Racism – Page 2 – Oscar Valdes

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

Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse. Racial Protests.

The state of Wisconsin is an open carry state. You do not need a license to carry a gun in public, but you do need to be at least 18 years old. Rittenhouse is 17.

He’s been quoted as saying that he went out on that fateful day to protect public property.

He has a right to do so. He doesn’t, however, have a right to carry the rifle he carried.

The video I saw has him shooting two men, one fatally and another in the arm.

Preceding the video, he acknowledged having shot a man who died later. Reportedly, a trash bag had been thrown at him and he shot in response. That is not captured on video.

In the video mentioned above, taken moments after the first shooting, Rittenhouse falls to the ground and is attacked by a man with a skateboard. Rittenhouse shoots and kills him. Then another man approaches while pointing a gun. Rittenhouse shoots him in the arm. Then he gets up and walks off toward police vehicles entering the area and the video stops. Apparently, he was arrested later that day at his home.

Rittenhouse shouldn’t have been at the protest site while armed.

He showed poor judgment, and so did all others who, knowing he was planning to do so, did not make an effort to dissuade him.

He is 17 years old. He is not authorized to carry a weapon in the open.

When tensions are inflamed, anything can happen. Whoever had any supervisory influence over Rittenhouse failed to exercise it, and so did a huge disservice to the young man and the victims.

No one has a right to destroy property. Anyone’s property. No matter how angry they might be.

We all have a right to protest, as vigorously as we see fit. But the moment we choose to damage property we are in violation of the law and likely to trigger retaliation.

Law enforcement must act to stop the destructive acts.

We have agreed on that as a people.

No matter how horrible the act that leads to a protest, damage to life and property should not be condoned.

In the course of our ongoing racial protests there has been a profound lack of firm leadership, from all sides, Republicans, Democrats and in between, who have failed to say to the rest of us, ‘you are entitled to protest, yes you are, we need to hear your complaints so we can better act to prevent these injustices from happening again, but as you protest, do not hurt others or damage what they have worked so hard to build. There are injustices in our system and protest plays an essential part in finding remedies, but there is no place for the injuring of others as we protest or for the damaging of what is theirs.’ These messages should be going out to the public every day.

As the protests continue throughout our land, it is this lack of political and moral guidance calling for restraint that is sorely absent. Our leaders must answer us.

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

The Black Book. A Book of Affirmations.

Wouldn’t it be helpful if some of our African American fellow citizens, who have risen to positions of power and influence, would share with all of us some of their experiences in the struggle to become who they are?

I am sure many such individuals have already done so in one way or another, say in the writing of their biographies, but what occurred to me might be useful would be to compile parts of those experiences in a small book that could be carried in one’s side or back pocket.

Every African American citizen would be entitled to one such book, or its digital version, free of charge, courtesy of philanthropic foundations willing to shoulder the cost. The rest of us could simply buy it.

What did Oprah go through in her path to her accomplishments?

What about Obama?

What did Condoleezza Rice or Susan Rice have to battle?

When faced with difficult circumstances, what or whom did they turn to, inside or out, to find the strength to endure and overcome?

Though still underrepresented in many fields of endeavor, there are many African Americans who have managed to push through and beat the odds.

When each person had their backs against the wall, when they felt overwhelmed by circumstances, what restored their energies, what fueled their resolve?

What words did they find inspiring? What people?

What stirred their grit?

Short examples of such struggles may well keep someone who is doubting themselves and about to give up, to hang on instead and return to try again.

In my living room I keep a book of quotations from men and women who have managed to distinguish themselves. Frequently, I read or reread them. It helps.

There is so much to draw from. So much.

There could be subsequent editions of one such book, filled with other people’s experiences.

But wouldn’t it be useful if every African American living in our nation today, when doubting their right to be all they can be, could reach into their back or side pocket, or their phone, and find inspiration to fight on, to not lose hope, to remind themselves that they count, that they have dignity, that they have something to contribute, that they are needed in our nation’s struggle.

Of course, major changes are required to address existing educational, housing and health care deficits, but small steps count too.

The Black Book of Affirmations might be one such step.

Inspiration matters.

