“It’s Freedom of Speech”

President Trump says of the Confederate Flag

This is not the article I planned for today, but this article reflects current news reports. Today’s article will actually cover two topics.

President Donald Trump spoke to the issue of the Confederate battle flag when asked a question during an interview with CBS News’ Catherine Herridge, as published by Politico.

When Herridge asked Trump for his view on the Confederate battle flag, he responded, “I know people that like the Confederate flag, and they’re not thinking about slavery”. He went on to speak about NASCAR recent prohibition that the flag is not allowed, in any form, at NASCAR raceways. Trump also said it was free speech.

CSA Battle Flag

While Trump is correct that people have the right to believe in and display the Confederate battle flag, it is a symbol of slavery. By extension, those who support the Confederate battle flag believe in all that the, long dead, Confederate States of America stood for. This includes slavery! They’ll lie to high heaven that it’s not true and that they are not racists, both of which are outright lies. Supporting the Confederate battle flag would, logically, make one surmise that those supporters want the return of the Confederacy, slavery and all. Comparing this flag with BLM, which Trump did, is abhorrent. BLM is a movement to gain full civil rights and treatment for Black Americans. Oppression on the one hand, rights on the other. They are not the same.

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The 21st Century Civil Rights Movement, Part 2

Where Do We Go Now?

Please start with Part 1.

There are many areas in society that need reform, so where do we start? I believe we start with the most visible organizations, the nation’s local, county, and state police agencies. How these agencies operate, are supervised and controlled must be changed.

Police Reform:

Here is what is needed to begin the never-ending change:

Civilian oversight boards must be instituted for each agency, with the authority to access all necessary records to review police actions, with results reported publicly. This includes personnel and disciplinary records, incident reports, body and car cam footage, witness statements and recordings that are available.

Laws need to be enacted to outlaw any type of dangerous physical restraint, such as choke holds or knees to the neck. Only the minimum force necessary must ever be used and only after deescalation tactics have failed or are determined to be untenable.

Agency policies and procedures must be enacted and enforced in the steps an officer must take once a suspect is in handcuffs or under some form of physical restraint. These procedures must result in protecting EVERYONE‘S life as much as is humanly possible. Policies must be implemented that removes officers that have proven complaints against them. The removed officer should be retrained or terminated, as determined by department leadership.

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