January 10, 2009

Police State - A Culture of Violence

Yet another 22 year old black man, Adolph Grimes III, was killed by the police. This time the murder took place in New Orleans. The man was shot 12 times in the back. It happened on the same night of the Oscar Grant execution, New Years Eve. The shoot-to-kill policy is obviously very popular in the police system. These types of events are happening way to often and in too many cities across America for it not to be systematic. Cops are immersed in a culture of violence, they wear armor, carry shields and use top of the line weapons. They are the equivalent of medieval guards and regard American citizens as peasants. The police state protects itself and its interests, not the interests and safety of the public. How many more young men have to die before we as a society reform our police system? Will it take riots? Will it take revolution? Or will sensible men within the system come around to the idea of public safety as top priority as opposed to killing innocent men behind the back. Many of the new recruits within the police system are Iraq War veterans and god knows they have experience in killing innocent civilians. And the same tired and old argument will surface again; that its just trigger-happy officers and rogue cops. But that is not true. These executions happen way too often to be considered out of the ordinary events. This is not a case of a few rotten apples, the entire police state is rotten. They no longer protect and serve the public, pure and simple.

Some citizens in New Orleans protested in front of the NOPD police station.