We need to Talk

To be honest, it’s a conversation I know nothing about… how could I? I am a white man. I don’t know what it’s like, nor will I ever. I’ve never feared Law Enforcement Officers… well, only when I knew I was in the wrong. But even then I never feared for my life. I was taught to follow the Law and respect those who enforce it. It’s their job to ‘Protect and Serve’ us… The People.

That’s not the same story for every American.

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https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/06/white-parents-the-talk-racism-police-brutality.html

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Here in Kansas City, KS… I’m in the MINORITY.

It’s not quite as stark as if I were living in The Bahamas, but it is quite obvious. And it becomes even more pronounced when I drive to one of the outlying suburbs, where there are no POC at the shopping centers… where there’s not a pawn shop on every other corner… where there are fresh veggies and sidewalks.

https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america

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https://www.usinsourcing.com/kc-food-deserts-a-sign-of-economic-decline/

If you’ve ever lived in a part of town where the National Pizza Chains won’t deliver to your neighborhood… you’ve been the victim of racism.

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About a month into the quarantine for COVID-19, our refrigerator stopped keeping things cold. It might have been something as simple as cleaning the coils or replacing an internal component, but I’ll never know. No service repair shop would send a technician into Wyandotte County. If I had lived somewhere else though, they were more than happy to help. But here… not so much.

Instead of a $300 repair bill, we had to buy a brand new refrigerator… all because of a preconceived notion of the community in which I live.

And where on the map was this ‘line’ drawn, between “Technicians are standing by” and “Sorry you’re outta luck”? I know from experience, the dividing line for a delivery area can end abruptly on ONE SIDE of the street, while the OTHER SIDE is deemed just too far away.

Back in my day… we were told we should lock our doors when driving down a particular street or driving in a particular neighborhood. But turn a corner, and hook a left at the light… you’re suddenly in a neighborhood filled with fully restored 100 year old mansions. Literally, no less than THREE BLOCKS down the road.

Who draws these lines? Who decides THIS neighborhood is ‘acceptable’ and THIS neighborhood is NOT…

And what DATA are they basing those conclusions upon?

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https://www.axios.com/army-officer-lawsuit-police-afro-latino-virginia-f5aceedf-6efe-4a8f-b4ca-8d8b9c297ea1.html

There are no clear lines drawn within our communities. What effects ONE will effect us ALL… because we live SIDE-BY-SIDE. In our schools. In our grocery stores. At work and at home. If the numbers are SKEWED… if the DATA we’re basing our conclusions upon is WRONG… it effects our Laws, our priorities… our very perception of what is “right” and what is “wrong”.

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Would it surprise anyone if we found a connecting thread that tied all these deadly encounters together? On the surface… sometimes these officers are white, sometimes they are black. There is no discrimination it seems, when it comes to the origin of the Use of Force… so what is it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/02/14/a-day-with-killology-police-trainer-dave-grossman/

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Black men are taught from an early age to fear encounters with the police… as I would if I were the father of a black child. Therefore, they are fearful and paranoid when these encounters eventually happen.

It’s a natural, rational, completely understandable… and PREDICTABLE human response to a potentially life-threatening situation.

Law Enforcement Officers are TRAINED to interpret those actions as a threat. ‘The subject is acting paranoid… they’re hiding something. They’re acting GUILTY.’

What FACTS would then flash through an officer’s head in that split-second decision making process… ALL SKEWED, by laws that are tainted with Racial Profiling and a Criminal Justice System that’s based on CASH.

Did you know police can just take your stuff if they suspect it’s involved in a crime? They can! It’s a shady process called “civil asset forfeiture,” and it would make for a weird episode of Law and Order.

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“The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota said it had ‘deep concerns that police here appear to have used dangling air fresheners as an excuse for making a pretextual stop, something police do all too often to target Black people.’”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daunte-wright-was-stopped-expired-plates-driving-while-black-may-n1263878

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https://www.aclu.org/report/driving-while-black-racial-profiling-our-nations-highways

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I’ve tried to teach my kids that they are privileged, and that it’s wrong… and it’s on us to do the work to make things right. We cannot simply STAND SILENT. Use your little white boy shield and SPEAK OUT… someone’s LIFE may depend on it!