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

Oscarvaldes.net

US China Relations. The Big Picture. The Challenge.

Are we better than them? No, we’re not.

Are they better than us? Not either.

Are they dynamic, hard charging, smart, ambitious? Yes.

And so are we.

It would take doing the ostrich number, burying our heads in the sand, to not allow for the possibility they may surpass us in the near future.

They are moving up in the world, not by committing to security issues but by doing business. In Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, the rest of Asia, Australia.

While we’re battling racial issues, they’re pushing ahead with their plans to rise as fast as they can in every dimension. Space exploration? They’re already there and moving confidently.

Liabilities? Yes. Their autocratic regime. The intrusive governmental vigilance.

It has to be suffocating. But at this point, their fast rise in world standing allows the Chinese people to say to themselves, ‘we’re getting something for our sacrifices.’

Have the Chinese stolen intellectual property? They have and probably will continue to do so. But to think their rise is owed to their theft of knowledge from the West is to miss the fact that they have enormous scientific, technological and industrial capacity of their own.

It’s there in plain sight.

To deny it is to do the ostrich number.

We have not had an adversary of such stature since the Soviet Union in the Cold War. We went on to win that war because of our stronger economy. But China is clearly different.

The Chinese are not tying up their economy building nuclear weapons like the Soviets did. No, they’re making things, and selling what they make to a world eager for their products.

We pride ourselves with our ability to compete. Now the Chinese are saying to us, ‘let’s compete.’

They are saying to us, ‘you brag about your ability to compete. Well, we say to you, we will out compete you, and move past you.’

They are daring us and the whole world is watching.

Do we take them on?

Sure, they took advantage of preferred status in the World Trade Organization and even tried to rig the rules. But there they are. Strong and ambitious. Not willing to bow to anyone. Period.

It has to be exhilarating for their citizens. A nation that has been ruled by western nations and Japan, now standing tall and saying, ‘we have arrived!’ “We’re here on earth and we’re out there in space, too!’

So what are we going to do?

We can complain that they’re ungrateful, as if American companies didn’t make and keep making plenty of money from the vast Chinese markets.

We can and should decry their human rights abuses, their treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and the violation of their accord with the British in Hong Kong.

But that doesn’t address the main issue, the fact that their star is rising faster than ours.

And we either confront it or let them move past us.

Our pride is too strong to go with the second option. But to confront China’s rise we have to do some major work in our nation. Long overdue work we thought we could ignore and it would go away by itself.

Let us first consider leadership.

We don’t have any at present. A person who divides is a tribal leader. America has no use for that now. Never did.

The fact that we elected one is a sad chapter in our political history.

But a leader, man or woman, who is able to sit down and talk to us, will have a powerful healing effect. In our hearts and minds, right now, today, we’re all hoping for such a person to step up.

It could well be Joe Biden.

If he has it in him, then he would have to address every sector of this country, address it and say, ‘we can’t do this alone. We’re all part of the solution, we have to come together. Everyone has something to contribute, no one is better than the other. If we don’t pull together, we’ll fall behind. The task for the nation is clear. We must act now.’

To do that we have to forgive. Yes. Forgive that in the matter of race we’ve made blunder after blunder. And so, too, in the matter of growing inequality.

Of course, every group will have complaints and grievances, and every group will feel they should be first in line.

Our leader, will need to hear all of it, to understand and then use it to start down the road to compromise. We’ll have to go down that road because without compromise we won’t get ahead.

We can look at China and say they’re not free. But neither are we. There’s no freedom in disrespect of others, no freedom in systemic racism, no freedom in institutionalized unfairness, no freedom in not having access to proper education and health care, no freedom in living in a dangerous neighborhood without clean and safe water and proper lighting and housing.

The Chinese are saying to us, ‘we’ll move past you because you can’t get your house together.’

They’re saying to us, ‘you can’t manage your differences.’

And they have a point. That is the Chinese challenge to us. They are telling us, to our faces, ‘dare to be more productive than we are’.

Can we do it?

I think we can. And as we learn to do so we’ll discover great riches. Human and creative riches. Riches that lie trapped in differences not understood.

