Greetings!
In last month’s newsletter, on the heels of the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, we offered several articles on abuses in the justice system. Since then Ferguson has faded from the headlines but the issues it brought out remain. Each day brings ghastly new stories of people being robbed, beaten, tasered, shot, abused, threatened, or killed by police and screwed by a court system sworn to protect them. I can’t seem to let this go… It is an indictment of our larger society and our ability to solve ANY problems…
The wrongs resulting from the apparent collapse of our justice system should not be a situation where consensus is difficult to achieve. I think virtually all of us could agree that with egregious wrongs like “asset forfeiture” (pronounced “State-sponsored-piracy”) as an example, something needs to be done; a corrupt justice system affects each of us individually. The news is full of instances of injustices foist upon innocent citizens; these are not isolated or unknown incidents. Unlike some other problems, we have solutions to this and we should have the power to implement them. We may not yet be able to cure Ebola, or bring peace to the Middle East, or end racism, but we should be able to fix these types of problems; excessive police militarization, asset forfeiture, unnecessary police violence. This mission creep has been going on a long time, we’re all aware of it, and it’s getting progressively worse. Yet nothing is being done to correct it. Nothing changes. Are we incapable as a nation to make needed change happen at this point? When we all agree on something yet nothing changes has the tanker become so large and unstable that it can no longer be steered or stopped? Meanwhile people’s lives continue to be destroyed by obvious injustices.
If we can’t solve these types of problems, problems we all agree on need to be fixed, what is the prospect for fixing other problems facing our country?
Take Care and Make a Great Day!
