brushfire"This, yes, this, it was always like this." -Stanley Koehler
REFLECTIONS OF AN EMPTY NESTER
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I urge police chiefs and commissioners across the country to take a stand against the policy listed on the White House website under “Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community.”
The Trump administration's rhetoric presents a threat not only to citizens’ safety and constitutional rights, but the safety of police officers in general. While its stated intent is to create safer communities, if local police departments do not increase efforts to work with communities in an atmosphere of trust and equal protection, the result will be further division and antagonism among police and the public. The website states: “The Trump Administration will be a law and order administration. President Trump will honor our men and women in uniform and will support their mission of protecting the public. The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it.” This language is insidious. The use of the word "wrong" invalidates any legitimate claims of police misconduct. There is little question the “dangerous anti-police atmosphere” refers to the Black Lives Matter movement. “The Trump Administration will end it” is a thinly veiled threat against that movement. I have read the Black Lives Matter mission. It's about acknowledging, respecting and celebrating differences and commonalities among people, seeking freedom and justice for black people, and creating an intergenerational, life-affirming and safe community for all black people, regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation. It's the same mission we seek for all people in this country; the difference is black people do not receive these rights in equal measure as white people. The website also addresses the Second Amendment, as follows: “Supporting law enforcement means supporting our citizens’ ability to protect themselves. We will uphold Americans’ Second Amendment rights at every level of our judicial system.” This promise encourages private citizens to arm themselves — and even shoot another human being — without fear of legal consequences, including arrest, prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment. Finally, the website appears to condone violating citizens' Fourth Amendment rights, as follows: “Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter.” In other words, police officers need not concern themselves with department standards on practices such as chokeholds, rough rides or other illegal procedures that resulted in the deaths of people denied their Fifth Amendment right to due process of law. Eric Garner, who died while in an illegal chokehold during an arrest for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on the street, and Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal cord injury while in a police transport van, come to mind. The Fourth Amendment protects every citizen's right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion into their persons, homes, business and property — whether through police stops of citizens on the street, arrests or searches of homes and businesses. To ignore the Fourth and Fifth Amendments while heralding the Second Amendment sends a clear message to the non-white community: if you are on the wrong end of a lethal shooting, your rights will not matter as much as the shooter's. I respect the role of the police, the risks they take and the difficulties they face every day. Police deserve our protection and support. Of course blue lives matter. But police officers choose to put on the uniform every day; black people do not choose the color of their skin. They do not choose to be systematically targeted, profiled, arrested, convicted, imprisoned and even killed in such disproportionate numbers. All lives will only matter when black lives matter too. I urge all members of law enforcement to take a stand against what is presented as a well-intentioned effort to safeguard our communities, but will only further heighten racial tensions in this country and may even result in lethal consequences for both police officers and people of color. I am making this appeal as a white mother who wants the same rights, privileges, and protection for the children of my black and brown fellow citizens as I enjoy for my own. We need safer communities for all of us. This will not be achieved by a “law and order administration.” This will be achieved by law enforcement leaders setting the tone on how best to protect the citizens they serve. Their communities deserve to hear they will not stand for anything but fair treatment of and equal rights for all people.
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Mary Anne BrushJournalist, fiction writer, wife and mother |