Haven’t we grown up yet?

Abolition ended slavery but failed to end the tragedy of bigotry against an entire portion of the world population. The ironic concept that because of the color of a person’s skin, they are “less than” and therefore, not entitled to dignity and respect, remains a hideous part of our society today, in the 21st century.

People with bigoted hatred display the inferior smallness of their emotional capacity and their limited sense of self worth. As children evolve into adulthood, their appreciation and respect for humanity should evolve past the me-centric selfishness that enables school yard bullying. But for some, their character development is arrested along the way even though their bodies grow to reflect maturity. Their character is stuck on the fourth grade playground.

Routing out bullying racism in our police force

Before we give a badge and a gun to an officer, tools by which we expect them to maintain the peace, we must first determine the character of the individual through serious psychological testing. Being physically or intellectually fit is not enough. Being emotionally fit and respectful of human decency are equally important imperatives.

Putting guns and uniforms into the hands of bullies, with no accounting for their character, has to stop. People who lack emotional empathy should not be engaging with society as authority figures. No matter who you are, you must have a conscience in order to be guided by your conscience. A police officer without a conscience is a weapon of mass destruction.

What happened to George Floyd is a societal tragedy. 

Just as CAN has fought to overcome the systemic bigotry that enables rape mentality, we stand with Black Lives Matter to imbue everyone with dignity regardless of their race, creed, color, or gender. Bigotry has no place in our society. Bigotry has no place in our police forces.

The Mayors’s offices of each city across the US need to take a serious look at the testing required for policing and insure that officers are emotionally fit with the requisite humanity, empathy,  and emotional maturity for the job. Hiring and electing bullies enables police brutality.