Sometimes a simple reboot will suffice

THE EDITOR: From its inception, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has faced lots of criticism. Many are surprised at this, given that the cause itself is both righteous and long overdue; but not me.

This pushback should have been anticipated by the founders. When the movement started, I argued that the originators should have added a simple three-letter word: making it Black Lives Matter Too. That one word “too” would have been so generically inclusive it would have helped silence reactionaries trying to claim that BLM was an insular radical racial movement.

Recently, another initiative has sprung up (“defund the police”), and in its inchoate stages I argued that the originators were making the same mistake as BLM: they were not choosing words carefully. Instead of “defund,” words like “restructure” or “review” would have been much easier to explain and defend. The word “defund” was a horrible choice.

As a life-long political activist, I have come to the awareness that too often activists are so wrapped up in their cause(s) that they almost unconsciously arrive at very arrogant spaces in their brain. They often fail to grasp that the more digestible a concept is to regular people, the easier it is to recruit support.

Expectedly, the pushback has started, because the word “defund” has a simple connotation to most people: eliminate. When ordinary people are asked to “reimagine” police departments, they struggle with abstractions. If you try explaining to the average homeowner about removing funds from police operations – and putting them into social programmes – in order to yield better crime-fighting results, you will discover that most people are of this mindset: “if there were no cops, then we would all have to be cops.”

Look, most people see the police as an absolute necessity and are willing to take the good with the bad; it is a deep-rooted choice.

The word “defund” was hastily conceived by incensed activists, emotionally and understandably responding to the “inhumanity” surrounding George Floyd’s demise. What the world had witnessed was police conduct at its nadir on videotape(s); but it’s nothing new. In the US, police misconduct – especially of the racist variety – has been around since just before forever. Given that nearly everyone carries a cellphone/camera nowadays, police brutality is just being filmed more.

Can you imagine the kinds of stuff rogue police got away with over the years? Can you imagine the kinds of stuff they still get away with when the cameras aren’t rolling? George Floyd is just one member of an extensive list of murder victims (of all races and religions) who died at the hands of recalcitrant police.

Stay tuned, people.

ROCK HERMON HACKSHAW

via e-mail