I know it’s a lot to put on the shoulders of a 15 year old boy… but right now? Until we take the necessary steps toward ensuring Law Enforcement Officers protect the rights of every citizen in every State, EQUALLY… that’s all we’ve GOT.

That needs to change.

Through the Looking Glass

I remember what I was taught.

I tried to call him out every time it came across my desk… I think we ALL did.

This Nation’s teeth were cut on racism like this… and there’s only ONE WAY we can ensure it stops.

STAND UP and SPEAK OUT.

https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2021/03/18/new-mom-army-vet-among-8-killed-in-georgia-spa-shootings

We should be no more upset with people of Asian Descent for the spread of this virus, than we are with people of English Descent for the current spread of the predominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States.

Viruses do not discriminate.

I find these acts of violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities abhorrent and everyone should SPEAK OUT when they see these acts happen. I wish only for PEACE, as their contributions are a wonderful and vital part of our story.

But… I cannot be SILENT. Nor should anyone else. We must LISTEN to what we’re being told, as well as what is being SAID.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/03/19/robert-aaron-long-evangelical-treatment-facility-sex-addiction/

There’s a difference between STORY and NARRATIVE… and sometimes the STORY is amplified by the obvious SILENCE of others.

… don’t look at ME like that!

SILENCE on the subject of Conspiracy Theories led to an armed insurrection on January 6th. What harm is done when we are denied FULL DISCLOSURE? What lessons can we learn from this moment that will teach us something about what went wrong in that young man’s life… so that we can ensure it will never happen again with someone else.

Yes, it’s uncomfortable. And yes it deals with harmful stereotypes, but it must be addressed. Openly. It’s a subject not everyone is familiar with, and it’s something that everyone needs to be aware of… knowledge leads to understanding.

Our SILENCE allows it to continue.

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My ears perked up the moment I heard the word addiction. Now having gained the knowledge that comes from 12 years of sobriety… after so many lost at the bottom of a bottle… I have an extra bit of empathy for anyone who struggles with addiction. Because I did not know, I struggled… as it is for many people who cannot afford treatment or mental health services. Just like Prostate Cancer or Breast Cancer, addiction is a treatable disease of the MIND.

But I am NO FOOL…

This was no “bad day” as described by the Sheriff… this man’s future was decided the moment he gave up on LIFE, and became its enemy.

Why did that man choose those businesses. What was he expecting to find in those establishments? Was he looking for something he ASSUMED he would find, or was he CERTAIN he would find it. Yes, there is ONE common denominator between all these establishments…

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/02/26/florida-human-sex-trafficking-ring-full-story/2990465002/

**… but it is not the ONLY ONE.**

And once again we find ourselves at a crossroads of Fire & Fuel, where one broken aspect of our society ignites another… spreading beyond all social barriers and effecting everyone.

https://www.glamour.com/story/jeffrey-epstein-survivors-roundtable

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/10/the-disturbing-saga-of-robert-kraft

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/ex-spa-owner-denies-selling-access-trump-says-dems-target-n985381

I remember how thoroughly the lessons penetrate our collective psyche around situations like these. Anyone my age has been well educated on what the definition of the word “is” is… and when we learn these lessons WRONG, we have to GO BACK and re-educate ourselves. We have to undo the damage that’s been done… because we have LEARNED.

Our definition of what is RIGHT and what is WRONG has evolved.

Our Laws need to reflect that.

This is how we ensure a proper path Forward.

SHAME on him if he’s using the excuse of addiction in an attempt to avoid responsibility for his actions, but shame on US if we do not LISTEN to what he is saying.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/03/19/robert-aaron-long-evangelical-treatment-facility-sex-addiction/

It all starts with how we perceive one another.

