america – Page 10 – Oscar Valdes

On Demagoguery – PiSTE – Power in Submission Thinking Error.

When a nation or an Aggrieved group of people perceives itself as being challenged by a Rival group, they have the option of competing or attempting to suppress them. If either of those approaches fails, then the resentment of the Aggrieved for the Rival group will grow.

The Aggrieved group may continue to search for a solution or, if despairing, settle instead to be led by someone who comes along with an idea to relieve them of their pain.

But anyone who comes along with such an offer will want something for it.

The person presenting themselves as the problem solver will say to the Aggrieved group, ‘I see your pain, I feel it, and you are right to feel as you do and here I am to fight for you.’

What that person will want in return is the surrender of the group members’ individuality.

When the Aggrieved group gathers to hear the leader, the individual members will not have a question and answer session at the end. Their meetings will not be set to reflect on their doubts and recriminations as to why they have failed. Their meetings will not be set to educate, but instead to affirm their cherished views, regardless of a changing world, all of which the new leader is most glad to validate for them.

The new leader needs room to maneuver, and thus he is not to be questioned. He will do the strategic thinking for the Aggrieved group.

‘I will make you feel good about who you are, as you are now,’ says the mighty leader.

Implicit is that thought and self criticism is to be sacrificed in the interest of feeling. But once you adopt that position, the stage is set for abuse to happen.

Speaking from his elevated stage, looking down on his followers, the leader is promoting a transfer of power from the group unto him.

The leader will ceaselessly remind the Aggrieved group that they are better than their Rivals, that their views should reign supreme, and that the challenge the Rival group poses is, indeed, the reason for all their ills.

The Aggrieved group’s core beliefs are to be seen as immutable. The simpler the communications, the better. Complexity is to be avoided. Tweets are perfect for this exchange.

Left out of the discussion is why the Aggrieved group did not better organize itself to fight against the Rival, instead preferring to blame and disparage.

If the above is familiar to you it is because this is what is happening in America today.

Many Americans have surrendered their power to a leader who never dared to challenge them, just like he did not dare to challenge himself.

There is no real power in political submission but merely the illusion of it.

A mind that does not question itself is a mind that settles for less. It is a mind that defrauds itself. It is a mind that chooses to die.

Oscar Valdes Oscarvaldes.net oscarvaldes@widehumr oscarvaldes.medium.com

As Election Day Approaches

There is an oppressiveness that hangs in the air in our nation today. The oppressiveness of having in the White House a man with no interest in building bridges to unite us.

He is a president in name but not a leader.

He is a man who has failed repeatedly to stand up against racial injustice.

He is a man who has done profound harm to the nation by not siding with science in our struggles against the pandemic.

The notion of freedom that is so dear to us, is perverted by a man who doesn’t have the basic decency to acknowledge his limitations.

This is a man who could not stand up to Vladimir Putin on July 16^th 2018 when, after meeting with the Russian tyrant, failed to confront him and say to his face that our intelligence agencies had solid evidence of Russia’s interference in our 2016 presidential election. Our president said, instead, that while he believed our intelligence agencies, he also believed Putin’s denial of involvement.

Our president is the man who could not confront the Saudis when ample evidence was offered by Turkey (and confirmed by our agencies) that Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist with the Washington Post who was critical of the Saudi regime, had been brutally murdered and hacked in the Saudi embassy in Ankara.

Our president is the man who could not step up and speak loudly against police brutality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis earlier this year. The video showing the officer pressing his knee against Mr Floyd’s neck for over 8 minutes as he lay handcuffed on the ground, was not enough to move the president to be outraged with the rest of us and grieve the loss of a fellow American.

Instead, when protests followed, he summoned security forces to clear the area in front of a church near the White House so he could pose for the cameras while holding a bible.

Never mind attempting to reach within himself to find the decency to stand up for the downtrodden.

Our president stands as a symbol of shallowness, of contempt for our basic liberties, contempt for the sacrifice our soldiers have made in defense of our land, as when he was quoted making derogatory statements of men and women fallen in battle.

And yet, some people are still willing to vote for him.

The 1930s and 40s saw the rise of the extreme Right in the world (Germany, Italy, Japan). In Germany and Italy it took the form of a clown posing as a leader and a population allowing itself to believe they were better than the rest of humanity. The misery, the atrocities perpetrated as a result stand as a record of our propensity to deny what is in front of our eyes.

