police violence – Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, June 8, 2020

SymphonyJune 8, 2020

As if shutting down for a virus weren’t enough, the police just had to keep up old, bad, dirty habits. Few people question the reasoning behind vandalizing buildings when needed change hasn’t happened. Floyd was killed in a Democratic district. Los Angeles and New York are Democratic districts. Republican and Democratic voters are equally irked; both believe not changing their vote this November is the way to make the needed change, except that Minneapolis seems bound to get a different mayor, which doesn’t leave many party options. Through the partisan divide, other shady things have happened.

Reports of vandals being from out of town smell like rent-a-mob mischief. A construction site just happened to have an unattended pile of bricks, which just happened to be used to destroy the building across the street? Protests must be heard, just as fake protests must be investigated to find out whatever truth tells. At the end of it all, we are likely to find mischief both real and fake.

Dirty cops should be blamed for buildings destroyed. Dirty cops should be blamed for giving rent-a-mobs an excuse. And, dirty cops must be shut down, people are fed up and have been for a long time.

The country will carry on. Peaceful and fair people who look after their neighbors will shine during these times. Those who harbor blame and rage won’t be able to contain it, they won’t even be able to function. The election will most likely continue on schedule. Rioting will only make it harder for Democratic districts to vote and injustice will only make it harder for Democrats to win re-election. We all face a choice.

In Encore

Encore of Revival: America, June 1, 2020

SymphonyJune 1, 2020June 1, 2020

It’s amazing what can happen in a week. It’s amazing what a week can reveal about what quietly happened over the course of decades. America has somehow attracted and cultivated a police force with an attitude other than one “to serve and protect”.

Minnesota and Minneapolis are run by Democrats. So are New York and New York. Neighborhoods with violent rioting over the abominable murder of George Floyd see violent responses from more abominable police. What we see from police against all demographics of protesters makes Hong Kong look gentle. It’s atrocious how provocative police are seen in footage coming from the protests.

As Will Smith said, “Racism is not getting worse, it’s getting filmed.” So is police disregard for the public.

America has a systemic racism problem compounded with a supremacist police problem. These days, people don’t consciously disdain others for skin color—not much. Instead, we accept certain events as part of the narrative. If a White pastor mugs someone, that’s headline news. If a Black man gets killed by a cop, oh well tragedies happen all the time. Thanks to what little freedom is left in social media, we got to see just how unabashed murderous cops have become. When they killed George Floyd, it seemed routine.

With politicians the saying goes, “Not all are bad; it’s just the 99% that give a bad rap for the rest of them.”

Yeah, the bad apples give the bushel a bad name. Many police out there really do want to make a positive change, to repair what we have come to accept and expect. But, there are a lot more bad apples than the public narrative gave credit to. It seems that good apples gave too good a rap to a half-rotten bushel. At least now we know.

In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, December 30, 2019

SymphonyDecember 29, 2019December 29, 2019

We are headed toward a massive inquisition of police. It could be known as the “Hong Kong Trials”, where each police officer who served since June is combed over and evaluated for every step taken at every single protest, then tried under international law. It’s not immediately around the corner, but the current powers governing Hong Kong are doing everything they can to make that day inevitable.

Over the holidays, neither protestors nor police took a break, except for a brief moment on Christmas at midnight, when protestors were the adults in the room to pause for a moment in honor of something greater. Many had Christmas dinner away from their families, largely due to East Asian culture’s dogma toward older family members. Authoritarianism generally drives away people who are self-motivated and take initiative, family being a least exception. Older generations in Hong Kong don’t understand that. Neither does Beijing. This Christmas, many middle aged and elderly parents faced the question posed by empty seats at many a dinner table: Do you love your children more than your desire for compliance? To some extent, families will be reconciled in due course; parents who refuse will lose even more.

Taiwan had its own drama over the holidays. An accused Chinese mole, formerly in Taiwan’s military, is being hung out to dry for purportedly recruiting more moles. Former president Ma is accusing the Control Yuan of interfering by questioning the judge who let him off scot-free. That stands to reason since the Control Yuan was effectively shut down during his tenure, which, unbeknownst to most, gave even greater rise the Sunflower Movement of 2014. As if Taiwan hadn’t its fill of holiday joy, US Congress is now working on a bill that will formalize the US envoy to Taiwan as a full ambassador—requiring presidential appointment and Senate approval. That is about as close to recognizing Taiwan as a country without recognizing Taiwan as a country as a country can get. China won’t be happy, but the Taiwanese sure thought it was a very Merry Christmas!