Thoughts on police violence

See https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/07/11/is-philando-castile-the-ultimate-casualty-of-driving-while-black.

See “Minnesota Police Officer’s ‘Bulletproof Warrior’ Training Is Questioned”. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/us/minnesota-police-officers-bulletproof-warrior-training-is-questioned.

I do know personally that expectations of what someone might say can lead to a gross misunderstanding of what a person actually said.

Between my junior and senior years in college, I took a job at Ohio Oil in Findlay, Ohio.  My intention was to learn more about computers.

Unfortunately, I had a difficult time finding a room for the whole summer.  I stayed in two or three private houses before I found an apartment above the bank that owned the whole building.  About a week or so after occupying the apartment the bank asked me if I would swap my apartment for a smaller one occupied by a couple.

I left word at the bank president’s office that I had moved enough for the summer and would stay put until school started.

A day or two later, the bank president knocked on my door.  He was somewhat of a curmudgeon and I expected a bit of chewing out.  The first words I heard from him were “How’s the bastard doing?”  This from a pillar of his church!  I said, “Excuse me?” and I heard him say again, “How’s the bastard doing?”  I said “Excuse me?" again.  This time I clearly heard him say, “How’s the bachelor doing?”

Now we had a friendly discussion about my staying put and he accepted my wish.

How often do people in tense situations completely misunderstand what another person is saying?

I speculate that Philandro Castile simply said in a normal voice, “I have a gun.”  He was stating a fact to avoid conflict.  Officer Jeronimo Yanez, pumped up from his “Bulletproof Warrior” class, heard, “I HAVE A GUN!”

I do hope many police departments are seriously thinking about paying for their officers’ training at for-profit classes that have no accountability to either the government or the general public.

Every killing diminishes all of us, whether it is terrorists who think a whole class of people should be killed, whether it is a government that drops bombs the kill innocents, whether it is madmen that shoot indiscriminately into crowded venues, or whether it is a hyped-up police officer with an itchy finger..

See also “Quote on violence” http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/07/quote-on-violence.html.

How to protest successfully

Many people are showing up at Trump rallies to show their opposition.  However, their actions often just rile up the Trump supporters.  A much more effective tactic would be to show up and do nothing.  A quiet audience is the worst possible insult to the likes of Donald Trump.

By wearing anti-Trump T-shirts or carrying anti-Trump signs, protesters just energize the Trump supporters.  But if a large part of his audience never applauded, never jeered, but just remained quiet, Trump wouldn’t know what to do, nor would many of his supporters.

Passive resistance like this can defuse many situations and make those who are the targets of the resistance feel very uncomfortable and unsure of their own positions.

I was very disappointed when Occupy Wall Street changed from lots of people carrying signs to a few people camping out in public spaces.  These squatters generated more antipathy than sympathy.

When somebody is shot, whether by police or by a bad guy shooting a cop, riots or demonstrations are not the answer.  Riots reduce the sympathy for the victim, and even distract from getting justice.  The best possible response is flowers at the site of the shooting.

Gandhi and King led the way on non-violent protest.  We dishonor them by even unduly disruptive behavior.