I have always enjoyed Batman for many reasons. He is well-researched, well-versed, well-trained but above all has a deep sense of justice that stemmed deeply from the tragic loss of his parents but with one difference — death is not an option for the criminal.
This brings me to my topic today — justice or the mishandling of it I should say. Since I was a teenager I have seen justice served and justice shafted. I’ve seen justice served in the case of Abner Louima, of which he was sodomized by a cop. That cop is still serving time to this day. Then you have cases like Amadou Diallo, of which all he did was pull out his wallet and 42 gunshots came right at him and despite all evidence, all the policemen involved walked out without so much as even a slap on the wrist.
Last year we had that whole thing with Zimmerman, which everyone emphasizes this whole white cop-black teen victim situation, completely omitting the fact that Zimmerman is actually hispanic and black, let alone the fact that he wasn’t even a policeman, just neighborhood watch. Nevertheless, despite my feelings about the kid’s character, like Batman, I do not believe in the need to take a life, even in self-defense. Shoot him in the hip, pistol whip him, hit him in the temple, there are many ways that someone performing neighborhood watch can avoid death of whom they are pursuing while in a situation. However, he was told to not pursue, yet did it anyway, thus perpetuating the circumstance. Nevertheless, many ways to avoid the taking of a life.
Ferguson has that fiasco where the kid went for the gun and ran as soon as a shot was fired, only to come back at him. I think it would’ve mad more sense from there to step out the car, given that the kid is unarmed at that point and just knock him down, subdue the delinquent and send him to the precinct.
The Eric Gardner case was, in my view, a display of a blatantly insensitive way to handle things. I found it unbecoming of an officer of the law to just jump the person selling loosies and and choke him to death. Not even a struggle. There was no warrant for an arrest, not even so much as a summons for such an illegal action. He didn’t even so much as even fight the officer.
Today, we endured seeing some questionable manners of reaction. In Ferguson, we read and even saw footage of unrestrained violence and in several cases, blatant looting. They didn’t target cops, they targeted everyone, even a black woman’s cupcake business, which goes to show that violence only creates casualties, frustration and even more injustice in the process.
In New York, two officers of the law were blatantly killed. Not far from Murray Hill, a march where protesters had the audacity of chanting for death of police. Let’s also include that both officers weren’t to begin with. One was asian, the other hispanic.
I can see men like Martin Luther King rolling in their graves as he lived through a period where a black man couldn’t so much as marry a white woman without being treated with some sort of leper-like treatment. Violence only begets more violence. Reacting towards hatred with equal or greater hatred only adds fanning to the flame of hatred, animosity, violence and a malevolent spirit.
As far as people’s rights and police, I am not one to blindly side with the police nor go on an anti-police rant. I say this because I have had both good and bad experiences with officers of the law, specifically the NYPD.
When someone attempted to mug me and ran, they were right around the block to file the report and given my vivid memory, able to identify the culprit. The same detective, once in a while kept a watch on me to be sure of my safety and that says a lot. I was about 15 at the time.
The pastor of Promise Christian Church in Brooklyn was a NYPD narcotics officer, who went out night and day locking up drug dealers and traffickers at the risk of his life, knowing he had a wife to care for along with several children to support. Another friend of mine is a father of 3, started off as school safety and is now an NYPD detective. My brother’s girlfriend is also NYPD who’s got the grace of Pocahontas but the toughness of Mulan and homegirl gets it done and also one that isn’t to abuse power but upholds it by the book and to the teeth.
These four are ones I can attest to being officers of integrity and never ones to take abuse of their authority to protect the innocent, uphold the law and levy appropriate punishment to those who violate the law. That isn’t to say I haven’t seen or been on the other end of the stick wrongfully.
I still remember when one night, walking home from my wife’s place when we were dating. Lo and behold the late teenage-young adult Mexican kid gets jumped by three policemen and beaten without warning or purpose against the closed Tom, Dick and Harry’s store and of course, I suddenly got worried for myself as I saw 3-4 more officers patrolling by foot, guns out and all on the next block.
I’ll never forget when my wife and I were held at gunpoint by six police officers because I “fit the description”, all the while we were drinking soda and eating chicken. Although they did apologize, not long after did they go to do the same to my wife’s friend, using the same M.O.
Not all police are wicked and corrupt but not all of them are to be held as blindly right in everything. This is something to be considered as a symptom of the human condition, except that it happens to plague law enforcement rather than the whole of humanity under the scope of the media and society today. The biggest remedy to this is loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, regardless of race or rank of authority but behind that uniform is a man or woman that also has their demons to fight and family for which to provide.
As far as North Korea, I wouldn’t panic. I know, national security, the paranoia of a 9/11-ish incident happening. Let’s review what usually happens though. I call it the Psy effect. Every time North Korea would make a threat, not long after, a new Psy single with music video emerges and North Korea falls of the radar faster than Dick Cheney during the W administration. I say Sony should stop panicking with fear and just go ahead and play the damn film.
Love, peace and spinach,
Ron Gunz
