PROTESTING FOR REFORMS On Both Sides

I’m waiting for another set of protests. This time, it’s a protest that I think is a truly worthy one. It seems that during the riots ... when the looting, stealing, burning, etc. was in St. Louis, an African-American by the name of David Dorn was shot. Killed. Murdered. One (or maybe more) of the protesters brought a gun to the protest (!) and in the process of looting the man’s store, he shot this innocent man.

Now who was David Dorn? He was a man who had spent his life fighting for justice as a policeman and who eventually became a police captain. He was a man who served his community. In other words, he was a true hero who worked hard to contribute to making life better for everyone in his community. Then during the protests not only was he shot and killed, but he was murdered by people who were looting his store. That strikes me as much more injustice than some rogue policeman misusing his powers in seeking to hold a criminal accountable.

But that was two weeks ago. Since then there has hardly been a word about him in the media. Further, I have not seen any banners or signs with his name. I have not heard people singing his name. So I ask, “Who is marching for justice for David Dorn, an African-American?” If all of this is about race, then were is the “no justice, no peace” for David Dorn? As far as I can tell, no one is protesting for his justice. If the groups promoting “Black Lives Matter” were truly for black people, would they not be marching to protest and to get justice for David Dorn? It’s a legitimate question. If not, then what does the phrase “Black Lives Matter” actually mean? Is it only for those of a particular political view?

Here then are some important questions: Why are the protesters not protesting and asking for justice for a true hero who did not get justice? Why do they seemingly not value the life of this man who was a first-responder and a hero? Could it be that it is because he was also a policeman? Could it be that being a policeman, being “blue,” his story doesn’t fit the narrative which the media is constantly pushing? Does blue cancel out black? What kind of logic would “reason” that way? Actually the same can be said of many other African-Americans who are (or were) police men and women. And with the majority of police in a great many of the major cities in America being minorities, that also messes up “the racial narrative” that the mainstream media is pushing.

Conversely, instead of protecting justice for anyone and everyone (regardless of skin color) the media often ends up celebrating criminals. They call for justice for people who were actually being quite unjust themselves. These were people who were committing crimes, resisting arrest,

doing something they were not supposed to do, who then got caught, or were in the process of being caught and then shot or killed. By doing this, the media thereby turns ethics upside-down and present these criminals or semi-criminals as if they were heroes. Of course, they are not. Now they may not be bad persons, but they certainly are not upstanding citizens. They sing the names of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, yet what were they doing when they came to “fame?” One was trying to pass a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill to cheat a store owner. One was drunk, sound asleep in his car in the drive-through lane, seemingly okay and then violently resisted arrest, stole one of the policeman’s weapons and ran.

So while they were acting unjustly and while protesters are calling for justice, the deafening silence of the protesters is about anything and everything unjust that the perpetrators (who became victims) initiated.

True enough, their deaths are unfortunate and an injustice. Certainly, they did not deserve death. Yet they were also doing things they should not have been doing. Why are we not hearing that regarding people who are stopped by the police? Don’t we need some Citizen Reform as well: Don’t resist, don’t fight, don’t steal their weapons, don’t run, etc.? I have not seen that on any of the mainline media. It is as if the interactions are all one-sided, as if the other participant in the conflict had nothing at all to do in how it fell out. Police reform has been occurring for the past two decades, more has come this past week, and more will be coming. That’s good. It’s needed and it is good.

When I say for awhile, I recall back in the 1990s working with Police Departments presenting Defusing Skills. These de-escalating skills are to enable a person to bring the tension level down so that we can use our intelligence to solve problems rather than guns. I ran the program in 1997 with the Sugarland Police Department in the greater Houston area.

Then there is the complaint that black fathers have to have “the conversation” with their black sons about complying when pulled over by a police. Some think that’s uncalled for. Really? My father had that “conversation” with me in 1966. Not as a black boy, but as a white boy— with a quickness to react, a hotheaded temper, and a teenager with far too much energy and far too little mindfulness (!). “Be nice, just comply, not make things worse for yourself,” that’s what my dad told me. I needed that conversation.

If we need Police Reform, we also need some Citizen Reform. Every relationship is two-fold as it is between two interacting persons. People who are committing crimes or thinking about committing crimes, or caught doing something that could look like a crime, need to control reacting, over-reacting, and engaging in a conversation to bring the best out in each other. Will this solve all of our cultural problems? Of course, not. Will it move us in the right direction? That is my hope!