Everyone

There are a couple of videos making the rounds.

The beat-down of Paul Pelosi - which is absolutely horrifying and of course, the latest murder of a black kid - at the hands of the police - in Memphis.

I couldn’t watch that video. I saw a snippet and that was enough.

Being a more than middle-aged white man in America is now a complicated issue because I’m embarrassed by these horrific events.

I didn’t have to think too deeply to imagine what a police task force called Scorpion was like. They felt empowered to go out in the streets and kick some ass.

There are police forces with enough tactical gear to start a war. Some who are placed in a position of authority believe that they are not only the law but that they are above it.

That’s not new.

All or a lot of the misconduct is now being documented via cameras.

I don’t know enough about the inner workings of a police department to make sweeping generalizations about how the job on the streets should be done. Watching ‘Blue Bloods’ doesn’t make me an expert.

Yet, I do know enough about right & wrong to say that five officers shouldn’t be beating on a restrained black kid who posed zero threat to them.

And the fact that he was 29 years old and calling for his Mom made me think of my boys who would be calling out for their Mom.

And to think that this happened in a large city in America in 2023 and that it has happened hundreds of time is so, so sad.

And know what’s even more sad?

There are millions out there who feel that the kids who die in police custody should be better at complying…

…as if the penalty for non-compliance is death if the cops doling out the punishment believe that the man in their ‘care’ isn’t worthy of living anymore.

A lot of how someone feels about the person in custody depends on the color of the man’s skin.

That seems to be another fact.

And as a more than middle-aged white man, I feel shamed about the fact that here in America it’s apparent that way too many people feel that they’re better than others and there’s no reason for it.

Other than they need someone or some group to punch down on.

And that’s not what America has ever been about.

Here, no one wins unless everyone wins…

…a reminder…

…We the people does mean all of us.

Even young black kids who die screaming for their Mommy.