For instance, how we address immigration will be key. Immigration has contributed enormously to who we are. We should be open to it.

The genetic pool from which China draws talent is enormous, nearly three times ours.

But we have always been a magnet for people from all over the world wanting to improve their lot. There are riches in staying open to the world.

A strong, compassionate leader will help us work with our differences to come together.

Renewal is essential to survival. China is challenging us. We are more than capable of taking them on. And also capable of botching the opportunity.

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

Oscarvaldes.net

Oh Race, when will we cast you from our minds, when will we be free?

There are vast amounts of human energy trapped in dysfunctional relationships. Energies that can be put to good use and so ease the burden of pain we live with. Energies which can be channeled constructively to improve our lot and pave the way for those who come after us.

In the mind of the racist lives the desire to seek advantage. To get ahead. Just as it lives in the minds of those who are not racist. We need such impetus to move forward, to battle whatever our circumstances and push ahead.

It is tempting to wish to narrow the field we compete against by devaluing others.

Say that, since times past, people with the color Orange had been assigned a certain minus (-) value, for whatever reason.

When we inherit that notion, and choose not to challenge it, then it is easy to attempt to exclude Orange people from our interactions.

This exclusion, however, carries consequences. The implicit devaluing means we will not benefit from whatever gifts nature has given them.

I use Orange to designate anyone – non white – now comprising nearly 90% of people on earth.

Our history offers some telling examples of how devaluing people suppresses energies.

At the outset of the Civil War there were clear differences in the strengths of the economies of the North and the South, the economy of the North being the stronger. Racism lived in both the North and the South but in the South it was overwhelming. African Americans escaped from the South to the North, not the other way around. In other words, the relative freedom of African Americans in the North contributed to the greater wealth of that section of the country.

In time, their power and strength would be marshaled into the Army and they would go on to play a decisive role in the victory over the South. Without them, victory would not have been possible.

Sadly, after the war, in one of the most shameful periods in our history, prejudice prevailed, and the country would go on to endure racial repression in forms overt and covert until this day.

Now think of how much farther ahead we would be today as a nation if we had confronted our prejudices?

In today’s world, it is Asian families that are the richest (2018 figures). Do we take on that challenge? Do we set out to release the energies trapped in our dysfunctional race relations?

We are proud to say that we live in a country where the rule of law and self determination prevail but, in fact, they are constantly undermined. The already advantaged continue to find ways to persuade others to give them even more advantages and so, with growing inequality of opportunity, the differences in wealth, level of education and health keep increasing.

The population of our prisons is a stark reminder of all that we have been doing wrong. Step into one and you see masses of African Americans and Latinos – whites being the minority.

What happened? Why are African Americans and Latinos so disproportionately represented in our prisons?

Why did they so disproportionately violate the law?

The answer is so clear that it is hard to accept.

Had they had the same opportunities you and I had they wouldn’t be there.

But clear as the answer is, we struggle to embrace it.

Every race has the same potential for development as any other race. That one group gained an initial advantage, was an accident of history.

When we take in that notion, then we open our minds to allowing for the development of others, even as we strive to maximize our own.

We will see the other who is troubled as someone who needs help to connect with their strengths and build on them.

Look a little closer still and we see something surprising. We see ourselves in them.

We do because they are us.

Us without the benefit of the advantage.

Us without the benefit of affordable housing.

Us but for the burden of poverty.

Us but for the drag of inferior schooling.

Us except for police brutality.

Us except for the chance to develop what abilities we have.

Yes. All of that.

Lots of work has been done to close the gap between the development of white and Black people in America, but we must speed up the pace.

To do that we have to stay open.

To stay open we have to talk.

Talk without blaming,

Talk without hating,

Seeking to understand,

And using our imagination,

To accept and forgive,

Forgive ourselves,

Perchance even to embrace the Orange people,

The Orange people that is us.

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

Oscarvaldes.net.

The Race to unRace. Virtue in the Browning of America

Our nation created conditions that vigorously stimulated global growth since the end of World War II.

The many advantages implicit in our system of governance made possible the peaceful resolution of the Cold War. Our push for trade liberalization led to China’s rise and yes, while they rose we profited too. Now China is no longer the sleeping giant of yesterday. It is a giant with aspirations to surpass us.