But it keeps happening.

There was a moment, years ago, when I remember thinking that I had already watched enough movies about the Holocaust. I was wrong. We need to keep making them, again and again, while adding works about the new cruelties we keep inflicting and witnessing; the genocide in Cambodia under Pol Pot, the massacres in Rwanda, the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar, the forced confinement of Uighurs in China, the ongoing mistreatment of minorities throughout the world.

And yet, the other day I saw a frontpage article in the Wall Street Journal about a wealthy farmer in one of our northern states. He argued in support of the president, and that doing so would ensure that taxes and regulations would stay down. ‘We have to take the good with the bad.’ To the gentleman, his economic concerns were enough to override everything else. That is the same restricted mentality that leads to the rise of extremism everywhere.

Closer to home, yesterday I made a call to a friend and casually asked, ‘you voted yet?’, and the friend replied, ‘I don’t vote.’ I was dumbfounded. ‘I don’t like either candidate,’ the friend continued.

‘But wait,’ I pleaded, ‘the preservation of our liberties requires that we exercise choice, you may not like either of the candidates but surely there are advantages to choosing one over the other.’ ‘Don’t insist, I’m not voting,’ came the reply. I said no more. But today, I left a text urging the person to please reconsider.

I remember reading once that nations deserved their leaders. Without bothering to properly reflect on the meaning of the sentence, I repeated it to an old Cuban émigré who had served several years in prison under Castro. He politely disagreed. ‘We didn’t deserve Castro,’ he said, his expression revealing the pain he’d endured in the struggle for liberty in his land.

Do we deserve our current president? No. But let us not prolong the oppressiveness under which we now live, or we might forget what the sweet scent of liberty feels like.

One last thought. My heartfelt thanks to all the campaign volunteers who keep reaching out to persuade the undecided, the men and women who keep making call after call to motivate the apathetic and disinterested, our fellow citizens who seem to have no clue as to what it takes to preserve our freedoms.

Oscar Valdes oscarvaldes.net oscarvaldes@widehumr

Political Donations and the Fragility of Democracy

We keep being asked to continue to pitch in, so more information is sent to voters.

But haven’t most people made up their minds by now?

Four years of Trump is not enough to persuade the citizen?

Apparently not, judging by the incessant requests. And so, it appears, that the fate of the nation comes to rest on a group of people who don’t seem to have strong views one way or the other and who can be persuaded by a postcard or advertisement.

Downright scary.

It is a good argument to invest more in education, to invest in helping people think.

A neutral subject like Thinking 101 could be made part of the curriculum, starting in 4^th grade and continuing through the end of high school.

It ought to go hand in hand with Psychology 101, Learning to Recognize Your Emotions, so you’re not a slave to them but in control of them.

The classes could be just interactive lectures with no homework attached. A simple exchange of views with a mature adult with an interest in awakening young minds.

I, myself, would have got a lot of out of such courses.

The courses could use stories to illustrate instances of how thinking and being aware of your feelings can keep you out of trouble and move you in a direction that is right for you.

Sounds so basic. Who would be against this?

Some people are.

Some people who feel they have to capture the young mind to their way of seeing the world before the young even know who they are.

What a disservice to democracy.

What a disservice to humankind.

Oscar Valdes oscarvaldes.net on Twitter oscar valdes@widehumr

The End is Near

For Trump.

And a rebirth is fast approaching for the nation.

Donald J Trump came into the job by appealing to a section of the country that had felt ignored. Once elected he should have called for unity, for the start of a dialogue that would begin to bring us together.

But he could not do it.

I know he looked into himself wondering if he had the strength to do the job.

I know he looked and looked again.

And yet, all along, the strength was hiding in a corner of his soul.

To find it he needed light.

That light was the courage to see the truth.

But he could not turn on the light.

It is sad that a nation as gifted as ours, has to go through four years of bitter dissent, four years of continuous acrimony, because our elected leader could not rise to the task of truly becoming our leader.

To do so he would have had to say,

‘I have stirred enmity in my followers to rise to victory, but now I should help them understand the root of such enmity, and I must do so even if I, myself, don’t understand it.’

A president has at his disposal all the wisdom of the nation’s scholars, and he could’ve easily called on them to help him find clarity, to assist him in learning what he did not know.

