Placing near unmitigated and, in many cases, unsupervised power into the hands of the least educated in society is perilous. Nowhere is that practice more self-evident than in the United States.
One of the most evil yet brilliant strokes of genius that the racist right managed to pull off has been to transform itself from the obscurity of wearing sheets to commit crimes to out in the open wearing the law enforcement uniform. Couple that with military training, and you better understand what is happening on American streets with what passes for law enforcement.
Despise it as you are entitled, but there is no denying the stroke of genius behind the move. How do you fight back the way you should against racist aggression from people dressed in police uniforms with the full backing of the states and the judicial system?
A judge recently told a young black youth at sentencing that he could think of no more egregious an act than someone pointing a gun at a police officer. (police do it every day, hundreds of times to innocent citizens of color) .
He told the young man he was fortunate to be alive before sentencing him to a protracted prison term. The problem was that the young man was alive because he most likely did [not] point a gun at the cop, or he would indeed have been dead, riddled with bullets. The word of the cop was good enough for that judge to do what he did. The cop knew beforehand that all he had to do to destroy the young man’s life was lie that he pointed a gun at him, not that he had a gun.
A knife in hand with no attempt to move toward a cop gets you shot fifteen or more times. What do you think pointing a loaded gun at a cop gets you?
The double-edged sword for America is that it is a country that glorifies guns. It is also a country that supposedly prides itself on the rule of law. (sic) The right to own guns is guaranteed under the Constitution’s Second Amendment.
No reasonable person would deny the inherent danger that may exist in policing, particularly in some neighborhoods. But the palpability of the fear the police display cannot justify the brutality they mete out to innocent citizens, or worse the number of innocent lives they take as a result of those unfounded and irrational fears.
The nation has a population of 331.9 million people. In 2020 the number of registered guns in the hands of citizens numbered at approximately 443.9 million.
Simply put, there are many more guns than people, but that is not all. According to the Guardian, only 22 to 31% of American adults say they personally own a gun. And then it goes downhill from there. A group of 7.7m people, or 3% of American adults – own between eight and 140 guns each.
Recent surveys find that about 40% of adult Americans own a gun or live with someone who does. Most gun owners cite protection as their primary reason for owning a gun, and most believe the gun or guns they own make their homes safer. However, research has consistently shown that households with guns are actually less safe — with markedly higher risks for accidental deaths, suicides, and domestic homicides. (wamu.org). Who do you think the 40% of gun owners largely are?
https://mikebeckles.com/many-police-shootings-can-be-avoided-but-do-they-want-to/
It is inconceivable that since guns are held in such high esteem in the country, almost as a source of wealth and power and the ultimate instrument of protection, the poor and dispossessed would also seek to have them. And since the laws are deliberately designed to ensure that certain segments of society do not possess the means to acquire them, it was almost a given that those segments would do everything to get them. And since guns are viewed as a power tool, it is conceivable as to why the dispossessed are not allowed to have them. It is also easier to understand why the laws would give state agents the power to summarily execute anyone with an illegal gun.
It also explains the mindset of the old white male sentencing judge.….’ consider yourself lucky to be alive; I therefore sentence you to oblivion for eternity.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.