We The People---
That last post brings me to another anomaly I find in these situations. I often wonder why the black community does not get more involved in local politics and local police departments.
Here in Huntington, there are only a very few, maybe one or two, blacks on the police force, and maybe one or two on the City Council. Admittedly, the local population of blacks, minus the imports from Detroit, make up only eight to twelve percent of the population, so those figures are fairly representative on City Council, but the police department should have at least ten or fifteen black officers.
Everybody, both black and white, seems to want equality in all things. So do I. And having a stake in what happens in the community is the responsibility of EVERY citizen. And certainly, the idea of proportional representation at all levels of government is something much to be desired.
But I do not see that happening, either here in Huntington, or anywhere across the country.
Certainly there are many more than ten or twelve black men and women in the city who could pass the tests to become police officers.
And the same holds true all over the country, in every city and every state. Yet the black community simply does not apply for such positions. But loves to scream at the merest hint that something may have gone amiss.
I admit that I am mystified by this apathy.
It seem to me that those who fail to be involved in their communities must shoulder the bulk of any blame which may attend. Failure to register to vote, failure to attend council meetings, failure to maintain a society which abhors the drug trade, failure of parents to train their children to know that the first thing you do when a police officer tells you to do something is to do what the officer says. There is time for legal actions later, but to run when a police officer tells you to stop is one of the surest ways of getting killed.
But the apathy continues unabated until someone else's ox is gored and then the screams are unending - until the next time it happens - and it will. Inevitably. And that is tragic.
Here in Huntington, there are only a very few, maybe one or two, blacks on the police force, and maybe one or two on the City Council. Admittedly, the local population of blacks, minus the imports from Detroit, make up only eight to twelve percent of the population, so those figures are fairly representative on City Council, but the police department should have at least ten or fifteen black officers.
Everybody, both black and white, seems to want equality in all things. So do I. And having a stake in what happens in the community is the responsibility of EVERY citizen. And certainly, the idea of proportional representation at all levels of government is something much to be desired.
But I do not see that happening, either here in Huntington, or anywhere across the country.
Certainly there are many more than ten or twelve black men and women in the city who could pass the tests to become police officers.
And the same holds true all over the country, in every city and every state. Yet the black community simply does not apply for such positions. But loves to scream at the merest hint that something may have gone amiss.
I admit that I am mystified by this apathy.
It seem to me that those who fail to be involved in their communities must shoulder the bulk of any blame which may attend. Failure to register to vote, failure to attend council meetings, failure to maintain a society which abhors the drug trade, failure of parents to train their children to know that the first thing you do when a police officer tells you to do something is to do what the officer says. There is time for legal actions later, but to run when a police officer tells you to stop is one of the surest ways of getting killed.
But the apathy continues unabated until someone else's ox is gored and then the screams are unending - until the next time it happens - and it will. Inevitably. And that is tragic.
posted by tanstaafl | 11:11 AM
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