Weak 18- Here be Dragons

 In the 18 weeks since George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police, what have you done to inform other people of the role systemic racism takes in law enforcement? 

Sleeping.  Just sleeping and trying to get some rest after her shift.  

Going for a jog.  Getting a few miles in.

Walking around your neighborhood.  Minding our own business.

Coming home from getting candy.

Complying with a traffic stop.

Innocuous tasks.  Acts of violence against people of color.  By law enforcement.  By armed citizens who see a black body and react violently.

Speaking of cops- Police officers are protected by draconian laws to prevent prosecution in the event of an officer involved shooting.  

Draconian-  (of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe.

 

When I was a kid it was a simple equation explained to me:  In the event an officer feels there's an imminent threat of death then lethal force is justified.  Then we watched a training video of a man (Black) and the officer who was called to an armed robbery.  The black man turned around with his hand in his jacket pocket.  The man turned around when the officer demanded it and still had his hand in his pocket.  The officer fired immediately toward the center mass, killing the suspect.  The suspect was not armed, and simply had their hand in their pocket as a threat.

 

And this has considered okay.  Even if the officer fucks up and shoots the wrong person.  And it's not okay.  Because not only is a life lost that never had to end, the cop has this awful Hollywood immunity that provides them will a nearly impossible-to-prosecute defense.  

Sleeping.  At home.  The place she should have felt safest.  After helping save lives and provide care.

I'm asking you to think about this because it's never far from my mind.  Cops have been *allowed* to do this for a very long time.  It's within the last 10 years that the level of violence perpetuated on black bodies has reached an almost casual, horrible commonplace.  Are you okay with this?  I'm not.  

We need to change this.  We need to end this.  The police need to be accountable and dismantled and recreated to serve the public they protect.  

Week 17 Persistence and Change

 17 weeks since we've lost George Floyd at the hands of members of the Minneapolis Police Department.  Today is the Autumnal Equinox and the first "official" day of Fall.  All the cold days we've had in the last few weeks caused by meteorologic shifts and adjustments for cover created due to raging wildfires on the West Coast were a prelude to what the actual start of the slowdown towards Winter.   In that regard, I'd like to remind that people across the United States have been continuously protesting the death of George Floyd and BIPOC people at the hands of police now for over 4 months.

4 months.  I applaud and lift their will and spirit.  When everything is falling they persist.  

If you're wondering how defunding the police will help the recent surge in violent crime, maybe re-think what the role of law enforcement should be in addressing violent crime.  Or, FIRST, remember that the role of law enforcement (as a reminder) is:  

Deterrent: Being a patrolling body to be mindful of their surroundings and ("beat") and have their very presence act as a proactive crime repellent.  (Parking on a dark street looking for speeders, shaking down possible suspicious individuals etc*)

Active immediate involvement:   Responding to active crime scenes and situations with potential use of force.  (Calls to scenes of activity, domestic response, identified and moving suspects, fights, etc)  Reporting to crime scenes after the fact to tape off the area, interview witnesses, perform searches

Active investigation:  This is the one where someone calls in something and the cops respond to...something.  Someone calls 911 and they show up to look for that one guy in a coat.  Or that one guy passing bad checks.

Look these are generic, but the idea that the cops showing up in full body armor are going to actively be stopping crime before it happens or able to address the increase in violent crime isn't going to happen without address the current stems of what is *causing* the increase in crime.  Which is record job loss, unemployment, and the deep mistrust for law enforcement which prevents the crimes from being reported to begin with.   So, where would you like to start in addressing this?  Complain or blame people of color?   That's racist!

Yeah, it's frustrating and scary and I don't have any better answers whheeeeeeennnnn the answer is opening the economy (which we can't, because plague death) and *not* a larger and better armed militia-type police force and *is* having resources to address the community issues.  Also something that is perpetually blocked by your City Council and national legislative branch which also loves allocation a shit ton of money for cops to LOOK scarier but actually send people, sorry- BIPOC- people home after being shaken down, terrified, murdered, beaten, and mistreated...send them home to seethe and boil while white people (esp. in the burbs) can feel better about more cops being hired during Q4 and "well I NEVER go downtown any more."

Well, no one does.  Parking is a fucking rip off anyway.  Less activity or incentive to spend time in an urban center means a place that's a lot more fertile to do naughty things.  And guess what?  SHIT IS STILL CLOSED BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC.

So awesome.  Winter is coming.  And places getting by with patron restrictions and patios are likely to be proper fucked.  Remember this when it's election time and Mitch McConnell sat on a stimulus bill.  Not "Well democrats had a hand in it".  You're a fucking runt minded shit when that asshole has made himself a self-styled villain who plans obstructionist legislation and admits to it.   Anyway.

My kid's screaming.  And I can't focus.   Here's some food for thought-

One of these assholes is elected, and says terrible things, and signs off on terrible things.  And is just a fucking all around terrible person.  The other person?  Does the terrible things with a cold and uncaring precision that is unphased by remorse, judgement, or hypocrisy.  Just remember that.  One is a sayer that's fucking useless as an asshole on my elbow.  The other just fucking had a statement drafted and ready to hit "Send" before the news even broke of Ruth Bader Ginsberg's passing.  That's pretty fucked up, y'all.

