A Moment of Unity Slipped Through Our Fingers

I feel like we let a moment of unity slip through our fingers. It seems that when we collectively watched the killing of George Floyd, we were all horrified. I have friends across the political spectrum, and even those I most disagree with – the die hard Trump supporters – were as outraged by that murder as anyone. And then came the first peaceful protest, and it seemed that everyone was absolutely behind it. For a moment.

Protesters gather in downtown Minneapolis. Unrest in Minneapolis over the May 25th death of George Floyd.

Then on the fringes of the peaceful, heartfelt protests came the fringe elements – the violence, vandalism, looting. Even then, for a moment, it seemed that the facts and the narrative were that this was a few bad actors and a few bad cops causing a disturbance at an otherwise peaceful demonstration.

And then very quickly our politicians and the media, jumped in to divide us again. Inadvertently perhaps, but now we're not just divided, we're fractured. Now there are multiple "camps" within the left and right, all disagreeing with each other.

I believe this is because we have gotten so accustomed to having quick, easy answers to what's going on. We need to determine, before we have any facts, who is responsible for the rioting and looting. We demand to know and the media is compelled to fill the airwaves with something, anything, to fill our need to know. And politicians are eager to point blame at whatever entity will help to score points with their base. We collectively want to blame one group of people for this, and assign a single motive. That makes it easy.

  • Angry black people fed up with the way they're treated
  • White people who want to instigate and turn the protest violent to make black people seem out of control
  • Undercover police who want to further the narrative that these protesters should be handled with violence
  • Opportunistic people of any race who want to take advantage of the situation for whatever reason<
  • Radical left wingers who want to destroy our country
  • Radical right wingers who want to destroy our country

Maybe it's all of the above. Maybe there are far more reasons for it than we've heard. But it's still a small number of people amongst the masses of peaceful protesters. But now, because our focus is on the violence, that's the narrative. Now when we say "protester" we think burning buildings and looting. That's so not fair.

It is not fair to anyone, and detrimental to our unity, when we see some photos of white looters, and conclude that all the looters are white. It's not fair to anyone, to see images of black people looting and decide that all the looters are black. It's not fair to see images of cops being brutal to peaceful protesters and conclude that all cops are out of control. It's not fair to see images of some police kneeling with protesters and conclude that all cops are good and want to connect with their diverse communities.

All of that is happening, all at once. We have to open our minds to the idea that this is not something that we can wrap up in a neat package, put a label on it, and feel good that we have the answer. We don't. None of us do. This is complicated. We need to unify to resolve it.

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The type of damage caused by media violence

Media Education Foundation has released a new video: The Mean World. This documentary studies the work of communications scholar George Gerbner, who carefully studied media violence for four decades. What is the effect of media violence? It doesn't seem to make most of those who watch it engage in violent acts. Rather, viewing repeated acts of violence is "likely to make us more scared of violence being done to us." Gerbner's team repeatedly determined that "commercial media have eclipsed religion, art, oral traditions, and the family as the great story-telling engine of our time." As Gerbner noted, a small handful of commercial conglomerates have global marketing formula that are imposed on the people in Hollywood [who are told] put in more action. Cut out complicated solutions. Apply this formula because it travels well in the global market. These are formulas that need no translation, that are image-driven, that speak action in any language . . . and the leading element of this formula is violence." This tidal wave of highly choreographed violence is unprecedented, and it is being pumped into every home. Most children now see 8,000 murders by the end of elementary school. Gerber holds that this violence is so dangerous because it has become routine.

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Police chiefs, judges and prosecutors explain why the “war on drugs” is immoral

This video by LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) is well worth watching, especially by those who claim to support the "War on Drugs." The many hundreds of law enforcement officials who belong to LEAP agree that what we have is not a "War on Drugs," but prohibition, rampant social destruction and corruption. But won't people start using a lot more drugs if they are legalized? Not likely, based on the "Holland effect": Legalizing marijuana in The Netherlands has lessened its appeal: Per-capita consumption is only half what it is in the United States. "They have succeeded in making marijuana boring," according to James Gray, an Orange County Superior Court judge for 20 years. Check out the 12-minute mark of the above video for shocking statistics on institutionalized racism. As one of the police officers states, legalization is not about promoting drugs. It's about stopping the violence. Once we legalize, then we can go about our work to discourage the destructive use of drugs, just like we did with cigarettes. 50% percent of adult smokers have given up that habit in the past ten years thanks to education. We cut the use of nicotine in half without telling our police to kick down doors and slap handcuffs onto smokers. Judge Gray indicates that ending the "war on drugs" is the "single most important thing we could do" to improve our urban neighborhoods. What is the war on drugs? According to one of the speakers in the above video, it's "sixty nine billion dollars per year down the rat hole." I agree. The "War on Drugs" should be renamed the "Inject Violence Into Neighborhoods Project." It is immoral and senseless. And finally, there is good reason to believe that the momentum has changed (based on many things, including Denver's legalization of marijuana). Large numbers of Americans are starting to question this insane "War." Judge Gray makes the point that legalizing marijuana is NOT condoning it. In the following talk (Oct 28, 2009), he gives a long litany of additional reasons for regulating and controlling marijuana. The biggest reason for legalizing is the the present system endangers children: For much more important information, see the home page of LEAP.

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Police officers have epiphany: time to legalize and regulate street drugs

In the Washington Post, two police officers make the case that it's time to legalize and regulate street drugs. Why? To quit squandering tax dollars, to quit filling prisons with people who don't belong there and to protect neighborhoods and police officers.

Only after years of witnessing the ineffectiveness of drug policies -- and the disproportionate impact the drug war has on young black men -- have we and other police officers begun to question the system . . . Drug manufacturing and distribution is too dangerous to remain in the hands of unregulated criminals. Drug distribution needs to be the combined responsibility of doctors, the government, and a legal and regulated free market. This simple step would quickly eliminate the greatest threat of violence: street-corner drug dealing.

Here's the "money" quote:

Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron estimates that ending the drug war would save $44 billion annually, with taxes bringing in an additional $33 billion.

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