WHAT’S GOING ON…

 

” WHAT’S GOING ON “ is a powerful and political song performed by the late singer Marvin Gaye. The lyrics of the song are inspired by violence and police brutality in America. One of the songs’s writers, singer and songwriter Renaldo “Obie” Benson of the Four Tops was inspired to come up with this song when he witnessed violence and police brutality while in Berkeley, California. On May 15, 1969, Benson had just arrived with the tour bus of the Four Tops and saw a group of anti-war protesting against the Vietnam War. Benson was shocked to witness the amount of violence and police brutality marring the protest. The incident was later know as ” BLOODY THURSDAY.”

The DPL is not the media. We are not reporters. We are just writers. Sometimes we carry the weight of the world on our shoulders but we must give it back. It is our responsibility. Sometimes we must be the voice that says ” Let us look at ourselves in the mirror.”  Sometimes we may like what we see and other times we may not. But we have to look anyway. For those of us who have a conscience, there are times or situations that may force our hand to take a serious look at ” WHAT’S GOING ON.”

George Floyd is one name of a too long list of African American victims of police brutality (let’s say in recent history). This country has always prided itself to be a melting pot. It is witnessed in the many different people, Black, White, Latino, Asian, Arab, Native American, Jewish, people of many different ethnic backgrounds  coming together in peaceful protest because they too are sick and tired witnessing this abuse by police.

The voices of the young are crying out because this is not the country they want to see. This is not the world that they want to live in nor their children to live in. We should not feel afraid to call the police if we have a problem. But unfortunately, for some, namely Black people, an incident that can perhaps be peacefully resolved can ended up being a death sentence.

It is true that being a police officer can be a difficult job. It can be a thankless job. And if faced with a life or death situation where someone is pointing a gun and shooting at them we expect them to do what they have to do  to protect themselves. They also (like everyone else)  want to come home to their families at the end of he day. There are many good police officers who do a lot of good things in the communities they serve. Unfortunately, the bad cops ( no need to elaborate we know good from bad) make it difficult for the police who want to do the job that they were sworn to do as public servants, to protect the community which of course means that sometimes they may have to make arrests of those threatening the community.

I have been writing since I’ve been a teenager. I didn’t choose to be a writer. I believe it chose me. But in my twenties I needed to find steady job. I love writing and writing poetry, but poetry wasn’t paying the bills. One of my sisters persuaded me to take the test to become a correction officer. Working in a prison was the last thing I had ever thought of doing.  It was never on my radar. But I took the test and embarked on an almost thirty year career in law enforcement. I retired five years ago.

The point I’m making is that I had a pretty good career. Our motto was to be FAIR, FIRM and CONSISTENT. I worked with a lot of good officers. Some I liked more so than others, but whether we agreed, liked or disliked one another; we had a responsibility to protect each other and protect the inmates from harming each other.  If there was a situation that required a physical altercation such as breaking up a fight or protecting ourselves, we were trained to use  the appropriate force necessary to defuse the situation. We were also trained on Positional Asphyxia, which can occur when someone’s position prevents the person from breathing adequately. So if an inmate was handcuffed lying on his stomach, it was our responsibility to either turn him on his side or help stand him up so that he can BREATHE.

So is it anything but racism that drives a white police officer to put his knee FIRMLY on the neck of an already handcuffed (and lying on his stomach) Black man, who is saying repeatedly that “I CAN’T BREATHE”, literally begging for his life? Was there anything FAIR about that?  The answer is NO. In fact, it appears to cross the line into a deeper, more sinister abyss- hatred. The officer had eight plus minutes to think about what he was doing. He simply didn’t care.  Apparently neither did the other officers standing around watching the execution.  And it was all over a supposed twenty dollar counterfeit bill.

So, “WHAT’S GOING ON”, can be a statement. We already know what’s going on. The question “WHAT’S GOING ON?”  Requires a deeper exploration into a few other questions such as WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?  and HOW MUCH IS YOUR LIFE WORTH? At the beginning, middle, end of the day and every moment in between we have a choice on which side of the fence we want to be on.

WE CAN MAKE THAT CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.  NOW IS THE TIME…

SO WHAT’S GOING ON? WHAT’S INSIDE OF YOUR HEART?