MY TURN-I was all set to bring you the second part of my article on the recent City Lab conference, which focused on new ideas to make Cities more livable.
Then we saw an all too familiar situation with the Staten Island Grand Jury deciding not to indict the policeman who was involved in Eric Garner’s death by choke hold. I could not help but feel an overwhelming sadness at this state of affairs, as we enter this supposedly joyous holiday season.
I am not an attorney and I am not qualified to say who was at fault in Ferguson, Staten Island or Cleveland, where the twelve year old boy was killed for pointing with his toy air gun. I am a citizen who cares about fairness, law and order, education for all, opportunities to go as far as individual hard work and creativity will take one, and as corny as it sounds … to be judged by who you are … not the color of your skin, your religious beliefs or political persuasion. Well, maybe the latter has some grey areas.
What is happening to this country that I love? More than 45 million people are living in poverty. The gap between the “haves and the have-nots” is getting wider and wider. Brashness has always been an American characteristic, but now it has dissolved into incivility and rudeness at the highest levels. Respect for position—-be it parent, teacher, boss, colleagues, friends or political figures seems to have receded into the past.
Even though the internet has brought the world into our homes, it has also allowed “unspeakable” cruelty. It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court decides the current case now being heard. Is a threat by email really a threat and should it be covered under the first amendment?
I received an email the other day from someone I didn’t know that said, “As a Jewish liberal Woman you are a waste of humanity.” I know I have a few readers who disagree with me, but that seemed a little harsh. I thought of several clever retorts but decided to chalk it up to ignorance and not reply.
These entire police actions have further divided our country. I have every respect and am thankful to the police, fire, and emergency first responders, who put their lives on the line every day to protect and allow us to live in freedom. For those who complain that our freedoms are rapidly disappearing some are—- but we shouldn’t confuse individual or collective freedom with anarchy.
I heard one of the protesters say “The Police work for us … not the other way around.” Not everything is rosy in Los Angeles. In my community the police, for the most part, are respected and welcomed. If a problem arises they are quick to help resolve it. In other communities that is not the case.
Blame cannot be solely directed at either side. Both are responsible for the almost obligatory resentment that both sides have towards each other. Just about the only general news we get from South Los Angeles is crime related. I get a chance to see some of the innovative and wonderful projects the people in South LA are doing for their communities but those are not worthy of publicity on TV, the net or metropolitan press. The more notoriety, the more the public clamors for details.
We who live in Los Angeles are fortunate. Is there corruption in our political system … of course. When the amount of money raised in most cases determines the winners … we all know there is “no such thing as a free lunch”. But Los Angeles rivaled Chicago politics not too many years ago. Our scandals are now tame in comparison.
Even though only 23% of Angelenos elected our current political team we are lucky they seemed to have chosen well.
There was much discussion about the re-appointment of Police Chief Beck. He is much more visible than during his previous term, but after reading the CityWatch article by protestor Eleanor Goldfield, it seems our Chief has some attitude readjustment work to perform.
Ms. Goldfield is an activist and participated in the recent demonstrations in LA regarding the protest over the Michael Brown verdict. She compares protesting in LA to being part of a protest in Washington DC. It’s obvious the Chief needs to take heed about neighborhood policing.
It goes to a matter of power—how do you handle power? Policeman should live in some of the neighborhoods for which they are responsible. When you coach soccer or basketball, help out with the scouts … flip burgers at the school carnival, people see beyond the uniform and that is one way of building trust. There should be active recruitment in many of our ethnic areas so that language barriers are not a reason for disobeying the law.
The big problem we have is that policemen and fireman cannot afford to live in many of LA’s communities. A majority live in Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and Lancaster where housing prices are comparatively lower.
The argument for or against body cameras is moot. It eliminates the problem of who did what and when. Of course they could “malfunction” like the ones on the LA police cars recently experienced. But at least there is a good chance of seeing what actually happened.
In my last article I wrote about the top 20 things for which I was most thankful. Today the rose colored glasses are a little chipped. When President Obama was elected in 2008 the expectations were unreal. I remember him saying, that he could not perform miracles. The American people, or at least the majority of the American people, were imbued with hope for change and yes some miracles. I was one of them.
In retrospect we were unrealistic in expecting him to perform miracles. Has he been a disappointment in some areas? Absolutely! Has he performed some almost miracles … yes he has!
We have to be careful to not expect our Mayor, Eric Garcetti, to walk on water. At the same time we have an obligation to hold all of our political and appointed officials accountable. The stakeholders have responsibility as well. We can’t sit back with a “gimee” attitude.
It is said that real change is evolutionary … not revolutionary. At least from all of these tragedies, people are talking. Local and the Federal government are talking … now we wait for some kind of action.
Maybe from these ashes will come a substantial change in how we treat each other.
Everyone has a stake.
As always comments welcome.
(Denyse Selesnick is a featured CityWatch columnist. She is a former Publisher/journalist/international event organizer. Denyse can be reached at: [email protected])
-cw
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