Changes Tupac 1998
People have been crying out for change for a very long time, so many are hurting and in constant fear. Fear if in a time of need when they need help so dearly, that instead of the kindness and compassion that we all need, they fear they will instead be shot, beat or brutalized in some other fashion. Some look at those in fear as if they are paranoid, they act as if the cases of harm that we see daily, are unconnected tragedies, not the effect of a society and system that validates brutalizing those in need. There are many cases when someone who was in need of help, was instead treated as a threat, as something to be beaten down and controlled. Not understood, not cared for, just controlled.
Brandon Smith 30
Brandon Smith was a man who by all accounts was nonviolent, and only seemed to have substance issues, which can be a result of a stressful life. We do know he was a hard worker, who was providing for his mother and his own three children all under 10. He was working to improve his life and to put his substance issues behind him, his mother had taken him to a detox clinic where his Probation officer was to meet and assist him. All we know for sure, is that this man who was happy and proud to be moving forward with his life, was then beaten so badly that he died in the back of a Police van while pleading for help because he felt very ill. The reports claim he had meth in his system, that he had swallowed a baggie of meth that had busted and caused an overdose. If that is true, then the beating he received was the cause for the bag to burst. He asked for help, he was saying how much pain he was in, that he felt as if he was having a heart attack. The police ignored these pleas, for whatever reason.
Brandon Smith & his children
I am very skeptical of any story the Police have told about this and most incidents, you can think it is paranoia, but the actions the Police so routinely take give that impression. His family was not allowed to see his body for days, even though they were called in the day of his death to identify the body, they also were meant to see the bodycam footage of his death in a meeting with the Police Chief. The chief never showed, and the video was released to the public instead, the same was done with his autopsy. I do not understand these actions as anything but questionable. If this was a mistake, if this was an unpreventable tragedy why act is if your hiding something? Those kinds of acts only spur on fear and paranoia.
Darell Richards 19
That kind of mass fear and paranoia is very mentally damaging, it can turn a very positive and happy person into one who is afraid of everything, that everyone is out to get him, that he must fight back to protect himself. Darell Richards was by all accounts a happy, good-natured young man, that within the last few months had become increasingly fearful and paranoid. Then one night he went out in a hoodie, wearing a medical mask and carrying an Airsoft pistol. Reports claim he was threatening others with the gun, and wandering through areas of Sacramento. Police caught up with him and he ran and hid in a neighborhood. This is where things once again become questionable...
Video of events leading up to and the death of Darell Richards
Things actully started out postively this time, instead of chasing him down on foot, they used drones in the air to find him. When they did find his location that is when things turned tragic. They knew basically where he was, they had Swat on hand, yet these two officers go in to get him... Why? If you knew where he was, why not send in a four-man Swat team in two on two formations, this means two officers in front with ballistic shields, with an officer behind each of the leads one with a taser and one with a beanbag shotgun. Swat stands for Special weapons and tactics, why are they only used to take lives? Yes, this person was seen threatening others, but they also knew he had not harmed anyone. It is the fact that saving a life is not seen as a worthy task, that is why they did not come up with a plan to take him unharmed. The police think this way, if we can get them to surrender through fear great, if not it is our life or theirs... While that can be true, it negates an officers job, you are not out on the line for your life, your job is to prevent others from coming to harm, even from themselves.
Darell Richards & his friends
One thing I have rarely seen addressed, is that Darell's changes in personality could be linked to all the recent acts of police brutality. The timeline truly fits, his family noticed these changes within the last few months, in the past couple of years the deaths of African Americans by police for questionable or outright unjustifiable reasons has skyrocketed and become more well known. These very real and justifiable fears are enough to psychologically damage anyone. The way of fixing this is not ignoring the real and deadly problem at hand. The way the Police and those in power handle these situations create the fear and paranoia, Police are the ones that need to change the way they operate, we do not need to sit back and tolerate this kind of either ignorance, or malicious abuse of power.
Die Hard 1988
See the issue arises everytime a life is taken in these manners, Brandon Smith, Darell Richards, Stephon Clark, Keith Lamont Scott, Philando Castile and so many more have been murdered by Police. It becomes murder even if it was an accident based on how you treat the accident. In each of these occurrences, the police never show remorse, fear or show any kind of emotional response to the mistake and tragedy they just committed. After the fact, these officers result to defending their actions, attempting to justify their mistake... This is what creates anger and fear, if you truly made a split second mistake, you should not be ok with it, you should not be able to calmly explain to others how your choice was right... This is the issue, they are trying to justify, yet by claiming it was a mistake, that means it should not have happened and was by that nature unjustifiable. You cannot try to dress up a mistake as the right choice.
date & artist unknown
These officers are not asking for forgiveness, they are not even apologetic in most instances, they are instead only concerned about defending their actions. Yet if you took a life especially if you claim it was by mistake, should you not be more concerned about the life you took, instead of trying to avoid being punished for what you did? If one cop would admit, I made a horrible choice that should never have happened, if they questioned their abilities, if they cared more about what they did than what may happen to them for it, perhaps that would end the fear and paranoia. Maybe, that would start the healing and stop this from happening again. The way things are only help this culture to thrive, Police are responsible for their actions more than any normal person. Why? Because it is their job, they accepted that great responsibility then after misuse or making a mistake, they do not even feel they should feel bad about what they did, or even ask for forgiveness.
date & artist unknown
That may seem silly, but those acts would go a long way to healing the damage done. That begs the question though, why are Police and those in power taking actions that instead of helping heal, open more wounds and create the fear and paranoia we live in? If all of us that see those actions as malicious and with the clear intent to do harm are totally and completely wrong, what is the real reason then? Why do harmful actions, why act as if it does not matter, if your intent is not harmful? Until those in power can answer those questions, or simply stop the cycle by showing they give a damn, why would those who see these actions, think of them as anything less than an attack. So many people refuse to see the side of those whose freedoms are trodden over. Just because you can not understand it, just because you do not see or feel it, does not mean it is not there... Anyone will become angry if they are trying to show you an issue, and you instead act as if that issue does not matter and will never be important.
Image via http://chainsawsuit.com/
If you cannot see an issue that is clearly affecting so many, only because it does not affect you in the same way, you are simply refusing to understand another's plight. Through that patient understanding, we gain knowledge, peace and even love... Yet many today would rather not understand, than attempt to see another person's pain as pain, they would rather see expressions of pain as something to fear so they do not have to feel that same pain.
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