What Threatens America - Channels for Addressing Grievances

I want to devote some thought to how we address grievances here in America.  I wanted to start, first, with the follow up to some of the issues I've posted about before.  In Flint, Michigan a couple of lawsuits are in progress as we speak, the Governor has issues a public apology and vowed to drink the water himself.  It's still an ongoing topic, not something I would say is done by any means, but things are being done to address the grievance. 

In Ferguson, Missouri even though the specific officer involved was not indicted the federal Dept of Justice investigated the police department and determined that it had engaged in misconduct against the citizens of Ferguson.  Again, this is still an ongoing issue...and there are people who think not enough was done (and others who think too much was done).  I'm not trying to judge how it was addressed, so much as pointing out that various groups are trying to address it.

So it sounds good, right?  We have grievances, they're being addressed, nothing to worry about?

Except that these specific instances are also examples of deeper underlying grievances.  Racial differences.  Class tension.  Elitism.  Leadership that fails to address a problem before it blows up into a full-blown crisis.  (This last one is not the best point, since who knows how many situations were addressed before they became a crisis?)

Note that I said "racial differences" instead of "racism".  That's because the different opinions about incidents like this reflect different cultures as well as actual racism.  "Law-abiding" primarily white citizens who support and respect law enforcement (and I count myself and most everyone I know in this category) have a hard time understanding why people - people who used to get arrested for loitering and other minor offenses in order to force them to work on various projects; who saw law enforcement bring out dogs and hoses against men, women and children - don't trust the police.  Are some of these incidents truly about criminal behavior?  Or is some of it because an officer doesn't feel they are given the respect due as a representative of the law?

Yet I actually want to focus more on class grievances - in part because that is what Trump appears to be tapping into.  I've seen article after article over the last decade that has talked about the shrinking of the middle class.  Stagnant wages.  Greater disparity in income.  We know this is happening.  You have to be living under a rock to be unaware of this...

And yet nothing serious is being done.  During the Great Depression we had the Public Works Administration, during the Great Recession we had austerity.  We have respected economists saying we actually should have had even more stimulus, we have article after article talking about our aging infrastructure...and none of it seems to translate into actual policy changes. 

I read economic articles talking about 'recovery', how the companies who were bailed out during the financial crisis were able to pay everything back, how things are better...yet none of it seems to trickle down to the average person.  Getting by is just as much of a struggle now than it was 8 years ago.  (and then we get articles saying "we need consumer spending to grow the economy", and I have to laugh.  Where do you think the consumers get the money to spend?  They're tapped out...they're going to keep being tapped out until debts are paid off or wages grow.)

I can get into nitty gritty details more at a later time, I kind of wanted to point out a few other things first.

A few years ago a study showed that the collective preferences of ordinary citizens has almost no effect on policy, whereas the collective preferences of our wealthiest citizens have a much greater impact. 

In other words - the wealthy don't seem to care about the struggles of the everyone else, and they're the ones who actually make policy. 

This is a pretty massive and difficult topic, so I'll probably post some more later.

Current Events, We Didn't Start the Fire, Don't Know What to Say (But I'll Say a Lot Anyway)

It seems like the world is spinning out of control.  Gone crazy.  (And yet...everyone always feels that way, and the world has always been like this.  Right?)

Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York City, and now two cops are killed.  In revenge?  Retaliation?

Slogans and t-shirts abound.  "Black Lives Matter"  "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" "I Can't Breathe" "Breathe Easy, Don't Break the Law"  "I Can Breathe"  "Hands Up, Don't Loot"

So many of these have an undertone of anger, hatred, and an unwillingness to see the other's point of view. 

Someone got in trouble for saying "All Lives Matter", because the slogan is "Black Lives Matter", and changing it detracts from the main focus. 

Yet all lives DO matter, it's just that we're particularly concerned about black lives at this moment.

I don't really know what I could say that would be little more than hot air.  Something said to show I've picked my side, something anyone on the other side will automatically dismiss. 

I imagine how someone whose mind is already made up would tune me out the minute I start to say something they can peg into a slot.

Oh, here's the argument that _____.  That people who aren't breaking the law have nothing to fear.  Or that black people feel particularly abused by the police, and have reasons to be less trusting. 

They've heard it all, and dismissed it already.  What really matters, to them, is that the dead men committed crimes.  Or that the police were protected by a system that didn't even seriously investigate the incident.

And now, with this cop-killing, it makes it even worse.  (Aside from the tragedies of their losses, and the pain inflicted on their families and loved ones.)

Ferguson

Something about Ferguson is long overdue, and yet I find myself wondering what to say.  My facebook feed has died down of late, but most of the posts seemed to fit with the world view of whoever posted it.  That, as one example, the officer who shot Michael Brown was severely injured, or wasn't. 

I didn't immediately write anything, because after Iraq I distrust the news.  The first, second, and even third story is probably not accurate.  And I dislike claiming to know what is going on when I don't really know any better than anyone else that wasn't there.

But I don't like how divisive the responses are.  In particular, I know the statistics.  I know how many black men wind up incarcerated.  How the police, in some neighborhoods, act more like an occupying army then the servants of society that we normally see them as.  I know the problems with "driving while black", and that the world I live in and the experiences I have with the police are not the same sorts of experiences that black people do.

So I've been quiet, for a while, and notice a few things that disturb me.  First - that after being in the news cycle for as long as this has, we still seem to be short of real facts.  The dispute over whether the officer was injured or not being the primary example.  Even the autopsy report is used to bolster whatever side the reader wants.  (Exit wounds, or the lack thereof, were mentioned in at least one post...but since I'm not a forensic expert I don't claim to know what the autopsy means.  For all I know, the bullet was lodged in his bone and that's why there's no exit wound.  Apparently, it may take a while for a credible analysis to be done.) 

It also seems strange that the news can dig up that Michael Brown robbed a store, but can't say whether or not the officer who shot him was seriously injured?!? 

This is a high profile, highly emotional situation and the official response is either pathetically unconcerned with clearing up matters, or is more concerned with trying to cover their butts and justify what happened.  Either way, it's not good.  No- I'm not saying they should rush to conclusions.  But there are definitely facts that we are not being given, like how severely injured the officer was.

And so I conclude by saying - I want justice.  I want an honest, fair and impartial investigation.  I don't want black people to feel like white people are more concerned with the ALS ice bucket challenge than with their very real anger and fear at how little society seems to care about their lives.

And I wonder, as with other topics, what we can do to actually make a difference.  For me, rioting and looting isn't the answer.  I know people who point at the riots and shake their heads in disgust, and almost appear to use that to justify the way things are.  Perhaps not that specific shooting, but to justify the poor community relationship with the police.  Okay, Ferguson may be a dangerous area with a lot of crime and a large number of gangs. That may or may not be true, but that doesn't mean that the police are automatically right.  (Or wrong, for that matter). 

What matters, in this particular case, is whether or not the police officer responded in a reasonable manner to the situation as it developed, with the knowledge he had at the time of the incident.

What also matters is communicating that clearly, if only to head off rumours and conspiracy theories.  And...to admit that this situation got out of hand because there is a serious divide between the police force and the local community.  (If this were Iraq, and the police were the US Army, we'd be trying to find an influential shiekh and local leaders to take the lead in policing themselves.)

I can't really point fingers and judge Ferguson for rioting, but at the end of the day it's not something I'm going to go out and do myself.


I don't like what's going on, but I also don't really know what I can do about it either.