So, Ive been asked over and over about my views on this whole Ferguson thing these past two weeks. Seeing as I dont want to blow up your timeline with it, and I needed time to digest this, I waited. So here it is, and its a bit of a read, but I want you all to be educated about this, and not through sensationalized propaganda. I hope you enjoy reading it and learn something about the world along the way: #1) I reserve any belief about the Ferguson case itself to the Grand Jury. The idea of trials by jury of your peers is, in my belief, sacred to the functioning and development of a strong democracy. I trust that these people were presented with evidence, and using this evidence made the decision that was the most appropriate for the situation. #2) The Use of Force is dangerous to the escalation of criminal activity... If the protection of the Use of Force does anything, it makes the regular American street more dangerous. Police Forces across America know that there is increasing judicial precedence for this tactic, and in turn so do criminals. A criminals mind is not rational, it does not respond to the machinations of economic analysis, else it would most likely not commit the crime. This will only to reinforce that criminals who seek to get away with crime shall need to be more armed. #3)... which makes deescalation incredibly hard and important. Escalation of tension has proven throughout history to be something that is not so easily eliminated. From the Greeks and Persians to the United States and IS, history shows that escalation and provocation do not effectively prevent conflict, they only agitate and prolong the build-up period. This holds in how we as Americans perceive our Police Forces. As long as a large group of people view these forces not as protectors, but as the aggressors, then policing will be largely ineffective. Programs such as Community Policing and this new body camera program help build trust in the community, and therefore should play an integral role on how police departments move forward in their communities. #4) Statistics are a dangerous art if used inappropriately. Much ado has been made of perceived racial biases in profiling. Recently, the security industries of our world have, like many others, been increasingly turning to statistical analysis to help their profession be the most effective and efficient it can be. Here lies a big problem: By measurement statistically, African-Americans commit proportionally more crimes, and especially more violent crimes and when assessing a situation, all an officer has is his intuition and training, which include the need to profile people and his/her environment, which includes statistical profiling in almost every category, including race. The question that divides here revolves around whether this minority group is targeted because they are statistically more likely to commit crimes or is the data skewed to make officers perceive this because racial discrimination from the past and in actuality, this group is not more likely to commit crimes. (Correlation vs. Causation) #5) We need to have conversations. This is the most important point. We are a nation incredibly divided in beliefs and experiences. I cannot even pretend to understand what it is like to grow up as a minority, in the inner city of a major city like St. Louis or Chicago, or in a homogenous society such as Western Kansas or much of rural America. In the same way, I only know what my family life has been like, what my schooling has been like. These are experiences I experienced, and they are different from others, and vice versa. Somewhere, in being passionate humans, we remain ignorant to the necessity to reach out to gain these experiences, how to formulate others experiences into our own frame of reference. We need to put aside our own beliefs for one second and hear out those who do not believe the same, only then can we even begin to progress from this moment in history. - With Hope For Our Future, Brandon. :)
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 07:46:36 +0000