See the video: This unexpected moment happened when Black Lives Matter activists were invited on stage at a pro-Trump rally (via NowThis Politics)

A worthwhile video if you have not really heard the message of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.  I certainly agree with Mr. Newsome when he says, “The beauty of America is that when you see something broke in your country, you can mobilize to fix it.”  The urge to fix things that are wrong – which has existed throughout American history – animates both the BLM movement and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.  Of course, it would be helpful if we, as a nation, could reach a consensus on what is actually wrong, but that will require less yelling and more listening, traits that are in short supply right now…. Regarding BLM, having been a police officer for nearly ten years in the big city of Cleveland, Ohio, I am inclined to agree that police should be held accountable for their actions, just like doctors, lawyers, or naval officers.  When I joined the CPD I had already served four years on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. In the Coast Guard and Navy, where I also served, accountability is a core value.  Coast Guard and Navy officers are routinely held responsible for not only their own actions, but for the actions of their subordinates.  In general, this concept is totally alien to American law enforcement.  Police work is one hard day after another. The law is complicated; America is a violent society; people are unpredictable and occasionally dangerous; and everybody thinks they know more about your job than you do. You must repeatedly make split-second decisions with little or no actual information, and these decisions are often reviewed in detail in court proceedings and occasionally in the news media.  One of the fundamental precepts of American law enforcement is that the person on the scene who had to make that split-second decision in the heat of the moment, with whatever scraps of information were available at that time, in the dark – literally and figuratively –  cannot be justly reviewed or criticized by people who weren’t there.  This is a very human and rational response, but left unchecked it is extremely corrosive to police organizations.  When we talk about killing people, the perception that there are no consequences for errors in judgement can be unsettling.

September 21, 2017