The easiest person to fool is yourself

“We still have unfinished business from the  civil rights era” said Brenda Bickerstaff whose brother was murdered by police over 16 years ago, she’s still seeking justice…

On April 4th 1968 thousands of Clevelanders mourned the death of Dr. King at public square in downtown Cleveland, 50 years later residents are still marching to public square fighting for civil rights.

Fifty years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., only 1 in 10 African Americans think the United States has achieved all or most of the goals of the civil rights movement he led, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Whether we want to admit it or not, there’s a generation gap between protesting now and the civil rights era. The war on drugs solidified, widened and strengthen this gap in which our spirit started to become passive aggressive with a hyper focus on materialism rather than freedom from systematic oppression.

This passive aggressiveness has carried over to today in which many feel we’re protesting without solutions. However, On Oct 22 2018 something different happened.

Downtown Cleveland has underwent many makeovers, especially with the millions of dollars being spent on “revitalizing”. It hosted the RNC in 2016, it will host the NBA all star game in 2020, and the cavs arena is receiving a $150 renovation. In april 2017 Cleveland city council president Kevin Kelly stated that 75% of the cities tax revenue are collected from downtown. What hasn’t changed are protest being held downtown. 

Despite the increase in protests against police brutality the last several years, many people still believe that the majority of protests don’t create any impactful change.Many feel the police allow protesters to let off steam only to return back to their daily lives to support the capitalistic society they despise.. Sure its a way to meet like minded individuals for a greater cause, but mainstream media has created the narrative that these are unruly citizens without a  tactful end game to police injustice. 

This protest on Oct 22nd however had an agenda, to support bills that demand police transparency nationwide. Drafted after the death of unarmed black male Stephan Clark, Bill AB 931 would make sure police use excessive force as a last resort after all other alternatives have been exhausted.

While police injustices being caught on camera is nothing new, changing the law to hold them accountable is.  We can use A.I. and technology in the future to our advantage to create the transparency we need.But how effective will it be? 

With mike brown, eric garner, thomas yatsko, these were unarmed men who were viewed as a “threat” in which the courts saw excessive force as justifiable. However if officers are required to exhaust other alternatives before shooting an unarmed victim this could potentially prevent hundreds of deaths. But what happens after the guilty verdict? 

The officer loses their job only to find work in anther department. Transparency is great but only effective with the proper consequences to enforce it…While ab 931 failed to pass the senate, sb 1421 was signed by California governor Jerry brown. 

Bill sb 1421 will give the public easier access to the records of officers who were found to be dishonest during an investigation, sexual assault, intimidating witnesses, planting evidence, falsifying police reports and more. It’s a shame that this information has been kept secret for decades from the public who the police are suppose to protect and serve. These bills are indeed steps in the right direction but what can we do while we collect thousands of signatures, wait for bills to be passed and vote for candidates who claim to have our interest? 

Can activist be transparent with themselves in relation to their activism and its impact? Data is easily available more than ever before for activism to be effective and apps are becoming easier to make every year. If we truly believe the system is against us, why would it be in their best interest to help us create change? How many more protests do we need before we realize insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results? We have very little control over who votes for what bills in the house but only you can hold yourself accountable for your activism and the immediate effect you have on your community. Police transparency is important but people power is more than showing up to protest. People power is also building stronger communities. I believe when we begin to put the same energy in advocating for transparency in our activism as a priority we will see the change we have been waiting for.

These are questions every activist should ask themselves

• When are we going to be transparent about our failures and short comings as activist?

• With only so much time in a day issues will have a hierarchy, which ones are most important?

• Can we afford to wait only until election time to create change?

• Will people want to do community policing for free or until money is made as an alternative until proper legislation is passed to hold police accountable?

• How do we track how many people are positively impacted by our protest?

• How do we build on the impact with them?

• Are activist relying too much on social media, while ignoring the impact of word of mouth?

• Which issues would take the least amount of effort to create change with the most amount of people?

• What does a healthy activist/ life balance look like?

Have WE exhausted all of our alternatives before we give up or spill blood in the streets?  How about getting higher voter turnouts in areas that have been below the poverty level well before king was even assassinated. Ultimately the mayor controls the police force, do we have any candidates who are willing to hold them accountable as well? 

Lets hope it doesn’t take another 50 years before we begin to hold those responsible who hold police responsible.

Resonance News-Your #1 Leader in Centrist News thats empowers  you rather than  entertain.