Law enforcement has an important function in our lives and must maintain certain standards and rights to ensure public trust and public support. Sometimes because law enforcement associates with certain groups they run the risk of warping the law to help these friends and associates. Sometimes groups carry racial and religious bias and when they begin to do bad or illegal things there are very few protections in place to help the chosen targets. In worse case scenarios, it creates a type of cleansing we see in lesser developed nations that can have a serious impact on the future health and vibrancy of our communities.
Cleansing is a concept that means if you are an "undesirable" based on superficial reasons you, your children, your rights, your property, your contributions and everything about you is discounted. When socially supported by a Good Old Boy network the risks become serious (Think of how war torn countries are carved up by these networks comprised of racial, religious, social, political or tribal affiliations). It creates physical and social risks based on group discounting of life.
When someone's life is seen as having inherently less value because of these racial and religious considerations, problems begin to rise because natural limits are broken through group disbursement of responsibility. When a larger group of supporters begin to support that blind hate without critical thinking it can lead to all types of potential violence and corruption (The sad thing is that most of the members are good people but when in a large group, mixed with some aggressive personalities, they begin to accept what is unacceptable. While they don't recognize it, none of it has any real reflection or connection to the targets. It is the internal distorted conversation and logic the group uses to control their environment/community through public bullying and "judgey" disdain. The problem is they can't see the negative aspects of their behaviors and in turn are not able to self manage. So while group members may be our friends and relatives there are certain social characteristics that must change before their immature childishness get someone hurt.).
What I have learned after having my family (both kids and myself) become targets of hate is that the laws break down quickly under certain circumstances. While mental health, racial, religious, financial, and "better than you" aspects initially launched the problem the rest of this 100+ group (including a couple of law enforcement officers) followed suit in aggression.
If you were on the receiving end and have had your kids pulled over by police 2X (Not to mention the car parked outside my home, being followed home, having lights flashed and other issues), intentionally manipulated, people pick fights with you, publicly mock you, been rejected for jobs, and have not a single person within that group stand up against cleansing behaviors, you will gain a new perspective. You adapt, learn and grow. While most officers are awesome people you learn it only takes an embedded network, a local judge, and a large group of hate supporters to break a system.
Even after the storm has cleared and their behavior is well known, the risks still reside with the targets (...and their lower perceived value). We run the risk that if my dark skinned kids come into the area again they may be targeted by hate sympathizers or extreme oriented law enforcement personal (This doesn't reflect on the 90%+ good officers that know the bigger purpose of their jobs. They are assets to the community and it is a good opportunity for them to learn how things are seen from different angles. This situation is a win-win for good officers but creates a more challenging situation for those who did not do "the right thing".) Likewise, I can't guarantee someone is not going to get drunk and pick yet another argument. So it doesn't end just because you have exposed, challenged and thwarted bad behaviors to help your community and protect your family from corruption. Intimidation will continue to be part of the game. So I walk boldly in the town, obvious, and easy to find....because mastering extremism is about mastering fear (A lesson some of our politicians should learn. You must stand on your principles and not on your networks.).
Everything we learned about the Constitution, all the sacrifices my grandparents, myself, and the rest of society made to ensure we have basic rights mean nothing in these situations. The only thing that counts is the wishes of a few distorted souls and their very close group of hate supporters. If this is happening throughout our nation, and there are no checks and balances, I believe someday its going to cause a major split. A break that can't be mended because local systems (It seems like the national systems are sort of functioning) will occur based on necessities.
You can't really go back to before the cleansing behaviors broke out. The hate supporters will say "hi" and you will say "hi" back but deep down you now have insight (Insight they don't have about themselves). You know who they are, and their potential, behind the fake smiles. They threw everything they could at you, got as many people angry as they could and you know they are still clueless as to why they hate you. Being bested doesn't change that for them. Without genuine learning they are still a risk to others unless there are checks and balances between law enforcement and these groups (If their friends in law enforcement would have done the right thing they would not have coached them on how to set someone up, would not have carried these distortions into the "legitimate" realm, and would have told them to be polite and mind your own business.). You know that under certain circumstances out of your control you could easily be here again in a few years if the socialized acceptance of hate again tries to touch your kids or future grand kids because they don't have the right skin color or religion (Not that this group even has a clue about my religion, my kids religion or the essentials of their own religion.).
Ever after being targeted I will continue to support the awesome people in the community, be polite but not passive, open to reconciliation, but will not sugar coat what happened here. It is too too important for society and we must learn how systems default when there are few local protections against projected hate. It is also a reason why in Michigan and the nation needs to get a better handle on extremism, hate, and mental health (So far falling on deaf ears even though we have seen politicians, officials and others targeted. Guess its still not that important? 🤷)
We have obligations to our society beyond ensuring we don't crack fragile egos or bend a knee to self interest and intimidation.
