officer wrongfully slammed a 15 year old black girl to the ground - and this was the same officer who wrongfully pulled out his gun during the same incident - would he have done this to a white girl?  No.  This is why we need citizen oversight - to hold the police accountable to the public they serve. 

I'm not sure about you, but I want to limit the police force's ability to use force.  Given the above mentioned incident, it frightens me that we depend on violence to keep our citizenry in line.  What is the next step?  Yes, the threat (and potential use) of violence is often needed.  But we tend to abuse it in this country - we forget to be civil and polite first, then things escalate out of control.

Now, I'm concerned about the militarization of the police in this country.  If the police get military surplus equipment, they will want to find excuses to use it. And they do.  This could help America become a police state if the wrong demagogues get elected.  (Can you imagine what would happen if a bombastic real estate developer actually ran a local police force?  I'd be very afraid - and we have a person like this running for POTUS!)  Years ago, this country made the decision to separate military aircraft development from civilian aircraft development, as they had their own unique needs.  The same now goes for the tools used to impose a nation's or community's will - a military needs to impose its rule without much regard to those in opposition, while a police force must be sensitive to the needs of the entire community.

I could write several entries on the issues raised by BLM/Campaign Zero.  But instead, I figure it best that their manifesto be examined, as they make some very good points....