So what do we do?

Is there a parallel between the Soviet bloc that challenged us but crumbled in the 1980’s and the China of today?

There is. And it is their autocracy.

With autocracy comes inefficiency and the stifling of possibilities.

Will the newly affluent Chinese put up for long with the current restrictions?

I say no. Slowly, their suffocated spirits will join forces to demand greater freedom. When will it happen is hard to predict.

As it now stands China is challenging us. In the face of it, do we examine ourselves or do we pound our chests and shout that we are great?

We have a clear advantage over China, if we care to reflect. It is the undeniable fact that our openness to the world has made us rich. People want to come to America. People from all over the world are pulled by an attraction to be part of this process.

That is the big American advantage.

How do we enlarge such advantage?

We unRace.

That’s right. Racial differences hold us back.

Confronting and resolving them will further the Browning of America, and with that, a new dawn will arrive. Efforts to suppress the development of other human beings results in the blocking of their possibilities. But when we do so we also block our own.

The challenge that China presents to us, is the challenge to reform our way of relating to one another. Race has been holding us back from being the best we can be since the very beginning. It is time to reflect and do the hard work of resolving the differences.

We have known all along what the answer is. Now is the time to square with it.

It was openness to the markets of the world that built up China. We gave them openness and they ran with it. But they didn’t go far enough. You cannot do so with an autocratic regime that hinders the political freedom of individuals.

If we gave China openness, why can’t we give it to our own?

China’s challenge is a call to reassess who we are.

Our land has had freedoms, yes, but in allowing profound racial disparities to fester we have blocked ourselves. The challenge of China forces us to ponder and discover where those repressed energies may lie.

It is not hard to find out.

They lie in the relationships that have not been fostered. They lie, trapped, in the prejudices that we have held so dear.

But understand them, work through them, and we will be on our way to enlarging our minds and souls and increasing our creativity. We will be on our way to freeing the giant in us.

Virtue lies in the Browning of America. Which is the unRacing of America.

Move confidently in that direction and we will confront our fears, and as we do we will grow stronger and richer, kinder and gentler.

The Browning of America will do that for us.

Then, as China and other countries witness our gradual transformation, they, too, will act again to emulate us. And the Uighurs will be grateful. And the Hong Kongers and the Taiwanese, and all the peoples of this earth on whose necks the crushing boot of repressive authority has come to rest.

Leadership carries great responsibilities but also great benefits.

Do we want to lead? Do we want to breathe the lofty air that comes to those who strive to become the best they can be?

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

Oscarvaldes.net

Dear Amy

You’ve made your decision. And I think you are wrong.

The cruelty of some police officers has brought to the surface one aspect of the repression under which we live. There is a measure of freedom in our country but there is much political repression as manifested by the vast differences in the quality of our schools and the profound disparity in longevity, access to health care, housing and opportunity between sectors of our nation.

Racial differences are a way to direct that repression, and African Americans bear the brunt of it. That does not mean, however, that it should fall to an African American to lead the effort to remedy the problems.

That distinction should fall to the person presently most qualified.

The reason you were in contention to be the Vice Presidential candidate owed to your performance during the primary campaign. You had distinguished yourself by your pugnacity and balanced approach to difficult matters.

That has not changed.

Other candidates came and went but you persisted.

So why disqualify yourself?

A fair allocation of resources is an urgent matter in our country, and it will take contending with reluctant and entrenched interests to push through the needed changes and make them stick.

That’s where your pugnacity comes in.

Though Trump continues to make one error after another, it is not a certainty that Biden will become the next president so we will need a strong ticket that appeals to a majority of Americans to elect him.

Your performance as a prosecutor in Hennepin County in Minnesota proved to be flawed when you declined to file charges against officers involved in the death of African Americans. That was 20 years ago. You then embodied strong community biases. But you now convey the sense of having evolved.

That quality is essential to persuade all of those who have yet to evolve, to adopt a fair and non discriminating frame of mind which will be needed to push through critical reforms.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada wore a black face at a party when he was younger and later apologized. So have others.

