Know Justice Know Peace

There's no doubt you have seen posters that say "No Justice No Peace" on them during recent protests over instances of police brutality and social injustice.  The statement is true not only now, but througout history.  When the powers that be stop serving the people or stop being fair, the people rise up.  This has been proven over time across the globe including in this country.

Source: Associated Press

The latest chapter of racial injustice is the conclusion of the heartbreaking story of Breonna Taylor.  This tradegy caught my eye and interest more than the others.  We had the opportuntiy to watch George Floyd's murder on television and the court of public opinion was in full effect.  The evidence was before our eyes.  We knew what justice would or should look like for that situation.  In the case of Breonna Taylor, we didn't get to see it unfold.  We only heard the story through the eyes of the police department after a no knock warrant went wrong.

I'm an educated man, but this is the first time I had heard of a no knock warrant.  I immediately applied my 4th amendment skills and condemned the practice.  Then I decided to learn more about them and why they are used.  I still condemn the practice, but I did do the work.  No knock warrants are used when police need to enter a premisies unannounced to prevent the destruction of or tampering with of evidence.  These are primarily used in cases of drug crimes.  They became common when we ramped up the war on drugs in the 80's.  They have generally been supported by case law, but with reservations.

So a no knock warrant led to the unfortunate events that took the life of Breonna Taylor.  The warrant was issued because detectives convinced a judge that this residence was trafficking drugs.  This is based on USPS packages leaving the apartment and being delivered to a known drug house two months earlier.  I have a lot of problems with this.  The speculation that drugs were being mailed to this apartment was old by the time a warrant was obtained.  Instead of intercepting packages and trying to search those either by warrant or probable cause, we employed a tactic that is dangerous to both the residents and the police officers.  Kenneth Walker shot one time at officers fearing that the home had been broken into.  This is an expected fight or flight response.  Then, officers fired into the home killing Breonna Taylor as she laid in her bed.  No drugs were found.

The mayor and city council quickly banned no knock warrants in Louisville calling it "Breonna's Law".  This came a month after her mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.  That suit was settled for $12 million and week later we learned that no charges would be filed against the officers in connection with her death.  It reminded me of the OJ trial.  He didn't kill those people, but he would be responsible for their deaths in civil court.  The same backward logic applied here aserting that the city acknowledged wrong doing by settling the suit, but refuses to hold the officers accountable for actually killing her.

In this case, the no knock warrant denied Kenneth Walker and Breonna Taylor of basic justice.  In it's simplist terms, justice means fairness.  When investigators could not crack the case, they sought a sketchy warrant that not only endangered the lives of the residents, but the lives of the officers as well.  The result is heartache and a reminder that our war on drugs disproportionately affects poor people and people of color.  Show me a white collar crime suspect that has been served a no knock warrant.  There are very few, because white collar crime warrants are highly scrutinized by the courts, where in drug cases they are handed out quite easily.  If you need more on how dangerous they are, Houston banned them last year after two were killed and officers were injured serving a no knock warrant.  The evidence was there before Breonna Taylor.  The New York Times did an investigative piece that found that 81 people and 13 officers had died during these kinds of raids between 2010 and 2016.

So the statement is true.  When there is no justice, there will be no peace.  I chose to change this from an ultimatum to what should be a statement of American values.  When you know justice, you will know peace.  If we continue to target groups disproportionately with unfair practice, we do not know justice and we will not realize peace.  Yes we need to catch and punish the evil doers.  But we have to do that within the bounds of fair practice and when we percieve our governments to be oppresive, we will rise up.  Those are not my words, but the words of Thomas Jefferson in 1776.  Know justice so we can know peace.

A Patriotic Education

Recently, President Trump announced that he would fund a commission to promote patriotic education in schools.  I thought we were already doing that, but what do I know.  I've also been told we don't say "under God" in the pledge anymore but we totally do.  I closer look past the headline reveals something more troubling about the speech he gave to announce this.  He considers the teaching of history around race to be 'toxic propaganda' and was critical of the 1619 Project.  This award winning initiative teaches the consequences of slavery and the about the contributions of black Americans.  When it came to confederate monument removal, president Trump told Fox News “We should learn from the history, And if you don’t understand your history, you will go back to it again.”  I think we can see that those that accuse others of erasing history are really just wanting you to learn about the parts they like.

