Imagine if you have seen and experienced corruption, have been targeted with threats of violence, your children were pulled over multiple times and the local courts seem to struggle with managing this misbehavior. Because corruption and extremism can be so deeply embedded it is hard to root out without diving deeper into the essential issues of the problem. Most of our officers do a great thing and help their communities. Sometimes we have rogue officers and that could present a long term problem if not addressed adequately. Lets explore some ways to understand these situations.
Unfortunately because we do not have strong laws against domestic extremism and struggle to see certain groups as a threat (until Capital Riots), the problem will likely continue into the future until our leadership cracks down on behaviors and puts in place proper checks and balances (Why there has been some criticism.). The victims are typically left holding the bag as there are few to no mechanism within the system to correct poor behaviors (i.e. retaliation for reporting.) Failure to succumb to threats and violence could lead one to have mark on them (i.e. I watched it once in a movie.)
*Let us first say this fictitious and should not be taken with any level of seriousness. Its just a story of exploring when extremism makes their way into institutions and there are few methods of holding to account perpetrators.
Let us continue on with our series of fictitious stories....
Black suburban drives up slowly on main street while the minority target/witness gets coffee. All windows tinted in a way that would have gotten them pulled over immediately in other places (i.e. more to story of possible corruption; but maybe not.). Two options one of which is official people working in an official capacity/unofficial capacity and unofficial people working in an unofficial/official capacity. Think through all the possibilities because there are a couple of them. Either way, the message would fairly clear if consistent and repeated over 5 years and intentionally included mixed race children while putting other children at risk..
(Because its just an example its not true. Also keep in mind there are many possible explanations of why this might occur and it could have nothing to do with targeting. You just never know so try not to jump to conclusions. Perhaps it was all meant for a positive purpose; the opposite perspective. Socrates teaches us to Question everything. )
No matter, when it comes to these issues, it is generally best to stick to the truth no matter if one looses or not thereby stripping the power of intimidation. (While it is a fictitious story we cannot expect victims/witnesses to not take risks challenging potentially violent extremism. Liberty is very important even with sacrifices. We must only stand with one voice against hate and corruption.). History has its own trajectory and truth, even if misunderstood at the time, is often validated at some other point.
Consider reading the United States Institute of Peace's publication Preventing Corruption and Violent Extremism. Carnegie Endowment also released 'Polarization, Democracy, and Political Violence in the United States: What the Research Says'. We learn that there are elements in our society and in some of our institutions that are willing to drop their oaths and break the trust society placed in them.
With that being said, at what point (5 years in this example) does this reach a level of something insidious such as terrorism? Consider an article entitled, 'The Military, Police, and the Rise of Terrorism in the United States'. It indicates that terrorists "achieve political goals and create a broad psychological impact." Perhaps this could be extended to targeting and intimidation tactics that risk the safety and psychological security of the targets of any background (In this example they were targeting minorities for 5 years based on social connections and extreme bias within some units in local policing culture.)
What we find is that its not the role someone plays in life that indicates their loyalty to our principles but their deeper inner values (i.e. unhinged from race or religion. That is the thing extremists don't get. Its more important then them or the victims). For those of us who have suffered for our American values we have deeper sense of its importance for our nation and democracy for the world. We also understand generation values of upholding these laws even if we must sacrifice for them (It is the most honorable path to stand by your values when others might suffer if you don't.) Because it is unchecked it could continue to spread through group expectation and behaviors that create a risk for the community; minority and nonminority.
My advice to those in America targeted by extremist where there is what appears to be intentional lacking of appropriate checks and balances is to return hate with love 💕💓🤗. Like most of our religious philosophers have done prior. You can consider saying, "If what your doing is wrong (an assumption), I forgive you for your choices, however we have to correct this for everyone else and the risks your behavior creates. Not to mention that its highly illegal and breaks some of our most sacred shared oaths. So please come to the light of liberty. Its just over here, walk with me for a while....turn the page...." Consider Hate Motivation and Intervention.
From a philosophical question let us ponder for next time a few questions.
1. The Bar: What are the parameters of corruption versus official duty? When does something become illegal? Is the bar too high or too low?
2. The Constitution: At what point does the Constitution come into play and/or be enforced? Does it apply to some more then others based on those pre-existing bias?
3. The Role of Authority: Assuming its illegal to target what would be the role of the state in ensuring these behaviors do not continue? We have to make an assumption that they are illegal. Maybe they are very legal! If legal no worries you must address that through legislation. It still might be immoral. If they are illegal then it would be incumbent on the state to enforce the spirit and intent of the laws.
All important questions. The biggest one is are we a backsliding democracy or not? U.S. World Report Backsliding Democracy
If you are a victim of hate targeting consider the Hate Crimes Unit in Michigan and FBI Civil Rights Program (Interesting FBI Video), Department of Homeland Security Civil Rights, US DOJ, UN Human Rights Council.
*Please keep in mind it is fictitious. I couldn't emphasis this enough as its for learning purposes. We do have rising extremism and nearly no checks and balances nationally when squads go rogue against our fellow American citizens. My goal is to explore this to the very end conclusion. If society can learn from such thought experiments on hate (and by extension corruption) then it was worth the effort. Its a shared learning experience.
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