There is no purity. There is, instead, the willingness to accept our mistakes, confront the prejudices we grew up with and work with them.

I think you have done that and are doing that. The task never ends.

So don’t take yourself out of the contest to become Biden’s VP. Put yourself back in. Call him back and say you’ve reconsidered. Great saints were great sinners.

It is laudable that you wish to defer to an African American woman insisting that there are plenty who’re qualified for the job, and I agree that there are. But you have been in the thick of the fire and learned a good deal along the way.

Given the polarization Mr Trump has fostered, a white woman in the Democratic ticket will have greater appeal for the undecided voters than an African American woman would.

Democrats need to win in November. We have to do that first.

Should that happen, the woman candidate Biden chooses will get a chance to pick an African American woman to be her running mate in 2024, should Biden not wish to run again, or in an environment more receptive to women candidates, face an African American challenger.

There is a profound sense of renewal flowering in our country. The brave youth of this nation is leading a vigorous movement. They will need people with much experience and a commitment to reform so that their efforts are not wasted.

You have a chance to be a leading figure in the tough task ahead. Don’t sit this out. Fight the good fight. Biden will make his choice but don’t you step back.

Later today, some of the best our country has to offer will be protesting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the President will hold a rally. He has already warned that protesters will not be treated with a kind hand. It is difficult to accept that our president is so willing to ignore the spirit of justice that animates the protests. He can do so, because he seems incapable to accept their courage. When he sees the protesters, instead of being struck by their willingness to step front for what they believe, he is filled with envy.

I say envy because it is unacceptable that, in the face of protests across this nation, he has yet to muster the strength to address us all and say, ‘we will do what we must to bring justice to our land’.

As I write this blog, just hours before the protesters convene in Tulsa, it is my fervent hope that no one is injured or killed.

Oscar Valdes is the author of ‘Psychiatrist for A Nation’, available on Amazon.

Oscarvaldes.net

The Atlanta Killing of a Black Man. The Failure of Imagination.

Rayshard Brooks was shot Friday night (6/12/20) outside a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta.

Yes, he had a Taser gun in his hands,

Yes, he had fought with the police moments before,

Yes, he should not have.

But Rayshard Brooks was running away from the officers when he was shot.

He was not a threat to them.

Why did the two white officers,

As they approached Rayshard Brooks in his car where he had fallen asleep And where he sat intoxicated with alcohol (he failed a sobriety test),

Not say, to themselves, under their breaths,

‘Let us not kill a black man today.’

Why did the two white officers not say,

‘Let us consider the offense as we approach this man asleep in his car,

Let us consider the offense before we react.’

Why did the two police officers not say,

To themselves, not to anyone, just to themselves,

‘Let us not kill a black man today.’

They could have said it,

And if they had, maybe Rayshard Brooks might be alive today.

There was a failure of imagination in the police department in Atlanta.

A profound failure.

When the entire force gathered at their stations before going out on their shift,

Those in charge should have said to the officers,

‘Our reason for being is to protect the lives and property of the city of Atlanta,

But let us not kill a black man today.

Please, not again.

Let us think before we use our weapons,

Let us ask ourselves, are we really in danger?

Let us not overreact because our pride has been hurt,

And let us never forget that a man running away is not a threat to us.

So please,

Let us not kill a black man today.’

There was and is a failure of imagination in the police department of the city of Atlanta,

A failure of imagination that led to the excessive use of force,

A failure of imagination that didn’t allow the officers confronting Rayshard Brooks,

To ask themselves,’ now why would a man be asleep in his car, drunk, and blocking the drive thru lane? What could possibly be happening in the life of this man?’

If there had been imagination in the police department of the city of Atlanta,

Then maybe the officers approaching Rayshard Brooks might have said to him,

‘Say young man, good evening, you have fallen asleep at the wheel,

And you’re blocking the lane,

Seems like you’re needing some help.’

Rayshard Brooks was not hurting anyone, but himself,

And who knows what pressures he was under that he had taken to overdrinking.

Imagination opens the door to compassion,

And we all need a little of that, don’t we?

Even the two officers who approached Rayshard Brooks.

Imagination and compassion.

And let us not kill a Black man today.