But he chose not to.

And it was a conscious choice. To choose darkness rather than light.

But you have to not be free as a person to choose darkness,

You have to not be free to not muster the courage to face the truth,

And so it is that the man wearing the mantle of leader of the Free World

Is not a free man himself.

It is too much to expect that our leaders will be wise in all things, but it isn’t too much to expect that they ask others to educate them where they are ignorant.

Let us call it intellectual honesty.

If it is not there, then they are not fit to lead.

Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for A Nation and other titles. Available on Amazon.

Oscarvaldes.net

REINVENTING PUNISHMENT

Years ago, while interviewing a young inmate who was serving a sentence for running a red light while drunk, and crashing into a car carrying an elderly couple and killing them both, he said to me, ‘Two more years and I will have paid my debt to society.’

The crime had been committed when he was under 21. By the end of his term he would’ve served something like 5 or 6 years.

There was something very wrong with what he had said. And the law permitted it.

The thought stayed with me.

There has to be a better way.

Killing someone is killing someone. The killed are gone. To be with us no more, while the responsible party has life ahead.

Is it fair?

Step into a prison for a visit – which I highly recommend – and you’ll be struck by the mass of people stuck in cells, mostly doing nothing constructive, men and women in their prime just waiting for their terms to expire.

Well, I say we’ve got this wrong.

Suppose Jim kills Pete in a robbery or for some other reason.

Jim has a debt to society and to Pete and his family. And he needs to pay it.

But how does being idle in a prison cell improve Jim’s ability to pay his debt?

It does not. But if he was educating himself to make a living or start a business, then the time incarcerated would be well spent. Upon release, Jim would be able to earn money and begin the process of making reparations.

How long would Jim have to make reparations? Forever.

The size of the reparations would vary depending on the income Jim can generate, but the debt incurred is to last a lifetime. And so with other offenses, like rape and child molestation.

While Jim is in prison, the State is investing in his education, an education that allows him to buy his freedom, but he has to pay it back.

Jim doesn’t want to work? Then he goes back to prison.

Jim will need more than an education to become a responsible citizen. He will need psychological treatment to address the impulsivity, poor judgment, addictions etc. that led to his killing Pete.

The State needs to invest in that. And then Jim pays back to the victim’s family for the rest of his life.

What Jim doesn’t need is to be rotting in a cell wasting his potential capabilities.

The State ought to have an obligation to create the conditions that lead to forming responsible citizens.

Keeping people idle in confinement is no way to do that.

Somehow, though, certain societal forces have prevailed to insist that punishment is more important than education. I believe the influence of the Church has played an oversize role in this, but I leave that to others to determine. The emphasis on punishment, however, needs to be changed to one stressing the educational and psychological rehabilitation of the offender.

The length of time Jim would have to stay in prison for killing Pete would depend on his response to psychological treatment and his eagerness to acquire productive skills. Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology and Social work from local universities could be enlisted to contribute to the effort.

After sufficient progress has been made, then Jim would appear before a board made of fellow citizens, the composition of which would vary just as with the selection of a jury (not like presently, where these boards are stacked with law enforcement). The citizens would hear the evidence proposing his release and a decision would be made: Return to society or remain in prison for more constructive work, education, work skills and psychological assistance.

But the incentive would always be there, work hard and you will earn your freedom, a freedom that is to remain conditional on the payment of reparations for a lifetime (for certain offenses).

The notion of buying one’s freedom bother you?

We do it every day. Every single day, when we set out to earn a living, we are buying our freedom. Choose to not make the effort? Then we won’t be able to pay the rent and will have to hit the streets. Is that freedom?

You decide.

Whatever societal forces have shaped the current state of how we deal with crime have not satisfactorily addressed the issue, neither morally nor economically.

Locking up young people in their productive prime is of no benefit to the nation.

It may, in the minds of some, satisfy a desire for vengeance, but that is not making us a better country.

People need hope.

A case can be made that those who have failed, like Jim, did not get the benefit of strong formative forces as they were growing up. If so, while in prison, the State has a chance to make up for its share of responsibility to deliver a fully engaged citizen.

Jim, on the other hand, has to contend with why he failed as a person.

Do we, as a society, keep supporting a system that emphasizes punishment?

Or do we reshape the institution to stress education, personal growth and the earning of one’s freedom to live a worthwhile life and, on the way, pay back those we injured or killed.

Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for A Nation, the prison novel Walk Through Your Shadows and other books. Available on Amazon.

Oscarvaldes.net

Two Officers are Shot in Compton, California. 9/12/2020

Mr Biden and the State assemblyman for the area quickly condemned the act while calling for justice. Our President, on the other hand, upon seeing the video of the shooting and referring to the perpetrator, tweeted, ‘Animals that must be hit hard.’

Let us pause to think about the difference.

The two officers from the Sheriff’s department were shot in the face and head. Both had joined the force only 14 months ago. A woman, 31, a man, 24. They have undergone surgery at a nearby hospital and are reported to be in critical condition.

The officers were on duty patrolling a Metro station for the train that passes through Compton. They were helping passengers in the system feel safe. People like you and me.

The shooter chose to see the officers as easy targets.

‘All these cops are bad. I don’t care what they’ve done,’ the shooter must have thought. ‘If you put that uniform on, you’re bad. They share responsibility for what other officers have done. I could wait for the court system to look at the details, but how long will that take? Plus, the courts are run by the elites in power. I’m not going to wait for that. I’ll just go out and kill myself a couple. Never mind if they’ve never committed any abuses themselves. Never mind if they have brothers and sisters and parents and children. My need for revenge is greater than anything else.’

Animated by such anger, the person found a gun and readied for the act.

Before proceeding, he may have spoken to someone in his confidence and said, ‘I’ll be in the news, for sure. I hope I don’t get caught, but if I do, I’ll be in the news all over the world. I will be part of history, whereas right now I’m not part of anything, my life of little value.’

The other person may have tried to dissuade him (or her, we don’t know the sex yet) saying something like, ‘this eye for an eye way of settling things has been tried before and it doesn’t work,’ which may have given pause to the shooter and the officers would have been spared.

Or, the other person may have said, ‘wow, what guts you have! I didn’t know you had it in you. I mean, you haven’t done much with your life so far, and you have a low opinion of yourself, but now you’re wanting to turn it around. Well, yeah, I guess you’ll be a hero to some.’

Or, the other person could have said, ‘You’re a fool! Stop that thinking right away! You have to learn to value yourself. What’s the matter with you? You’re just starting out. Life is precious! Don’t waste it!’

Or, the would be shooter might have had no one to speak to, no one to say that he was filled with such hatred from all the recent incidents in our national life, and had not been able to process the anger and destructive choices that were festering in him.

In the end, there was no one around with the courage to say to the would be shooter, ‘pause my brother, there have been many injustices in our lives, yes, and there will be more, but we can’t just strike out in anger or we will perish together.’

And before the president said his famous words, that same person would have said to the shooter, ‘none of us, Blacks, Whites, Asian, Latinos, are “Animals that must be hit hard”’.

Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for A Nation and other books, including Letter to A Shooter. Available in Amazon. Oscarvaldes.net

China’s Impact on US

Looking at China, we should be asking ourselves, ‘look how far they’ve got, how brazen they’ve been, how daring? And in such a short time. Why, just after WWII they didn’t amount to much, did they?’

Theirs had been a land which had been dominated by foreign nations, then became ruled by a communist party. And look where they are now.

A world power.

We can also look at them and say, ‘sure, but they are not free. They are a censored country. Cameras everywhere.’

True, but their economy is strong and getting stronger. Which means that there’s more to spread around and their standard of living has been rising steadily.

China seems very clear about something.

They need the world. They want the world. And they will do what they must to get it. Even if it means stealing technology or spying on other countries.

They will do anything at all.

Ruthless.

But they are creative, too. Very talented. Gifted. Otherwise they would not have become the factory of the world during globalization.

The job was offered by the nations of the West and they jumped on it and did something with it. And they grew up.

And they will keep growing, even if they are barred from stealing or spying. That’s right. Stealing and spying accelerates the process of growth but the absence of it does not prevent it.

China, fellow Americans, has arrived.

And we have got to accept it.

The sooner we do, the sooner we will begin to learn from them.

Learn from them?

Absolutely. They have much to teach us, if we pay attention. If we are not too proud to look at the facts.

What stands out clearly about China? Their sense of purpose.

They are filled with it. They have agreed on the need to improve their material existence. For now, the leadership of the communist party will do. Later on, it will constrain them. But it works for now.