We believe in Equal Justice Under Law.

Do we PRACTICE what we PREACH.

I do not raise these issues to give cover for criminal behavior or detract from the apparent racism of these actions. I want to find the answers…

I want to do all I can to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

-JC

Equal. Means. Equal.

Don’t let them fool you! Don’t get it twisted, this is just another example… another demonstration of a FACT that already exists.

The New York State Legislature didn’t take away Governor Cuomo’s powers. He gave them away, the moment he violated the personal space of a campaign staffer… and then took personal offense when she forcefully rebuked his “gesture”.

You can see it in his eyes… and in hers.

Let’s make sure we get something straight… I just wanna make myself clear…

… yes sir. we got it.

If he had done that to a MAN, physically threatening someone like that is a violation of the law.

And yet he serves, at the expense of the People.

It’s a lesson learned throughout the history of Our Republic. It’s not about the PERSON who resides at the TOP, it’s about THE PEOPLE they represent.

Gov. Cuomo, Leader McConnell, Donald Trump… ALL of them need to remember- this experiment was BORN before them, and it will LIVE ON long after they are gone. Our actions, our deeds… at the end of the day, that’s all we have left. That and the Constitution.

Whatever edifice we build for ourselves, as well as all the other ones that have yet to come and go, Our Constitution will remain regardless of who stands or who falls.

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1eea1c-20180927-christine-blasey-ford-is-sworn-in

We could attempt to legislate our way forward, trying to create some set of laws that would prevent our elected officials from acting in such a way, but we would never succeed. The House has passed, multiple times now, laws that would benefit the People, only to be STALLED on their way to the Senate. Unable to pass with a CLEAR MAJORITY… defeated due to the opinion of ONE MAN.

“It is ESSENTIAL to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans, and claim for their government the honorable title of republic.” –Federalist #39

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1404/1404-h/1404-h.htm#link2H_4_0039

This is what the Founders spoke of, a select group of elected nobility.

A long history of an ever-shrinking pool of worthy candidates, only those deemed worthy by the Party Elites.

Drain the SWAMP…?

Drain the Swamp is not the answer. We need to Break the Dam, and let the rushing waters of Democracy breathe LIFE back into this brackish, backwater pool. More participation equals Better Governance.

The solutions being presented do not rise to the level of the challenges we now face. If we continue to select our candidates using the SAME process, we will continue to see candidates that look THE SAME. Fighting yesterday’s battles. Holding on to tired ideologies and dogmas now shown to be in-error.

Through knowledge and understanding, we strive toward a more perfect Union. To become better than what we were before… that is the point of the entire experiment! In order to disprove the critics, the naysayers, the people who believed Mankind was no more noble than the beasts.

200 years ago many learned scholars believed that if the People were allowed to govern themselves, we would descend into MOB RULE. The experiment shows… Our Experiment in self-governance now proves, that conclusion is wrong.

The Moral Compass of the MAJORITY points TRUE.

The Majority of this Nation knows where Justice is found. We are ALL susceptible to falsehoods and fallacies, that is why ONE MAN should not rule over a FREE PEOPLE.

We saw the horrors brought by a decentralized response to the pandemic on a National scale, now the people of New York will suffer the same as the Legislature has stripped the Governor’s pandemic powers… all because of the opinion of ONE MAN.

… and his actions in this moment break NO LAWS.

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“There’s no way under the sun that in 2021 that we are going to allow the filibuster to be used to deny voting rights. That just ain’t gonna happen. That would be catastrophic.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/542001-clyburn-allowing-filibuster-to-be-used-to-deny-voting-rights-would-be

Yes Rep. Clyburn, it would be catastrophic if the filibuster was used to withhold rights from our citizens in the 21st Century… BUT, it wouldn’t be the first time it has happened…

… and if things don’t change, it won’t be the LAST.

When we defend the rights of others, we defend those rights for ourselves.

Their struggles become our struggles, and we share the burdens and the benefits… EQUALLY.

