"How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change" by Barack Obama

[outlandish]

Excellent Medium piece written up yesterday by Barack Obama:

How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change

I hope all US residents on this forum take the time to read his post.

tl;dr - 

Quote

the elected officials who matter most in reforming police departments and the criminal justice system work at the state and local levels.

...

Unfortunately, voter turnout in these local races is usually pitifully low, especially among young people — which makes no sense given the direct impact these offices have on social justice issues

...

if we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn’t between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform.

...

the more specific we can make demands for criminal justice and police reform, the harder it will be for elected officials to just offer lip service to the cause and then fall back into business as usual once protests have gone away.

 

[WisdomSeeker]

Agreed, but it's just as important to realize that voting even at the local level, is dependent on the system functioning. From my perspective, whether it is functioning is questionable for the following reasons: 1) Gerrymandering  - If elected officials can choose their voters they can also make your vote not matter. This is happening in a number of states and I know Obama is attempting to address this. 2)  Voter Suppression 2.1) the president is trying to prevent Mail  In Voting, during a pandemic. He realizes this will give him a huge advantage by preventing the facilitation of voting, which is undemocratic 2.2) The President is currently trying to bankrupt the US Postal Service, which will also impact mail in voting .   3) Voter Fraud/Hacking 3.1) At this point is very evident that Russians tampered in the 2016 elections and will do the same in 2016. All of these undermine the importance of voting, and need to be addressed before we act as if we have a functioning voting process and democracy. 

[Bodigger]

@outlandish What specifically are the people looking for, or asking for, based on the circumstances?  

@WisdomSeeker  Who is disadvantaged?  Most of the problem areas are at the local level and they are mostly Dems.  Who are we to vote for?

[outlandish]

@Bodigger I'm not going to pretend to speak for "the people", as I'm not a US citizen, but I think one of the big demands should be that police be held to a much higher level of accountability. In particular, when police commit murder, or are accomplices to murder (as in the Floyd situation) they need to be brought to justice swiftly. This repeated brutally violent behaviour by police forces, particularly towards black men, can not be tolerated. So, people who want to see this change need to march now, and then vote in the city and state elections for the officials who campaign on making these changes.    

More broadly, while voter turnout in the young and progressive demographic is pretty weak for presidential elections, it's even more abysmal in the smaller elections at the state and civic level, where, ironically, some of the biggest opportunities for real change lie. So the people need to get out and vote in these elections to have their voices heard. People tend to think it's good enough to show up once every 4 years to vote for president, and then tune out and complain until the next presidential election.

[WisdomSeeker]

@Bodigger first off local level meaning state or municipality? Also, Grrrymandering affects both of these elections and I can tell you statistically speaking Gerrymandering is overwhelmingly conducted by republicans although it does happen in democratic districts, as well. Let me know if youd like me to provide the sites and links. 

[Preety_India]

 

Police are and should be the protector as well as the enforcer. 

They enforce the wrong people. And they protect the wrong people 

That's what's wrong. 

 

Obama is very eloquent and wise. 

I like this part of his response 

"I saw an elderly black woman being interviewed today in tears because the only grocery store in her neighborhood had been trashed. If history is any guide, that store may take years to come back. So let’s not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it. If we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code ourselves."

Well said. 

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Preety_India

[giglio]

Obama did nothing to address this issue while in office.

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by giglio

[Freakyboo]

 

3 minutes ago, giglio said:

Obama did nothing to address this issue while in office so he can't say much about it now. 

Obama did all he could in office but was stymied at every turn by a Republican House and Senate, who opposed everything he tried to do.  The President is not all-powerful.

[giglio]

Obama had the first two years of presidency with a fully Democratic House and Senate and still did nothing.

[Freakyboo]

10 minutes ago, giglio said:

Obama had the first two years of presidency with a fully Democratic House and Senate and still did nothing.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/president-barack-obamas-first-two-years-policy-accomplishments-political-difficulties/

I guess if you hate Obama you can shout from the rooftops that he did "nothing" without evidence.  Obama inherited the substantial mess created by the Bush Administration.  Were you expecting him to make instant sweeping changes in two years with trillions in debt from Republican mess?  I think  a lot of people like to criticise from the sidelines while knowing very little about how Government operates.

