I had a funny post all lined up for today, but given the protests sweeping the country that felt tone deaf. I decided instead that I should use the insignificant platform I have for good, for once.
George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor should still be alive and entire segments of our population should not have to live in fear because of the color of their skin. Black lives matter.
The social contract at the foundation of our country is broken. The population puts up with working shit jobs and paying out the ass for everything in return for their safety. Expecting people to just sit there and take it when the one thing they’re promised in return for their drudgery is yanked away simply because of the color of their skin is stupid–especially when it seems like certain people can get away with anything.
But what you do about it? Positions of power will always be attractive to assholes, and those assholes will exploit the dumbest shit–hey, that person looks different!–to convince morons to join their cause. As a population we’ve proven to be pretty terrible at screening them out. And certain jobs just have to be filled, even if the available candidates kind of suck.
If you’re a cop and you fuck up, you shouldn’t get to be a cop anymore. If you’re a politician and you abuse your office, so fucking long and no, you don’t get to be a fucking lobbyist. We need to start taking the damage these people do to our society more seriously and make the consequences match, especially if their asshole deeds stem from their own ignorant racism or exploit the biases of others.
Training needs to be improved. Whistleblowing needs to be encouraged and rewarded instead of being treated as an inconvenience. More checks and balances need to be put in place. Weapons of war need to be kept in the damn military. The mob mentality creating a second set of rules within our police forces needs to be stamped out.
Most importantly, the immediate responses to these incidents need to be seriously improved. Everyone deserves due process and a fair trial, but something has to happen more quickly to prove the problem’s being taken seriously. If I get caught on the street with one gram of weed too many, I go right to jail. If a cop does something shady, he gets a paid fucking vacation.
Fuck, this shit needs to change. Racism is stupid. And I’m beyond tired of all the idiots and assholes in positions of power they absolutely shouldn’t be anywhere near. I’m even more exhausted with people who justify it by claiming this is just the way it is and the way it’s always going to be. People created all this shit, so people can change it. We’re not talking about immutable physical laws of the universe here.
If you’re out protesting, thank you. Please stay safe, remember your mask, take care of your neighbors, and document as much of it as you can. Video and images of moving scenes and mistreated protesters will go a long way toward continuing to drive change. And if you’re a cop, I hope you also stay safe–but for fuck’s sake, just don’t be an asshole. It’s not fucking hard.
Scott Land 