We have seen and heard the anger and frustration of so many
people. Fine. Now what?
I really don’t expect to see much happen as a result of all
of this, because there is no focus on what exactly we are to do now. Legislative sessions will open, and they won’t
know what to do.
The men involved in George Floyd’s death have been charged
with crimes. The courts will have to
figure out their levels of culpability and the appropriate punishment. The public, not being privy to all the
information, likely will not be satisfied with all the outcomes, and maybe
there will be another wave of protests.
The irony is that street justice is one of the very things they’ve been
complaining about, and it will be very thing they will then be demanding.
So what do we do now?
Without people making specific reform proposals, nothing is
going to change.
So I offer my proposals:
1. My first
thought here is that we should have thousands and thousands of people wanting
to become police officers. Somebody has
to do it right, and when nobody is, the right response is for people to step up
and show everybody how it’s done.
As much as possible, I would only employ minority officers to
work in minority neighborhoods. I see
that as a step backward as a nation, but I see as much animosity from the
public toward the police as the police are accused of having toward the public. Maybe someday in the future we can stop
seeing people by races, something like Martin Luther King talked about.
That’s going to require hiring by race, which will need to
be cleared by the courts, but it seems that the conditions here mandate race as
a requirement of employment in many cases.
2. I would
change the method for funding schools.
We have relied on the property tax, and it’s not working. Poor
areas are not able to generate enough money for public education. The state should determine a basic level of
spending per student and raise that through the income tax. Public education money must then be kept
separate from general funds, otherwise it will be spent on other things.
3. The gangs
must be shut down. This decision must be
broad-based in that you don’t want any one individual publicly responsible for
making that decision. The drug cartels
won’t like it, so you can’t give them any particular individuals to target in
retaliation. It could lead to a real war
of sorts, with casualties. Wars cost a
price, but sometimes they are necessary, and this is a necessary one.
4. We need
investment in the black community, but people are not going to want to invest
there unless they can be sure their investment is safe from non-business
risks. Those who destroy or vandalize
property must be punished. There are no excuses. They are hurting their entire community by
their acts, not just the particular property owners.
I think this is a good start. When I think of more, I will write again on
this.