[giglio]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. yes he did some stuff but it was pretty unpopular what he did and he suffered for it in the congressional election 2 years later.

[Bodigger]

Yeah....I think it's time for a change.  Here is the representation today;

Mayor    Dem

City Council     Dem-12     Rep-0     Green-1

County Board     Dem-6     Rep-1

County Attorney     Dem

County Sherriff     Dem

State House Representatives     Dem-10     Rep-0

State Senators     Dem-5    Rep-0

Governor     Dem

United States House of Representative     Dem-6     Rep-2

United States Senator     Dem-2     Rep-0

United States President     Rep

Can anyone guess where this is?

[Forestluv]

@Bodigger Dang, you create some hyper binary constructs. Notice how tightly the mind is attached and identified to the constructs it is creating. 

[Bodigger]

@Serotoninluv I Love you as well.....

[WisdomSeeker]

@Bodigger you forgot the Police Union President (Bleeding Heart TRUMP supporter.) Also, since conservatives hate unions so much, interesting why they haven't been attacking the police union  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/melissasegura/police-unions-history-minneapolis-reform-george-floyd

[Bodigger]

@WisdomSeeker I am not an expert on police work and I don't think Melissa Segura is either.  She wrote an article based on people involved in police work who went to a Trump rally, so they have no rationality.  I think they may be training cops to not only protect the people, but themselves as well.  Let's not forget that 100 cops will be killed over the next year.  In fact, a handful have been killed over the past few day's.  There is always work to do.

I just found it interesting that so many on the left are wanting change in the political arena, yet if we live in Minneapolis, our representation is based on 8% Republican members.  Unless I am misreading the type of change being discussed.

[WisdomSeeker]

@Bodigger You are deflecting the point at hand. An officer (officer Chauvin in this case), was involved in at least 3 other incidents where he fired his gun in the line of duty (all of them minorities and this isn't counting him crushing Floyd's throat) and countless other incidents of misconduct, but time and again he was let off and still able to keep his job. You do realize over 95% of officers never fire their arms in the line of duty and of those that do a ridiculously small amount of them ever have to do it again (let me know if you'd like me to provide sources.) It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that a police union who actively refuses to create reforms and who's president condones the type of promotion of violence that our  nation's president used, IS THE PROBLEM. Say what you will, but you can't claim ignorance on this one.

To your point there is need for change. The way I see it, it is focusing on reform in the police unions first. How that plays out via voting for local officials or through other means, I don't really care, as long as it gets done. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by WisdomSeeker

[giglio]

@WisdomSeeker He was cleared on the shootings and if you read details they were justified. What cop isnt going to shoot a guy that points a shotgun at him? He had 20 complaints which is a small number for 19 years. People complain about everything because they are mad they got a ticket and the such. And we dont know why he got 2 letters of reprimand. Was it because he was late to work a couple of times? This will all come out in the trial. Until then, we wont know. 

[SerpaeTetra]

9 minutes ago, giglio said:

@WisdomSeeker He was cleared on the shootings and if you read details they were justified. What cop isnt going to shoot a guy that points a shotgun at him? He had 20 complaints which is a small number for 19 years. People complain about everything because they are mad they got a ticket and the such. And we dont know why he got 2 letters of reprimand. Was it because he was late to work a couple of times? This will all come out in the trial. Until then, we wont know. 

Link?

[WisdomSeeker]

@giglio I agree about the shotgun incident. And I did read the details. Especially about Ira Latrell Toles. That case needs to be reopened. Supposedly, Chauvin breaks into a  bathroom Ira is in, this is for a domestic violence call, and ends up shooting an unarmed man in the stomach. After attacking Ira, Chauvin says Ira went for his gun. How convenient... how many other civilian witnesses were there? Honestly, there is no need for me to defend the fact that this officer polices and has policed unjustly. Did you watch him crush a man's throat on tv? The video speaks for itself. You gotta a lot of meditation to do, if you can't see that, brother. 

Edited June 5, 2020 by WisdomSeeker