"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time:
The need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is love."
~~ 1964
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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September 22, 2016 headline,
The New York Times:
Charlotte Police Shooting Video Not 'Definitive,' Chief Says
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When I heard the story of a Mr. Scott being shot to death by police in Charlotte, North Carolina, questions came into my mind such as, "Why were any policemen pestering the man?"
He was -- sitting in a car, waiting for someone? Reading a book? Holding a gun? (Holding a book -- reading a gun...it's an "open-carry" state, isn't it?)
How can it be wrong to have a gun in your hand, out in public, in an "open-carry" state? Why is that a reason for police to kill someone? Why didn't they just leave him alone?
In modern life, people have to learn, or be (gently, kindly) reminded of, the peace, joy, and beauty of leaving other people alone.
Leave them alone. Leave 'em alone. Leave 'im alone.
Don't pester, don't badger, don't attack: leave them alone.
One Reader Comment after the Times story said, "What we have essentially is the police investigating themselves and they have all of the evidence."
Errol from Medford, Oregon, Commented: Yes, by all means keep that video secret. The public cannot be trusted to see the truth.....
and it might make it more difficult to protect trigger-happy cops who lie when they claim they feared for their life despite no real threatening action against them.
...With cops not subject to the law, we will be safe from everyone except the cops.
Rob in St. Louis asked, "Why are the police allowed to investigate themselves?"
SKV, NYC said "If the video supported the police account, the police would release it.
Just like Trump's taxes.
When people hide something, it's because it condemns them."
A reader in Boston commented: I would like to see an investigation into the financial cost to taxpayers for these extra-judicial killings.
What is the total cost in hard dollars for court time, wages paid to police officers placed on "administrative leave", the civil payout to the affected families, etc.?
How much is this costing taxpayers per year and per decade?
Lester, Redondo Beach, California -- Cops to Public: trust me, the video agrees with what our officers have said.
Frogmore, South Carolina -- Release the video; we'll decide what it shows. You are WAY out of line. And the mayor, my lord, a perfect example of why citizens have come to distrust politicians.
Neal, New York, NY -- "Wells Fargo told approximately 12,000 employees that they were not expected to report to work in Charlotte's Uptown neighborhood."
Understandable. If I were a Wells Fargo employee in any city I'd be ashamed to show my face in public.
P Lombard, Ferndale, Michigan -- So the police chief only releases evidence if it buttresses his claims but if it is inconvenient to his narrative, he withholds it? I wonder how a judge would rule on that.
Robert Bloom, Berkeley, California -- Depends, of course, on who the judge is and how that judge got to be a judge.
SK, Las Vegas -- I'm concerned they're already getting their stories straight since he says "it supports what we've heard and the version of the truth that we gave about the circumstances..." Their "version of the truth"? I thought truth doesn't have versions.
Suzanne Moniz, Providence -- How many versions of the truth are there?
The politico-speak that Chief Putney is engaging in is a complete insult to Keith Scott's family. The song and dance is an insult to the people of Charlotte. It's an insult to the National Guard who have to be called in.
No one in such a position of power, in charge of people who can kill on the job, should ever dance around the truth. Nothing could be more clear than the need for transparency.
Kirk Richard, Michigan -- guns, guns, guns. I am so sick of guns! This country has gone mad and in return is not protecting all of our rights. Thank you NRA for all the blood you have caused.
P Rant, NY -- I guess he will release the video when Trump release his tax returns? It's all for the same reason, it makes them both look really, really bad.
The difference is, why does this "police chief," an employee of the public entity called the police force, have the authority to withhold evidence the public has paid for? He's not a judge.
JMM, Dallas -- In other words, if the police unit does not charge one of their own then the police unit/chief has acted as judge and jury. Yes I am aware that there is a prosecutor on standby but a prosecutor is not necessarily independent and impartial ....
Thank God the FBI is entering into these type of situations. Otherwise we are subject to a police state in this country that is policing itself independent of any one else while the police are holding all of the evidence. In what universe does this sound like a good idea?
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I have three thoughts about this:
1. It is not race; and it isn't police.
It's an epidemic of inappropriate aggressive behavior in our society, where the "actors" who really buy into the trend, literally just walk around just looking to "pick a fight they can win."
It's selfish, narcissistic, bullying, mindless behavior, and you see it all over the place these days; the police did not invent it.
However, when the police are the ones doing it, it's more terrifying because it's an utter corruption and debasement of the public trust, and NYT Commenters start throwing around phrases like "police state."
...I tend away from the "conspiracy" / it's-all-organized-behind-the-scenes-on-purpose-for-our-imminent-switch-to-fascism explanations of the behavior -- I feel like maybe human behavior goes in trends for no better reason than, they're "copying-off-of" what they've seen others do, and get away with. But I don't know -- who knows?
My other two ideas are these --
First, security guards do their jobs without guns; policemen can too.
And second, security guards do their jobs without guns; policemen can too.
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role models for humans to learn from
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