Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, April 19, 2021

America’s police brutality problems weren’t solved by shouting that “blue lives matter”. Police shoot unarmed civilians because of improper training. After a chase, everyone is more easily frightened, including the police. A work culture of servitude would do officers well and serve those who didn’t need to be killed by police even better. If an officer thinks he is in danger, he should not pursue until he has enough of whatever he needs in order to feel like he is not in danger. A badge is not a license to murder.

Military personnel know not to fire until fired upon. But, police kill anyone they want to—or don’t want to—then tell each other they did the right thing.

Even after all that has happened and keeps happening, police have not re-evaluated their own work culture. They haven’t considered that their attitudes all day long will define their spit-second decisions. A thirteen-year-old boy paid someone else’s consequences. He was White. But, apparently that doesn’t matter to a police force who think that everyone else is not important enough to cultivate a servant’s attitude every minute of every day.

Violence will increase as the public loses more and more trust in law enforcement and elections. Trust must be regained. But, it looks like we want things to get worse before we make them better.

Encore of Revival: America, August 31, 2020

Indefensible. That’s the word for the actions of police who continue the same arrogant conduct, even after all that has happened. It’s also the word for the Biden campaign.

A virtual convention that looks like a press conference can’t compete with a party convention on the White House lawn. Biden’s appeals are too much akin to Carter’s at the close of his defeated debate with Reagan. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the Democrats want to lose. It’s more likely that they don’t know when they are losing because they don’t know how to adapt. That goes for arrogant police as well as losing Democrat campaigns.

Take careful note of the dissent, complaints, doom-mongering, accusations, and verbal vomit coming against the leaders steering us through these times. This barrage of doubt befits the same ilk any victor faces in the hours and minutes before breakthrough and victory. Remember it well. After Trump wins and does more of what they said could not be done, the same accusers will deny that they ever claimed the inevitable was impossible.