1984 Zanewood 4th grade creative writing.

Mom kept everything.   After discarding old progress reports and report cards (I wasn't a very good student which is to say I was a B student.  Neither ambitious nor impressive, most of my feed back from nursery school to 11th grade was similar.  "Could listen better".  "Needs to check work".  "Energetic".  "Participates".

 What I remember most about this collection was that 4th grade was when writing, particularly creative writing and poetry that was structured ("Start with the phrase 'I am' and give us 5-10 descriptors" or "Tell a story from the point of view if you were an animal".  Or my favorite "What is a quality you don't like in a family or friend?"  Which is the impetus behind "The Liar" below.  Hilarious since it's been 35 years but I sure didn't listen to my own advice there.)

 35 years.  I remember the panther bit was partly because I did a book report on them the year before (*right before we had a field trip to the MN Zoo. ) party because I was a HUGE fan of the TV show "Manimal".  I obvs loved (and still love) Spidey, Dr. Who, and remember "inventing" the superhero "Starside" which, like all good make-believe non-comic heroes is basically an amalgamation of the Justice League...(He had a black cape, white shirt, and blue tights.  I dressed like "Starside" that Halloween since mom wouldn't let me make my own Ghostbuster outfit.  Speaking of...)

Matt S was my BFF from grade 4 through about 7.  Sleepovers, Dr. Who, drawing, comics, toys...we sort of liked it all.  Junior high saw the divergence of friend groups and I ended up palling with another neighborhood kid who was also in band with me- the one who was the friend who dared you to do dumb shit, talked shit about girls, owned some of the earliest hip hop albums we'd listen to, and had an older sister I fell in love with.  The crossover was that Matt started getting into Skate culture and made his own board, we watched the movies, read the skater magazines, so I was learning about Tony Hawk et.al. before it was cool.  Literally.  The only board I had was one from Target that was crap, but whaddya do.  I met up with him again early in my college career and he eschewed regular education to bury himself in computers and he did.  I've never seen anyone type so fast and have such a huge home set up, way back in 1994.  I hope he's well.

Anyway, I can also say I miss this kids bluster and make-believe lack of self-awareness.  He probably comes across as thinking highly of himself ("Gifted and Cluster is "Gifted and Talented" so we were learning concept stuff, inventions, playing with Rube Goldberg devices.  Truth is I hated it and tried playing sick to get out of it.  I always felt stupid like I never "got" the ideas before the other kids.  I only later realized I was in it because of my weird brain but I literally held a thermometer up to a light bulb to get out of Tuesday G and T class.) 

 

I took the liberty of transcribing these.  Mistakes are all 10 year old me.  I hope you find them comical and find some funny during these really dark times.  My teacher-teacher was Mr. Pheil.  He taught us the recorder.  Mrs. D-L was the other teacher.  She was Jewish, and made a point to educate us on the customs- so we learned to sing "Hava Nagila", tried matzo ball soup, and told us about the holidays.  (Happy New Year, my chosen friends!)  And when we had a field trip/camp cook out, we all had to bring a can of bean with bacon soup to add to the pot while she quietly sat on her ground mat (we all made them) and had salad in a glass Tupperware bowl. 

 

 

My name is Mike Postle.  I live in a very big house.  My best friend is Matt S.  My favorite foods are pizza, hamburgers, and steak.  My favorite subject in school is reading.  My favorite super-hero is Spider-Man.  This winter or summer I am going to make a movie called “Ghostbusters II”.  A separate class I go to is Gifted and Cluster.  I have a very high intellect.  My brain rank is number 1 and I have a very happy life.

I felt my body shrinking, shrinking…

I got as small as an action figure before it stopped.   My pet ferret went chasing me all over the place.  Well…this is hard.   OK to have my fun.  I decided that I would play on my action figure set up.  Well it was fun but all of a sudden I became large again and I broke my action figure set up.

If I was a Super Hero:  If I was a Super Hero, then I could fly like a bird.  I would be very cool.  I would be called “Starside”.  I would save the world. I would be charming.  I would always be on duty. I could climb walls.  I could shoot electric bolts.  I would be the strongest super-hero in the universe.  I would be loved by millions.

The Liar

A liar is like a fly with the wings of Satin (I meant Satan)

A LIE IS WRONG!

A liar is a person senseless without truth.

A LIE IS WRONG!

A liear is a child taking a cookie from the cookie jar.

A LIE IS WRONG!

A liar is an enthusiastic person that loves to say “not me”

A LIE IS WRONG!

A liar can sense the truth coming so he hides.

A LIE IS WRONG!

A liar can be found in a crowd of truthful people because he lies so much.

A LIE IS WRONG!

A liar is only a liar when does something wrong.

A LIE IS WRONG!

A liar can only be cured by the truthfulness of God.

That liar shall be cured.

Best fuckin' Time Lord ever, man...

My Autobiography: I was born December 25^th, 1974 In Minneapolis.  My parents are Pat and Michael Postle, and my 13-year-old brother is Steve.  I am now 10 years old and my name is _______ I live in Brooklyn Park, 6324 70^th Ave North. My favorites are Matt S, pizza, T.V., Spider-Man, Cheeseburgers, my family, Billy Joel, Doctor Who, South Dakota, soccer, hockey, baseball, and basketball. I hope to be a detective or world peace maker.

If I was a panther:  If I was a panther, then…I would be agile, I would be keen, I would be graceful, I would be beautiful, I would eat a lot, I would track things down, I would be cunning, I would grumble, I would growl, I would be black, It would be great.