Seven Bullets

Short post for this holiday weekend.

Seven bullets pointblank in the back at close range when the target had no weapon in his hands. That seems excessive. I can’t believe cops are still doing this kind of stuff. You would think by now that they would learn that this kind of stuff is bad imagery and should be avoided.

There are good cops and bad cops, just like there are good bankers and bad bankers, good teachers and bad teachers, good preachers and bad preachers, good politicians and bad politicians. In all walks of life, there are good people and bad people. I don’t know if because of the cop culture, there are more bad cops than good or it really is vice versa. I don’t know. But we do need to somehow get rid of the bad ones. Does that mean changing the culture? It could be…I don’t know enough to many any pronouncements or opinions.

The only thing I know is that the image is just all around bad.

The looting and the rioting are also bad. That is not a good imagery for the protesters although it is said that the majority of the protesters are actually peaceful. If that is so, you then have the few coloring the imagery of the entire protesting movement.

I imagine it’s the same for the police department: the few creating a bad halo over the entire police system.

If you’ve been protesting for 90+ days, it’s time to change your strategy. Your voice has been heard but it is now disintegrating into looting, arson and violence and you need to avoid that if you want the moderates, the average person to support you. They were earlier but I wonder if they will continue to support if businesses and buildings continue to be destroyed.

Time to change your strategy.

Start building organizations to identify those charismatic individuals, a la Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, to run for office. Build organizations that can generate funding and support for those who can convince people to support positive change in the police departments. Build a network that can communicate to regular people about the need for equality for all. It’s through voting and through community action that you can institute change. It’s through building businesses and networked businesses that can generate the power to propel change. You want to build a groundswell of support and power throughout the community.

You had the support back in May, but if you continue to have rioting and violence, you will lose that support.

Both the police and the protesters need to dial down the violence.