It wasn't long ago that I took a stab at commentary about what our kids should be taught.  Now, I think it is worth breaking down the concept of a patriotic education.  Oxford dictionary's definition of patriotic is "having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support for one's country."  That doesn't sound so bad.  The definition of education is very broad depending on who is speaking on the subject.  Is it a science or an art?  Or both?  Is it about the systematic delivery of knowledge or the opening of a mind?  This doesn't murky the water, it shows how beautiful the concept of teaching is and why I think it is the best profession in the world.

I recently made a visit to a social studies class.  Their question of the day was "Should you be able to fly a confederate flag?  Why or why not?"  I might get different reactions to this.  One might be that you should not be talking politics in your classroom.  Those people might be missing the point.  When the teacher walked them through this discussion, the emphasis was not on whether or not it was right or wrong to fly a confederate flag or what political affiliation they leaned towards.  They are junior high kids and probably only subscribe to what their parents are talking about at home.  The emphasis was on the "Why or why not?"  Folks, this is patriotic education.

To answer the second part of the question is to show that you have some prerequisite knowledge of our laws, values and customs.  That you can make an informed decision based what you have learned.  This is the essence of patriotism.  If you love and are devoted to our country, you will learn about all of it.  Even the good, bad and ugly.  This this the only way we can improve our democracy.  So let me fix what President Trump was trying to say, Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.  All history is worth learning.

Some day, Ruth Bader Ginsberg will be just a multiple choice question on a test and the answer most likely will be that she was just a Supreme Court justice.  We are doing a disservice to her and our country when this happens.  Tell her story long after she is gone.  She was a champion for gender equality and the perfect example of a life spent serving others for a greater good.  This is also a patriotic education.  To make more people like her.

The long and short of it is that we can't improve our nation if we don't know who we are.  We are a nation of immigrants.  Human slavery existed here.  Not all people had the right to vote at some point in time.  Things are different now.  Not because we chose to omit pieces of history or to re-frame it in a way we like, but because we accepted our mistakes and refused to repeat them.  That is the true goal of a patriotic education.  I hope the 1776 Commission created by president Trump finds educators who feel the same way.

Service to Others

Its easy to find the bad stuff.  We know it is true.  You don't have to scroll or look far to find conflict, struggle and negativity.  It's actually a little bit of work to find something that I believe to be essential to life.  Service to others is essential.  In the midst of all that is frustrating, I was recently given a few reminders of what that looks like in its best forms.

My first reminder was on the golf course in Anna.  My daughter plays for West Frankfort and one of the girls in the group she played with seemed familiar.  She was very polite and my daughter had a connection with her.  It soon dawned on me that it was Marlee Smith.  I hope you remember her story.  She strived to continue her athletic career despite battling Leukemia.  At that time last year she was in the thick of her struggle.  Not only did she compete, she had the best spirit about her.  I was happy my daughter met a special person.  Not long after that she was noticed for her work to provide Christmas gifts to children with cancer.  Fast forward to this trip to the golf course at Anna and she was still competing.  She still had a great attitude and she was so physically healthy, that I did not recognize her at first.  Like I said, I was happy my kid met a special person and got to play with a heck of a golfer.

I've known Mike Tyson for a long time.  Not the boxer by the way.  I would say that we have talked quite a few hours about softball over the years, but I was taken by surprise to learn his story recently.  To kick of National Recovery Month he shared his personal story of struggle and his road to helping others.  He has started a non-profit called Take Action Today to help others struggling with recovery from their destructive vices.  I am proud to know this man.  He is a great example of how purpose can be found from pain.  I can't wait to see what is down the road for him in this journey. 

While scanning through Disney Plus looking for something new, I stumbled across a show called Marvel's Hero Project.  I watched the episode about Jahkil.  An eleven year old boy that felt moved to help the homeless in Chicago.  He started out making "Blessing Bags" to hand out full of essential items like socks and toiletries.  His initial goal was small by comparison to where he ended up.  Last year he handed out 12,000 Blessing Bags.  His non-profit, Project I Am, has made him a local hero.  This did not go unnoticed and soon he was being Tweeted by Barack Obama and court side at NBA games.  The premise of the show to find these special kids and honor them with their very own comic book drawn and written by Marvel artists.  A very cool acknowledgement for any kid.

It's okay to be inspired by stories of service.  We should all surround ourselves with people that are servants.  If you can't find one, be one.  Service to others is the rent we pay for our place on Earth (Ali's words, not mine).  It is the best remedy for all the bad stuff thrown at us and you just might be motivated to find a way to serve on your own.