The Challenge to Change @fightingwithourwords - Tumblr Blog

reminder that far more americans have lost their lives to police brutality and institutionalized racism, lack of access to female health measures, and climate change, than to ebola. a good cartoon.

4gifs

9-1-1 or 9-1-RUN?

Out of all countries American is one of the only ones who still views their police officers as protectors of the people.

When your house is on fire, who do you call? Or when there's a violent fight? What's one of the first numbers we teach our kids to dial in case of an emergency? THAT'S RIGHT. 9-1-1! In several other countries in South America, Asia, and other places, they've grown to fear the police, whereas we are taught to respect them and turn to them in case of emergencies.

Although police misconduct incidents have been occurring all throughout history, recent events have caused the controversy to resurface on social media and spark a sort of resistance and rebellion from the community. Just recently, a woman named Jody Westby defended an innocent old man walking home with groceries from being detained by officers. The officers ordered him to lay on the ground, but she came out to stand up for him.

"She grabbed the detained man's hand and said she was leaving, telling the police to 'please leave our neighbourhood'.

The officer reluctantly let Ms Westby and the man go.

As she walked away, Ms Westby said: 'Just because he's black doesn't mean he's here to rob a house. He works for us. He's been in this neighbourhood for 30 years.' (BBC News)

Aren't police officers supposed to be protecting us? The fact that Ms. Westby had to come out and do their job and even ask them to leave the premises says that these officers no longer have the same amount of respect of the people that they might have had years before. What I'm trying to say is, we don't want to see our policemen as enemies, but lately a majority of our minds jump to that word when we think of them. Do we want to mimic other countries and become police-fearing people? Or do we want them to stay our protectors who we support and trust? Our trust in them is dwindling down to nothing, which is why it is important that we work together to rebuild that trust so America can feel safe in its own home once again.

"I'm scared for my life," says Lisa Mahone

Play at 1:30

bonniekristian

We’ve been coming up on six years of existence and we don’t have a use of force on our unit. Which means we never tased anybody. We’ve never shot anybody. We’ve never hit anybody with [a baton]. But patients, talking to them, we get the result we want in the end. And we don’t have to force it on them.

A San Antonio police officer who has been trained to recognize mental illness and respond to it in a nonviolent manner. The training has saved taxpayers $50 million over five years and dramatically reduced the number of violent interactions between police and citizens.

This needs to be implemented EVERYWHERE.

(via hipsterlibertarian)

"Listening alone is a good supportive activity that people appreciate especially when they are upset or otherwise concerned. Listening shows respect and empathy for other people. By listening, you are sending a message that says 'You are important to me. I respect you.'"

- Changing Minds

Police misconduct is never a subject to be taken lightly. There are instances that have resulted in the death of unarmed victims, more specifically speaking, victims like Mike Brown. The situation should never have escalated that much. As a cop, Officer Wilson has been trained to use other tactics to stop suspects besides gun force. Let me make this clear, I do not condone Mike Browns actions as he purposefully decided to disobey an officer. However, Officer Wilson could have definitely handled the situation differently and could have avoided the tragic death.

There’s this “not all cops” perspective that’s somewhat growing especially around instances similar to the Ferguson case. That’s extremely frustrating because it really just sounds like a distraction from or an excuse for the real issue at stake. Yes, policemen are human too. However, the community puts their trust in these people to do what is right and just. These people are held up on a higher pedestal than most and therefore have a larger responsibility to the community to avoid making such mistakes.

With that being said, I believe this case only makes the need for police reform more urgent. I think that everyone can see that there is something majorly wrong with our justice system and that the people and the police departments need to make movement together to promote change.

Sources: MotherJones.

#policemisconduct #police #fightingwithwords #MikeBrown #PromoteChange

activistnyc-deactivated20200530

"Violence, abuse, corruption, NOT ANYMORE! This is our chance to change. We are one. Now or never! Wake up, rise up." - seen in Union Square, New York.

thegreenestdays-deactivated2016

People are acting like cops are somehow getting worse and more racist, but they aren’t, we are the ones that are just now noticing

democracynow

The sleeping giant has been awoken. Folks who have been enduring police terror in state sanctioned violence for decades are now standing up to say, ‘enough is enough.’

Alicia Garza, co-creator of “Black Lives Matter”, speaks on Democracy Now! about protests around the nation for Michael Brown. She was one of the 14 people arrested for shutting down the BART transportation system on Friday in Oakland, California. (via democracynow)

chescaleigh

Ideas are out there! We just have to utilize them!

So, what's my point here? My point is I want police reform just as much as the next guy. Do I think violent protesting is effective? Do I think freeway barricades are effective? Not at all. So what do I suggest?

I think that the Department of Justice needs to re-enforce structural police reform under § 14141.

