Forgive Barbarism?

   
     This blog post will focus on Police brutality and corruption, a manifestation of both evil incarnate and human weakness, which consistently undermines the values that form the foundation of a free and just society. First and foremost, I'll preface this post with my sincerely heartfelt commitment to all of the men and women who took their oaths to serve and protect the public seriously, and who begin each shift determined to make the lives of all citizens less fraught with fear, uncertainty, and a mistrust of authority.
     A recent event in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson Missouri, and current events here in Chicago have once again brought to the forefront one of the most heinous and frustrating symptoms of a dysfunctional society. As reported in the media, a Ferguson Officer, after ordering several young men to get off of the street, (which is in and of itself a violation of their constitutional rights), subsequently caused the death of a young man who had not been engaged in criminal activity of any kind. The civil unrest and wanton property damage that followed this act are closely being followed and reported by the media, but the core issue that caused this unfolding social tragedy will most likely continue to plague us, until fundamental reforms are put into place, and stringently enforced.
     At the heart of police brutality incidents there is an underlying cancer that no one in authority is prepared to excise from their Department. I'll call it the "Us versus them" mentality. Before they became Officers of The Law, these people were just like the rest of us, human beings with the potential to either uplift this society, or contribute to its' collapse. The vast majority of Officers entered this career with an understanding that it takes a special kind of commitment to place oneself in harms way on a daily basis, in order to protect those members of society who are unable or unwilling to protect themselves. The core of this problem arises when Officers and their Leadership buy into the concept that their own personal human failings, which often result in the immoral and illegal beating and killing of others, are to be forgiven, while the failings of citizens are to be so stringently punished, that individual Department members who know that they will not be punished for brutality, assign themselves as Judge, Jury, and Executioner, without facing personal or professional consequences.
     Following the recent killing of this unarmed citizen in Missouri, I conceived a brilliantly simple solution to this problem. Any sworn Officer who is convicted of having taken the life of an unarmed citizen, (who was not in the act of committing a violent crime at the time they were killed), would upon conviction for this crime, serve a mandatory sentence of 30 years in prison. If such legislation were to be passed, police brutality would be a thing of the past. The same holds true for Officers who, by virtue of their authority, have allowed their personal judgment to become so warped that they can no longer discern right from wrong. Just today, the media reported that a Department member with many years of experience made improper physical contact with a co-workers pre-teen daughter. What has this world come to, when persons who are entrusted to serve and protect us are allowed to murder and degrade us, without consistently facing serious consequences. Another leader within the Chicago Police Department is being mentioned in the media in relation to an incident whereby this "leader", placed his pistol in the mouth of a suspect who was already in custody, in order to accomplish what? In order to perpetuate the same type of superiority complex that was exercised by a small minority of whites during slavery, when all African Americans were deemed to be less than human in the eyes of this society, and were therefore subjected to wanton brutality and degradation without consequence.
     We no longer have an option to simply sit back and watch this beautiful Democracy of ours spiral into chaos. We must, both individually and collectively, hold our representatives accountable for their actions. Until we wake up and demand the necessary changes that need to be made, things will only get worse.