Now, I don’t know everything. Nor do I have the right answer to everything. Nor have I ever been black.
But from a safe distance, I have observed. And I wish we could all get along, love more and be happier – so my intentions are right. And I’ll tell you what we should do to fix a lot of problems.
Black Lives Matter. White people need to stop pretending they don’t hear that.
Technically, of course, all lives matter. But that isn’t the point right now.
Do Latin lives matter? Yes. And we need to be more aware of that too.
But today I’m focusing on black lives. Since they are the ones most targeted.
Are black males more likely to be incarcerated and serve longer sentences for the same actions as white males? Yes.
Are black males more likely to be shot by police? Yes.
Are black males disproportionately targeted by our racist drug laws? Yes.
That’s a good starting point. But just complaining about things never got anything accomplished. So, how do we fix this?
We need a universal sentencing – do the same crime, do the same time.
We need to eliminate private prisons. We are making steps in the right direction here.
We need to move our police officers to non-lethal measures and more training. If that includes removing all lethal means entirely, great. But that machine needs to be loaded with something powerful enough to stop a 400 lb linebacker from moving – so the strongest tranquilizers ever.
We need to legalize all drugs and release all non-violent drug offenders immediately. Not only is it everyone’s right to put in their bodies whatever they want, we need more fathers.
A lot of black fathers in prison means a lot of black kids growing up fatherless. Kids being fatherless is scientifically not a good idea. There’s a lot of research to support this. I could go on. And on.
Having a father matters (#fatherhoodmatters). Think how much better those kids’ lives, and thus society, would be if they had fathers present instead of incarcerated.
Look, schools with predominantly black kids have lower scores across most measures. Clearly, we need to educate better. Bernie’s “free” college (that costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars) isn’t the answer though. There is free college – coursera. Kids anywhere can learn what a Harvard student learns. Do you get a piece of paper at the end? No, but that piece of paper is becoming less useful by the season. And there’s $10 classes on Udemy and Udacity. You don’t need $50k of debt to become knowledgeable and skilled. It’s all available all the time (if you have access to the internet – which is the one thing we must ensure everyone has – that and access to healthcare, a roof over their head and food in their bellies).
Knowledge and networks are what get you paid. Grow your knowledge and grow your network – grow your net worth.
Sorry – I had to vomit from sounding like a meme on Instagram. Now I’m back.
We need to train police more and demilitarize them instead of demonize them.
But most importantly – we all need to come from a place of learning and understanding (seek first to understand, then be understood – “Win Friends”). Which starts with listening.
So, fellow white people: listen first. If what you hear is a horrible idea – like: reparations in the 21st century by taxing white people and distributing all money to black people – respect the person, but shake off the idea (because it’s horrible and the logical fallacies abound).
Black people: don’t assume we are bigots and hate us. Assume = Ass (of) u (and) me. No bueno. Peaceful solutions are best.
Let’s come together to make a better world for all.