§ 14141 states that "the statute gives the U.S. Attorney General the power to initiate structural reform litigation against local police departments engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional behavior." - Stephen Rushin

In agreement with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the U.S. Department of Justice, I think that departments should revise their police training programs and lengthen training time. Weeks of sufficient training will be necessary if police academies want to permanently instill their new policy in the policemen. Less training time could result in the officers fall back into their old stereotypical habits.

Performance evaluations should be incorporated into the system often to ensure departments and the community that they have the best men on the job. They also set standards and values for police officers to live up to and follow and can also determine which officers are following protocol and exercising new concepts learned through revised training methods.

Oftentimes the cause of officers veering off on wrong paths is because they don't have a set idea of what kind of officer they're supposed to be. A written mission statement would be the best way to have an official set of the goals and values for each department. It will emphasize what is important to each individual police branch and what they are training and working towards. An example of a mission statement would be:

“ [We] will build problem-solving partnerships with our citizens to prevent the next crime and enhance the quality of life throughout our community, always treating people with fairness and respect. We value: Our employees, People, Partnerships, Open Communications, Problem Solving, Integrity, Courtesy, The Constitution of North Carolina, The Constitution of the United States.” - The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, U.S. Department of Justice

Lastly, the most important thing that needs to be further implemented is community involvement. Since these jobs require community interactions and protecting the community itself, it is important that they have a say in what is being done to the organization that provides them with security. This will also strengthen the trust of the people in the police as most recent events (Mike Brown especially) have only proved to weaken it. If the community has a say then they're more likely to listen to the authorities.

#Police #policereform #methodsforchange #ideas #policemisconduct #fightingwithwords

gop-tea-pub

As dozens of students from UCSD blocked the northbound I-5 this morning, thousands of irate commuters were left stranded and unable to get to work. At least one of those drivers was angry enough to push a protester and steal his bullhorn. Tyree Landrum tells us he was on his way to work at the Ross Dress for Less when he was caught in the standstill. He got out of his car, and in front of our…

Tuesday morning in California. POLICE DID NOT ARREST these idiots that blocked the freeway and did not show up for a HALF HOUR backing up thousands of cars and making thousands late for work. I especially like the nurse!

fightingwithourwords

I know those people had good intentions, but they have to step back and really examine what they're doing. They stopped nurses from saving lives and fathers from feeding their children. Maybe once you've brought that to their attention they'll realize that this isn't the best method to get what they want. POLICE REFORM PEOPLE. That's the best policy. Support methods for change and maybe then we will see justice be properly served.

bonniekristian

NYPD officer pictured ‘putting seven-months pregnant woman into a chokehold for illegally grilling outside her apartment’

An advocacy group has released images which claim to show an NYPD officer putting a seven-months pregnant woman into a chokehold for illegally grilling on the sidewalk in front of her apartment.

NYPD officers have been banned from using the chokehold since 1993, but an officer can be seen in the pictures wrapping his arm around 27-year-old Rosan Miller’s neck in the Saturday incident.

Her young daughter is also in the pictures, watching the arrest unfold.

Illegally grilling on the sidewalk! What a hardened, dangerous criminal! And I bet that little girl now has a very solid grasp on who she can trust and what’s ok to do to women and/or people who are physically weaker than you!

When has violence and agression ever been the answer?

On November 28th, my family and I went to go see the Christmas tree lighting in San Francisco. I was so excited because I go to school in Arizona now and I'll only be in town for a couple of days, so being able to stay for the lighting was a big deal to me. When we arrived we had to push through a crowd of a million people just to find a good spot with a good view of the tree. However, when we were finally able to comfortably settle, we realized we had settled in front of a protest. At first glance it was difficult to even see what their signs said, but as I gave them a better look I realized this was a protest against the police for justice in the Mike Brown case.

And there it went. My perfect little family day ruined by a group of protestors who don't know that there is a time and place to for a protest like this. A place where families come together after long periods of separation and couples come to spend precious time is hardly ever the perfect place for that. We weren't able to hear the live Christmas music so a few people around me tried to sing carols over the protestors, but it was no use. The protest continued throughout the lighting.

But the protesting did not stop at the lighting. We met up with a few of my other relatives afterwards and decided to grab a bite to eat in the Westfield San Francisco Centre. After we squeezed through a couple more crowds and attempted to make our way to the entrance, we ran into this:

I apologize for the haziness of the photo, but in case you couldn't point them out yourself, there is a line of cops guarding the mall entrance. Apparently the protest was inspiring looting and shops began to worry. We tried to make our way in through shop entrances, but they too were closed off.

We decided to eat elsewhere away from the main attractions. Unfortunately, we didn't know what that small protest in front of the tree would lead to much bigger complications. When we parked on Powell Street, we didn't think we'd have to be dodging glass bottles to get back to our car. Apparently the protest had inspired violence and aggression causing people to run around out of their minds, throw things, all while completely ignoring the fact that there were families with children around. People were bashing car windows in with anything they could find. I have never in my life seen something so terrifying in person like this.