The Chinese have taking the long view. They say something like this to themselves, ‘These rules imposed on us are irritating but they are forcing a discipline on us that is helping our material growth.’

Did we, here in the USA, lose our sense of purpose as a nation?

I believe we did.

World War II was a great example of when we did have it. And the nation shined.

So there’s no doubt that the country has got what it takes.

Here’s another example. October 4^th 1957. The Soviets launch the Sputnik satellite. It shot up over the earth’s atmosphere and began going around the planet every 90 minutes. Our nation was shocked. Russia had done it.

Did we lament our situation and cry about it? No, we got to work on it.

And soon enough we launched Explorer 1 on 1/31/1958. The Soviets would get another victory on 4/12/58 when Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel around the earth in outer space but then we followed with the historic landing on the moon on July 20^th 1969.

Both in war time and peace time we answered the challenge.

That last challenge was only 50 years ago.

Now comes China.

They are saying to us, ‘We will soon become the largest economy in the world. Period. You will be the second. Second, as in number 2. Don’t like the sound of it? Get used to it. We are 1.4 billion people with a sense of purpose that you lack, so we will beat you.’

And they are saying it looking us straight in the eye, with complete confidence in their abilities. And we’re thinking, ‘no they can’t… or… can they? How did they get up there so fast?’

With hard work. Stealth. Cunning.

Don’t think they can do it? Then we’re in la la land. Deep into it.

What is amazing is how we’re handling their challenge. We’re using denial. Yes, Denial.

Denial as in, thinking that tariffs will deter the Chinese. Denial as in believing that leaving social injustice unaddressed in our land will not undermine our collective strength and resolve. Denial as in insisting that the cry Make America Great Again carries a true spark of creativity and determination.

In the process, China has become the biblical David to our Goliath.

Don’t like the comparison?

Then let us look at leadership.

Across the Pacific, whether you and I agree with him or not, a leader has risen that unites a country and marshals it into action.

Here, in this vast land of ours, with an abundance of good people, of riches and inventiveness, we end up praising leaders that divide rather than unite.

There’s something very wrong.

Think about it.

Anyway, as you do, today, September 11th, our death count from the coronavirus has gone up to over 191,800 versus 4634 for China. And they’re much farther along reopening their economy than we are.

Hello?

Anyone out there?

Hello?

Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for A Nation and other books. Available on Amazon.

Oscarvaldes.net

Dijon Kizzee. Los Angeles. 8/31/2020

Another Black man killed. Ten shots fired, said a neighbor.

Why?

The investigation is still under way but this is what I’ve read in the press.

Mr Kizzee, 29, is riding a bike when a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s patrol car observes that he is in violation of a vehicles code. When they attempt to stop him he runs away.

Stop.

Black man on a bike in apparent violation of a vehicles code = probably can’t afford whatever it is he has to do to be in compliance.

Stop.

He is not bothering anyone.

Stop.

Blacks are very wary of police interventions, a legacy of years and years of injustice.

Stop

The two officers inside the patrol car as they observe Mr Kizzee riding his bike.

Officer 1 – there he is, breaking the law. Have to stop him.

Officer 2 – but should we? He’s not bothering anyone, probably barely scraping a living.

Officer 1 – an infraction is an infraction is an infraction.

Officer 2 – dude, in this climate, with people on the edge, with so many incidents, I say let it go. It’s nothing.

Officer 1 – what if he’s carrying a weapon?

Officer 2 – What if he is, he could just be transporting it from one place to the other, or he’s just needing it to feel secure, who knows?

Officer 1 – buddy, I don’t know about you but I didn’t sign up for this job to be a social worker, so we’re stopping this guy. Have to protect the community.

We know what happened next.

Mr Kizzee didn’t heed the call to stop, the officers chased him, then confronted him, Mr Kizzee reportedly struck one of them in the face (the officers were not carrying body cameras), ran off again, more chasing, Mr Kizzee drops a bundle of clothes he was carrying and it reveals a gun.

The officers shoot and kill him.

Stop.

There’s a gap in there, right?

Yes. There is no mention of Mr Kizzee even reaching for the gun dropped with his clothes.

But shots were fired.

Ten shots. Not two four six or eight but Ten.

Just as a precaution. Right.

Something wrong there.

Yes. Recklessness. Impulsiveness.

