Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

An interesting take on racism in the police force in the Washington Post.  The whole issue is accountability. I don’t think that accountability results from internal investigations by friends.  The same with internal investigations by the Government.

The policemen or soldiers are only a gun in the establishments hand. They make the racist secure in his racism.

Huey Newton

I liked my job, and I was good at it.

But more and more, I felt like I couldn’t do the work I set out to do. I was participating in a profoundly corrupt criminal justice system. I could not, in good conscience, participate in a system that was so intentionally unfair and racist. So after five years on the job, I quit.

Since I left, I’ve thought a lot about how to change the system. I’ve worked on police abuse, racial justice and criminal justice reform at the Missouri ACLU and other organizations.

Unfortunately, I don’t think better training alone will reduce police brutality. My fellow officers and I took plenty of classes on racial sensitivity and on limiting the use of force.

The problem is that cops aren’t held accountable for their actions, and they know it. These officers violate rights with impunity. They know there’s a different criminal justice system for civilians and police.

…“The whole damn system is guilty as hell.” I agree, and we have a lot of work to do.

Redditt Hudson

Read the article at: Washington Post

Privilege is like oxygen: You don’t realize it’s there until it’s gone.

Sally Kohn