Law never made men a whit more just. ~Henry David Thoreau

So the way I see it is if police officers cannot see past their own biases and ignorance they need to be stripped of their badges. How is it possible that the chump that arrested Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., for the audacious crime of being successful AND black, can still walk around with a badge and gun when he obviously has no moral fiber or even a modicum of good judgment. For those that don't know this loser reported to a burglary in progress at Dr. Gates' house. Dr. Gates showed him 2 forms of ID and explained who he was and that it was his house that the university, in which he works as a professor(Harvard), manages the property. AFTER THAT, after he knows who it is and who's house it is, he proceeds to put Dr. Gates in handcuffs, take him to the station, fully process him, make him post bail and make him wait 5 days for the charges to be dropped. All because he's a black man who had the nerve to live in a neighborhood full of rich white people. Because he's made a great living using his mind and this hillbilly cop thinks he needs to knock him down a few rungs. It is obvious he knew what he was doing was wrong because he refused to give Dr. Gates his name or badge number.

There can be no justice when unjust men are enforcing our laws. I have great respect, in general, for the law enforcement officers of our country but they can not be given free reign to enforce there own biases, their job is to know and enforce the laws of our country. This is supposed to be a country where anyone can make a better life for themselves. It is the American way to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and improve your situation. A country that is supposed to be the place where you can be free as long as you live within our laws. It is not supposed to be only available to one race, religion, gender, political ideology or only to those with enough in the bank to keep the wolves at bay. This is the place in the world that is supposed to stand for hope, the place people aspire to come and grow as good people. Who knew that it's only the good things for white people who are already here, and for everyone else it's still the place were the police can come into your house in the middle of the day and haul you to jail just because they don't like what or who you are. It is a very rare thing that I am ashamed to be American, I do get guilty from time to time because of the embarrassment of luxuries we take for granted and the things we waste that people in other countries are dying because they don't have enough of. Today I am truly ashamed that this can happen in the country I love.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/07/20/2009-07-20_esteemed_harvard_professor_henry_louis_gates_jr_arrested_while_getting_into_his_.html?page=0


http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Martin Luther King

Timing, it can't always be bad...right?

It's interesting that for quite a while I've been kind of in neutral, idling as it were, and while I was, pretty much everything else (exterior forces acting on my life; God, fate, bosses, possibly a muse) seemed to be doing the same thing, namely...nothing. Now here is the ironic part. I fancy that I'm starting to come out of my malaise and these forces seem to be trying to make up for lost time. All sort of fighting against each other, presumably figuring to make sure they get there chance first in case I give in again before they get there turn. My issue isn't that these things are happening but in the fact that they are contradictory things most of them trying keep me from the path that I have deemed appropriate for my future. You see, I've recently started making decisions that impact the way my life will go from the point that I am able to enact them (sorry I'm not going into details here but I like to play close to the vest, you'll find out in due time). The things that are going on at any other point would have been a blessing and I would have welcomed them, but now they seem a trap that only look to drag me down. I'll give you the latest example (the one that actually prompted this post). I have worked my current job for a long time and while I have made some advances in seniority and rank, it has never been a fiscally beneficial time for me. I have decided that while I like my job and would not have met any of my best friends without it, I do not want to work retail for the rest of my life. Shocker. I know it's a job that's supposed to be a means to an end and not a career. But now that I've come to this realization a very interesting thing has happened. I was talking to the owners of the store and it was intimated to me that they had me pegged for a pretty significant promotion and raise (although not hard dates or plans were made). The thing is, I know me. I've got this very strong sense of honor, if I was to take that promotion that's it for me. That's my job for ever. So it seems that has put an expiration date on my current job. When the time comes I can do 1 of 2 things. 1) I can take it, bank some money, buy a house, settle down in Cheney and work that job...forever. or 2) I quit and start my plans at that point whether I'm ready or not. I don't see a 3 I can't see myself working there after turning down a promotion. If this would have happened already I'm pretty sure I know what I would do and it would have been the wrong choice. It would possibly be my one chance to make a descent living at any point in the foreseeable future and I would have to turn it down in order to stick with my convictions.

...I guess what it boils down to is God didn't let this come into my life earlier because he know I would have made the wrong choices and screwed up the amazing world changing things he has planned for me!


P.S. for those of you that know them PLEASE don't mention any of this to my employers (or anyone who would tell them) although I am willing to stick to my convictions I'm not quite ready to act on them just yet.