Should Mr Kizzee have stopped when asked? Yes Yes Yes. By all means, stop when a policeman orders you to.

But there has to be a place for balanced judgment.

Life can’t be this cheap.

Mr Kizzee was a man. A poor man, likely. A Black man. The bike was probably the only means of transportation he could muster.

He deserved a little break.

How many people are moving around at this very moment in any city with a gun in their vehicles? Probably thousands. But they are not as poor as Mr Kizzee. They have that extra layer of protection that money gives them.

It is heartbreaking.

Yes, we need law and order, but we have to cut a little slack to those who are not making it.

Or to those who are likely to distrust the police. Or to those who may have poor judgment.

Please.

We need police, yes, but we need officers who think.

What happened to police leadership? With all that is happening in our nation today, did they not find it in themselves to take time to anticipate events, to take time to speak to the officers about exercising extra caution?

Ten shots. Ten. 10.

And Mr Kizzee wasn’t even holding a gun.

There’s something so wrong.

An investigation will follow, surely, and the officers will likely be absolved of any wrongdoing.

And Mr Kizzee’s life is lost.

He may not have been making any significant contribution to society but his was a life.

And that should be enough to command respect. Just that alone.

What cheapened his existence?

Let us stop. Think.

And may the name Kizzee forever prompt us to do so.

Which is why protests are justified.

And why looting and destruction of property are not.

Not, because to do so is to demean the loss of Mr Kizzee.

We don’t know at what stage of existence Mr Kizzee was but what is certain is that he didn’t need a bullet. Or ten.

He needed something else.

Can we remind ourselves of that?

To the officers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department: we need you but, please, think and feel, for those that you shoot are your brothers and sisters. Sometimes flawed, as we all are, but still your brothers and sisters.

And fellow Americans.

Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for a Nation and other books. Available on Amazon.

Oscarvaldes.net

The Racial Protests. When Will They Be Over?

Not anytime soon, judging by the forces we see in play.

On the one hand there’s a reckless defiance of authority in the black community, borne out of a very long history of injustice and mistreatment.

On the other there are police departments that are confused, overreacting, seemingly unable to grasp the complexity of the challenge at hand and lacking guidance.

There has been a lack of responsible leadership on both sides.

From the African American community, there has been a lack of leadership speaking out for restraint. Calling out loudly for people to protest peacefully and not burn or damage property. Calling out loudly for African Americans to not dare an officer who’s holding up a gun with a threat to shoot if you don’t comply.

Why can’t African American leadership step out and say, ‘we know you are frustrated, fed up with the systemic racism, but please do not dare someone who’s pointing a gun at you. We want you to live so you, too, will benefit from the changes that we are working on. We do not need you to be a corpse, or a memorial or in a wheelchair. We want you to value your life because you matter to our communities and the nation.’

Then there’s the police.

The present trend is to put all fault on them. But the police are us. They are a cross section of the society at large. If they are who they are today, flawed and problematic, it is because they are us.

Police has needed, for the longest time, to learn about the importance of having a social perspective on the work they do. Today’s officer, cannot simply say ‘I am a cop. I’m not a social worker.’ You can’t do that because that is not what the present work demands.

Today’s police work, particularly when dealing with the African American community, requires a special sensitivity. It calls for every officer to be fully aware of the history of mistreatment of African Americans at all levels of the justice system, from legislators to judges, prosecutors and on down, and the cumulative detrimental effect that has had on them.

We’re talking about mistreatment and unfairness that runs deep and dates back centuries. Mistreatment that is still present today in our jails and prisons, mistreatment present in laws that restricted Blacks from homeownership, that made for longer sentences, as when shorter terms were given to offenders charged with possession of powder cocaine because they were more likely to be white, as opposed to those charged with possession of crack cocaine, who were more likely to be Black.

For years we have known that if you’re Black you’re more likely to be stopped by police or face added obstacles for promotion or entry to graduate programs.

The cumulative effect of all those acts of aggression has resulted in an attitude of defiance, which sometimes has turned reckless.

But the shooting has got to stop.

Police have to understand what has led to the reckless defiance we see today so they, themselves, are not reckless in turn.

Police, like most of us, need to be thoughtful in addressing Black folks.

The right to carry a gun does not relieve police of that responsibility.

