The Q has a lot of pent-up things to say about the manner in which the State is apparently well within its rights to take human life - the ultimate authority to kill someone who has not been convicted of ANYthing. A firefighter is expected to save people equally, and generally they do the heroic task, putting their own life behind others. A police officer must go into every situation with the primary objective of preserving human life and dignity with just the same perspective. No one wants to see a police officer shot or killed. But at the same time, when they put on that uniform, they should be expected to take every precaution not to play the role of judge, jury and executioner. Like with firefighters, the age, race, gender, orientation, religion should NEVER, EVER be a factor. Or we've failed to adequately prepare them for the gig. Or, more to the point, we've failed to recognize just how pathetic is our progress towards racial and cultural understanding. That this happened in NYC, albeit Statentucky, makes it all the more sad. Eric Garner posed no risk to anyone. He's dead. Who's next?
Jon Stewart said it all better than I ever could. Here's his piece:
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