The failure of the Staten Island grand jury to
offer some semblance of fairness regarding the death of Eric Garner is an
outrageous act of incompetence if not just outright criminal.
The notion that there is some unbending legal structure
that prevents grand juries from at least proceeding with a trial of police
officers has a demoralizing effect on society. If police officers are exempt
from the laws they have been hired to enforce then justice is lost and the
whole purpose of obedience to the laws of our nation is meaningless.
Grand juries that refuse to hold those in law
enforcement accountable, including state prosecutors, reveal a level of
misconduct that is simply unacceptable.
Street protests, shutting down traffic and commerce
peaceably, and other responsible acts of demonstration are all protected by our
Constitution. In a free society citizens have the right to express their
exasperation over what they believe to be injustice. And I support all
responsible efforts of protesting the Staten Island grand juries’ decision.
But street protests can only go on for so long.
What has to happen in this country is for there to be a serious and determined conversation
among politicians, the clergy, and police officials about racial injustice and
the overly aggressive, often thoughtlessly brutal and militaristic conduct of
law enforcement in America, especially toward minorities.
And the conversation must move toward action. You
cannot have a just society with an unjust legal system. You cannot have peaceful
cities if you have bullying police tactics toward any segment of people in
those cities.
Beyond that you can’t have a fair society if your
elected officials are unfair. Congresspersons, Governors, Mayors, Police Commissioners,
State Prosecutors, Sheriffs, these individuals are elected by the people. If we
keep putting into places of authority and leadership unqualified candidates, intractable
partisans and racists, bullies and psychos, burnouts and amateurs, then we’re
going to keep having what we have seen in Ferguson, Missouri; Cleveland, Ohio;
Staten Island; and elsewhere, where unarmed individuals are killed by police
and hapless grand juries let them go.
If we do not vote at all or if we do vote but not
for responsible, intelligent, gifted, fair minded officials then our legal
system deteriorates into chaos and we get a society where as physician and
writer John Hartung says, “Evil is bad sold as good, wrong sold as right,
injustice sold as justice.”
Express your opinion on social media platforms,
protest responsibly in the street if you want, but whatever you do, vote. And
vote for those individuals who truly care about our communities, our cities,
and our country. Elect officials who by their actions demonstrate they care
about human life and not just a salary or some high position or the power they can
hold.
What is being done to blacks and other minorities
in America is treacherous and inexcusable. When those enforcing our laws, or
any of us, disregard human life, cheapen it with bigotry and ignorance, dismiss
it as without value or meaning, whether out of racism or just plain
callousness, then we all are vulnerable to an inhumanity that eventually minimizes,
invalidates, runs over, and silences every one of us.
© 2014 Timothy Moody
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