African Americans are simply asking the rest of us to not overreact. To be mindful that they, themselves might overreact and to, please, be patient with them.

They are saying to us, ‘do not forget that African Americans have internalized the hatred with which we have been treated, as when we grade each other on account of the lightness of our skin, the lighter the better.’

African Americans are asking the rest of us to breathe before we act.

So they can breathe, too.

Even if they are in the wrong, they are asking us, ‘please do not be violent.’

They are saying to us, ‘Be considerate, be mindful that some of us may be inappropriate.

They are saying to us, ‘We’re willing to learn. But please be fair. Be open. Be kind.

If we are wrong, then we are wrong and need to be corrected.

If we are violent, please stop us. But be mindful of our past, of where some of that may come from. Do not simply shoot us.’

They are saying to us, ‘Just be thoughtful. We want to value our lives like you value yours. So be kind. The great majority of us want to obey the law, but also want to live in a world that is fair to us.’

They are saying to us, ‘We welcome those voices that preach restraint, because sometimes, the accumulated rage we’ve lived with, impairs our judgment.

Please do not forget that the great majority of us want fairness.

Fairness in economic opportunity, in educational possibilities, in access to health care, and we will do our best to continue to contribute to this nation.’

That plea for life, lives deep in the heart and mind of every African American.

Will we hear it?

It is there when they ask for room to breathe.

Will our policemen hear it – those who don’t already do?

My hope is that they will.

Like I hope the rest of us will, too.

Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for A Nation and other books. Available on Amazon.

Oscarvaldes.net

The Shooting of Jacob Blake. Kenosha,Wisconsin. Sunday 8/23/2020

Why didn’t you stop?

I watched the video recorded by a neighbor from across the street.

At first you’re behind the parked vehicle. Can’t see what is happening but you’re interacting with the police. Don’t know what was said but the police draw their guns.

Then you pull away, even as the policemen, their guns pointed at you, follow.

Why didn’t you stop?

Most of us would. Most of us would say to ourselves, ‘they’re pointing a gun at me, they can fire at any moment, they’re asking me to stop. So I stop.’

But you didn’t.

Why?

When the video recorder widens the angle I get to see there were neighbors standing by, looking on.

You pull away from the police, go around the front of the vehicle, the police close behind pressing you to stop. Why didn’t you?

Where the officers scared of you? Did you think that? Scared of taking you on in a physical fight?

I thought they were scared but you’re a big fellow. And they have the weapons. You don’t.

Why didn’t you stop?

Did you not value your life?

One policeman pulls at your undershirt but you keep on moving away.

And then you open the door to your vehicle, your back to them, who knows what you were looking for, and they shoot you in the back.

Why didn’t you stop!?

Could they have tackled you, physically, as you moved away from them defiantly?

Yes, but maybe they were just too scared that you might overcome them, the whole lot of them, and hurt and embarrass them.

Don’t know yet what role you played in the original dispute that prompted the call to the police. But when a gun is pointed at you, you have to stop.

Did you not value your life?

I do not agree with the police shooting you in the back.

But it would’ve taken a courageous and enlightened officer to say to himself or herself,, ‘I will restrain this man who’s not heeding my command, I will restrain him physically with all my might, at the risk of me suffering an injury, and I will do that because these are not normal times and because we, the police, are on the spotlight for having used excessive force with African Americans in particular.’

I do not agree with the police shooting you in the back.

But it would’ve taken a courageous and imaginative officer to say to himself, ‘this person I’m dealing with, who’s walking away from me even as I point my gun at him and command him to stop, does not seem to value his life, so I will tackle him physically, even at the risk of my suffering an injury since he is a big and strong fellow, but I will tackle him physically anyway, because these are not normal times and we, the police force of this country, have abused our power too often with African Americans in particular.

But that kind of policeman didn’t show up on that call on Sunday.

And you got shot instead.

It is very sad.

Why did they have to shoot? Seven times!

Why didn’t you stop?

Madness. Madness. Madness.

It has got to stop.

Leaders from all sectors have been stepping up in the wake of ongoing police brutality. Leaders of the African American community in particular, must now step out to say, ‘we are working together to remedy long standing grievances and we will overcome but, please, when a gun is pointed at you and you’re asked to stop, please stop. Value your life.’

Oscar Valdes is the author of Psychiatrist for A Nation. Available on Amazon.

Oscarvaldes.net