Can justice wait for your wordsmithing?

Reform, defund, divest, abolish: Do we really not understand the meaning?

Minneapolis today, AnyTown, US tomorrow

Today is a heavy day, with events in Minneapolis hanging heavy over the nation. While Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd continues, yet another Black man, Duante Wright, was killed by police in a Minneapolis suburb. The police chief in that town is already saying it was a mistaken weapon discharge, that the officer (a female officer, FWIW) thought she was pulling her taser. That will certainly remind other Bay Area locals like me of the killing of Oscar Grant with a similar excuse.

I have managed for nearly a year to avoid seeing the bystander (or bodycam) video of George Floyd’s murder, but this morning I listened to a podcast episode from the NYT Daily that talked about the trial and the bystander testimony, and they played audio from various videos that bystanders took. You can hear Floyd’s cries and pleading amongst the bystanders also pleading for his life…trying to reason with and de-escalate with the police. Listen to the audio of their testimony, often broken up by their tears, and it’s clear that the bystanders are suffering a tremendous amount of regret and trauma a year later. Wishing they could have done more, that they could have intervened, despite their obvious fear of what would have happened to them had they. It’s tragic. And to hear the defense trying to BLAME the bystanders, saying that their behavior (which sounds remarkably controlled to me, given the circumstances) may have frightened the police into staying on Floyd’s neck for all of that 9 minutes? It’s enraging. The episode is important, but be forewarned, it brought me to tears and filled me anew with a mix of anger and grief.

So, like clockwork, I am expecting that we will start the latest round of public discourse around how to stop the police from killing people for alleged infractions that range from potential fix-it tickets to misdemeanors or at worst possible non-capital crimes. how to stop them from being judge, jury and executioner on our city streets.

We’re wordsmithing people to death

And that discourse will inevitably devolve into a bunch of (mostly) white people arguing about what WORD, what single word is the right word to make (mostly white) people OK with identifying the problem in our country as involving the very institution of the police and taking action to change it significantly, so no more people must die unjustly.

Don’t use “defund,” that’s too scary. Certainly don’t use “abolish,” that’s just sounds extreme. “Divest” is so esoteric. Would “reform” be better? Would “re-train” be better? Would “re-allocate” be better? Oh, and did you know Black people don’t want police to leave their crime-ridden neighborhoods? (Because, please note, apparently only Black people live in neighborhoods that have crime. </sarcasm>)

Do we really need to keep arguing over what single word we should land on while people, disproportionately Black people, die at traffic stops, or over a $20 bill? Do we need to decide on just the right word that will magically make it unacceptable for police to use fear for their safety as an excuse for all manner of deadly over-reactions when these are the stats on how many police officers are actually killed in the line of duty at the hands of a suspect? (Spoiler: Not that many.)

The argument over words is sometimes rooted in determined ignorance that would be easy to solve with five minutes on Google, and is sometimes rooted in purposeful scare tactics, but I think the national conversation has progressed enough that many people know at least some basics of what change is being advocated for. (And if you don’t the Wikipedia article on the concept is, for once, relatively helpful.):

• De-militarize the gear and tactics of the police

• Require data that shows efficacy before investing any more money in expensive police training consultants

• Spend the money you’ll save on that gear and training on more mental health and social worker resources to respond to many of the calls police are currently tasked with handling

• Get rid of the qualified immunity that lets officers be pretty confident they won’t face true accountability for their actions

• Only 5% of arrests annually are for serious crimes like murder, rape, assault and the like, so stop spending so much time and money on those other 95% of arrests and stop sending police dressed up like GI Joe to go make them. (And BTW: I’d appreciate if the anti-reform folks could stop using rape victims as their shield, given the absolutely abysmal job police currently do for rape victims…m’kay?!?!)

• And maybe, just maybe, it would help to stop spending 30-50% of a city’s general fund on the police department, and start re-funding educational programs, job programs, mental health programs, housing programs, drug rehabilitation programs, and other community and social safety net services.

It won’t change until we ask for it to change

You may say I’m a dreamer. And I may be. But I know that figuring out whether to say “defund” or “divest” or “de-allocate” is not the secret password to getting these kind of polices enacted. It will take political will from the public and those who theoretically serve us. If you think any of the above bullet point ideas sound wrong or bad, I’d love to hear why. If, on the other hand, they sound reasonable and necessary to you, let people in your life…your neighbors, your family, your friends…know that you do. And let your local representatives know…that means your city councilperson. Or your county commissioner or board of supervisors member. Really really local…that’s where the police and sherrif’s departments live and are funded. Let them know your thoughts on it. Let’s start asking for actions, not just some mythical perfect slogan.

Let me know your thoughts, please.

Last week-ish

As promised Episode 52 of The Op-Ed Page podcast focused on the spectre of returning to more traditional workplaces and workspaces, and whether companies are prepared to #dobetter when it comes to team cultures. I talk about the concept of “hotel’ing,” the open office plan scam, the lessons team managers should have learned when suddenly everyone was working from home, and the myth of the Millennial (the generation employers blame for every anti-employee move they make).

Coincidentally in a networking group discussion of returning to offices, I saw my friend Lisen Stromberg suggest something so simple and yet seemingly rarely done, namely: Ask your employees what they want, and if they’re ready, not you!

I mean seriously, I’m just a few weeks away from being vaxxed to the max, but here’s what I still don’t know:

• How long will immunity last?

• Does it mean I can’t catch it, or just that I can’t get really really sick from it?

• Does it mean I can’t transmit it if I can catch it?

• Does the vax I got work on alllll the variants that are sweeping the country?

• What are the pitfalls in requiring proof of vaccination to return to an office?

Yes, I can’t wait to be able to adapt my safety habits a bit once I hit my “freedom day,” but that doesn’t mean I feel like we have all the answers, or that I want to come be your open office plan guinea pig!

Maybe we should all slow our roll, yes?

Coming this week-ish

For episode 53 of the Op-Ed Page podacst I may take a page out of Scott Monty’s book (he of the excellent Timeless & Timely newsletter) and talk about the timelessness of human nature. I’m reading a book that is 70 years old and feels like it could be written today. I watched some documentaries and listened to some podcast episodes this past week and felt like we often seem to have learned nothing, whether it’s from 50 years ago or five.

Also this week I’m juggling attending three different major events, the virtual JoCo Cruise, the Skoll Foundation annual event, and my friend Sloane Davidson’s first virtual open-to-the-public Hello Neighbor convening. So much great content, including about capitalism, angry white men, connecting, making change, and so much more. Hopefully I’ll come away with big ideas to share.

Change is desperately needed y’all. Hearts, minds, culture, laws, customs, traditions, society, systems, you name it.

Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on all of the above. And as always I appreciate a share of this newsletter or my podcast. 

And if you think I can help you break through the things that are keeping you stuck, you can always set up your first introductory 30-minute consult for free by booking it in my Calendly.

Have a great week-ish!