Damn right we've...
Damn right we’ve had a problem; but it isn’t just confined to Houston. From what I know it is pretty much nationwide in every major city and seems to be growing as each day passes. Even the small towns aren’t exempt from this problem.
By now you...
By now you've seen the video or heard a report on a black man named George Floyd. He had encounter in Minneapolis earlier this week in which he was “suspected” of passing counterfeit money. I don’t know all the details of that situation and I won’t try to pretend I do.
Since there is now an ongoing investigation into that ordeal we’ll have to wait for the authorities to inform us of their findings.
George Floyd however...
George Floyd however didn’t get the opportunity (like us) to wait for the outcome of the investigation. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed for his “suspected crime” on a street in Minneapolis, MN. by a gang of four armed men who belong to an organized crime gang. That crime gang has a street name of “Minneapolis Finest” or aka; Minneapolis Police department.
We are in...
We are in the year 2020 not 1820.
George Floyd would have had a better chance at surviving his encounter with “the law” in 1820 than he did in 2020; and back then black folks were not free in this country. In 1820 lawmen were men of honesty and integrity. So what has changed in 200 years? How does a country that is supposedly the greatest nation in the world end up with the police being judge, jury, and executioner?
“Houston we’ve had a problem” comes from an old NASA recording of a space mission, Apollo 13. George Floyd was a native Houstonian so that sort of prompted my thought on that old quote.
The problem I'm...
The problem I’m speaking of isn’t the riots / protests that have sprung up from the death of George. Those are definitely concerning and peaceful protests are certainly understandable given what has happened.
Just last night in Houston over 100 people were arrested for various charges for participating in the protesting of George Floyd’s death so there is another tie in to that quote.
The problem as ...
The problem as I see it has to do with police and policing.
George would have stood a better chance in 1820 because there were no police in back then. There was law and there was law enforcement back in 1820, and the law enforcement was in the form known as “sheriff’. The law was common law.
The sheriff was and still is an elected official; he has to answer to the public (voters) every four years at the very least when he is up for reelection. That is where the honesty and integrity comes into play; a sheriff might get elected once but if he doesn’t live up to expectations he or she will be voted out come next election.
I asked the...
I asked the question, “What has changed in the last 200 years?” The major change has been in the law itself.
We can blame every elected official that had to do with changing our system of law (common law) and replacing it with codes and statutes. There is where the heart of the problem lay in my eyes.
The creation of “victimless crimes’ and the profitability to gain by prosecuting those crimes in an administrative court rather than a justice court is directly the source of the problem.
The more laws...
The more “laws”(codes & statutes) that can be passed and put on the books the bigger the opportunity to relieve you and me from the fruits of our labor.
The term “police” came from their work as policy enforcers. If memory serves me correctly the first “police” department here originated in Boston, Massachusetts back in 1838 or 1839. Leave it to so some damn Yankees to guzbuck up things; history has proven that time and time again.
I wish I...
I wish I could remember the exact name and location of the lawyer who tried to join a police department and was rejected by that department because he was basically too educated.
He scored way higher on the entrance tests than the other applicants and was physically fit but was turned down on getting a job with police department. I need to find that story again and see what the final outcome was because I know that he filed a lawsuit over that.
That situation of...
That situation of his though brings to light that some (most likely many) police departments don’t recruit the best folks for the job.
The police departments look for “other characteristics” like military background for one. In the military unless you have achieved a high rank you follow orders rather than give them. Face it folks; we are the enemy in the eyes of the police.
The police departments also know that military people have experience with weapons which is a plus in their eyes. Military men are trained to shoot to kill their enemy which is both a positive and a negative I would think if I were a police department official.
How do these police chiefs and city officials sleep at night knowing that they’ve hired what I would term as “not the sharpest knife in the drawer” then give them a gun and badge? Do you think that the city council and mayor of Minneapolis are getting much sleep these days? I think not.
The people of...
The people of Minneapolis need to do some investigating on how their police department hires officers and trains those officers. The civil protests should be at each upcoming city council meeting and every other city council meeting across the country that is experiencing riots and protests right now.
You can bet that where that lawyer was rejected for a position is not the only place where that has happened; police have conventions and share ideas with each other just like any other business or industry.
As a country...
As a country we need to do away with “victimless crimes” and get away from policing for profit which is mostly what the codes and statutes were intended for.
Unless there is an actual victim who can be compensated for something that has been done to them by another person we all run the increased risk of being a victim of the type of policing that was on display in Minneapolis earlier this week.
I’ve said enough on this subject for right now but I want to leave you with a quote from a good friend of mine who lives in the Minneapolis area and is experiencing firsthand what is going in there.
"Civil servants and elected officials should be working for the us not vice versa. We should not live in fear of them.", Eric Vance Walton.
Well said Eric. Here is a link to that story and poem by
This week HIVE winners are 
Until next time,
Sult
