It's been a week since I wrote this and my privilege is definitely showing when I say I am *stunned* by the extent to which our institutions have no answer to a police force that has chosen to wage open war against peaceful citizens.
Policing is utterly unsalvageable.
Policing is utterly unsalvageable.
Not only is it unsalvagable, but even the desire to see it salvaged is suspect.
Night after night, city after city, we have video. A mountain of evidence. The problem is the police. They'll never solve the problem, because they *are* the problem.
The problem *is* the police.
Night after night, city after city, we have video. A mountain of evidence. The problem is the police. They'll never solve the problem, because they *are* the problem.
The problem *is* the police.
How can we expect that the institution waging war against our brothers and sisters will ever solve the problems of that war?
It believes even criticism of its right to wage war justifies an escalation.
It riots at even the suggestion it shouldn't be allowed to kill.
It believes even criticism of its right to wage war justifies an escalation.
It riots at even the suggestion it shouldn't be allowed to kill.
Stop calling it "police." Certainly don't refer to it as "law enforcement," since once challenged the only law it cares to enforce is itself.
Call it "The 2nd Civil War," which is what it is. It's been waging it all along, against our brothers and sisters, on behalf of the rest.
Call it "The 2nd Civil War," which is what it is. It's been waging it all along, against our brothers and sisters, on behalf of the rest.
This isn't about individuals, but about institution.
What's implicated isn't so much individual police officers, as much as a privileged society with such bad priorities and beliefs as to create such an institution, with seemingly no mechanism to constrain it.
Me, for example.
What's implicated isn't so much individual police officers, as much as a privileged society with such bad priorities and beliefs as to create such an institution, with seemingly no mechanism to constrain it.
Me, for example.
This institution exists to do what it does, because that's what it's doing. It's undeniable. Their attitude and their actions of this institution are undeniable, as is the support they receive to do it.
We know what we know now. We mustn't un-know it.
What do we do about it?
We know what we know now. We mustn't un-know it.
What do we do about it?
It seems to me we have to be ready to rethink everything. You can't tear down a bad institution without tearing down the bad assumptions and beliefs that gave rise to it.
What assumptions and beliefs?
As many as it takes.
What assumptions and beliefs?
As many as it takes.
Do we have the moral fortitude to completely rethink it? Particularly those of us who have benefited from injustice?
Do we even have the moral fortitude to admit we've benefited from it?
Do we even have the moral fortitude to admit we've benefited from it?
These are not helpful points. The institution is what it is. Its mission is what it is. Regular people have comprised the bulk of every institution that ever existed to commit crimes against humanity. Many of these people were very nice. Situtationally one might even say "good." 
The fact that an institution designed for atrocity can contain "good" people is an almost banal truism.
Our work isn't to first locate our own personal individual innocence and demand on it.
Our work is to confess our own position within an unjust system, and align against it.
Our work isn't to first locate our own personal individual innocence and demand on it.
Our work is to confess our own position within an unjust system, and align against it.
And then, to acknowledge our responsibility to pay the cost of repair.
And then, to actually pay that cost.
That might be money. It might be releasing power to those best positioned to know how to fix the damage, which are those who have most suffered from it.
And then, to actually pay that cost.
That might be money. It might be releasing power to those best positioned to know how to fix the damage, which are those who have most suffered from it.
At the minimum, it'll require we release our profession of personal innocence.
The decision to establish innocence by pointing to our personal intentions is itself a personal decision to avoid responsibility, revealing a deeper selfish intention.
Let's pay the cost instead.
The decision to establish innocence by pointing to our personal intentions is itself a personal decision to avoid responsibility, revealing a deeper selfish intention.
Let's pay the cost instead.
End the 2nd Civil War (1864-Present)