And I will continue to bang this drum until I’ve either torn a hole in it or change ACTUALLY happens, because their struggle is at the heart of ALL of our problems… HALF of this Nation is NOT guaranteed Equal Justice Under Law.

Everything STARTS with Equality.

-JC

Act as if it Would Happen Again

The odds of being struck by a tornado in the Great State of Kansas are 1 in 4.5 million.

https://www.kansas.com/news/weather/tornado/article213923139.html

As I’ve said before… when you live where the Twisters live, you MUST be prepared! It’s a matter of LIFE or DEATH.

When I was a younger man, I had a friend with a pickup truck. When the sirens would sound, we’d try and chase down the path of the tornadoes as they rolled through Olathe. We never got “lucky” enough to see one, but we saw more than our share of extreme weather events. Massive hail, rotating straight-line winds, fallen trees… mild, compared to what we wanted to see.

Some years we would chase down one or two storms. Some years, it was one storm every 3 or 4 DAYS. We even crossed paths with the “professionals”. A little pat on the back for ourselves, knowing we were close.

Understanding how these systems work is key when doing something so dangerous. Being able to read the radar and satellite returns accurately, then taking that information and applying it to events unfolding on the ground in real time, is crucial. Miss one piece of data, and you end up right in front of the storm.

As random and chaotic as they are, to a certain degree these storms are predictable; and living in this State means we are ALL required to have a degree in meteorology! Well… at least, an intimate knowledge of how the weather works.

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The tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, changed all that for me. That one was a beast of another kind. The speed at which it traveled. The speed of the winds within the system. The trail of destruction it left behind and the suddenness with which it appeared… they only had moments to react.

https://hollybaumannphotography.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/two-months-later-joplin-tornado-recovery-efforts/

These systems were starting to Change.

Understanding this, I had to consider not only my safety, but the safety of my children. It was obvious a simple ‘hide in the basement’ strategy would no longer be sufficient. Had that storm dropped over my home… there would have been nothing left.

I had to act as if it would happen again. So we constructed a storm shelter in our basement, based on FEMA designs, that could withstand an EF5 tornado.

THIS TIME it was Joplin. Next time, we might not be so fortunate.

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-tornado-that-saved-washington-33901211/

“On the night of August 24, 1814, British troops led by Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn marched on Washington, D.C. and set fire to most of the city. Dolley Madison famously saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington and a copy of the Declaration of Independence before she fled to nearby Georgetown.

The British didn’t stay long, though; their occupation lasted just 26 hours. What happened?”

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-tornado-that-stopped-the-burning-of-washington/

“George Robert Gleig, a British soldier on the scene, detailed what happened next in his memoirs as the severe thunderstorm rolled into the city in the afternoon.

‘Of the prodigious force of the wind it is impossible for you to form any conception. Roofs of houses were torn off by it, and whisked into the air like sheets of paper, while the rain which accompanied it resembled the rushing of a mighty cataract rather than the dropping of a shower,’ Gleig wrote.”

This isn’t about Donald Trump or Joe Biden. This isn’t about Republican vs. Democrat. This is about the FUTURE of our Nation, and what it is we want that future to BE.

RIGHT NOW, before all the nuance and intricacy. The endless debates over the delicate balance between our individual Liberty and the necessity of the government to defend itself from ALL enemies, both foreign and domestic. Before the political posturing and deliberative delays, we have a chance to declare exactly where we STAND.

Do we now support those who would incite violent actions for political gain? That is a slippery slope, and we all know where it will lead us in the END.

We have come SO FAR! And the only way we keep moving FORWARD is by taking a STAND. After having been within that majestic building, I can’t imagine how anyone would allow these actions to stand as precedent for a future President.

Had those people stopped and looked around them, they would have seen the scars from the LAST TIME our Capitol was taken by force. In such a hallowed hall, in the People’s House, it’s not about who resides within that building…

It’s about the ideals for which those hallowed halls continue to STAND.

… and may they STAND for another 207 YEARS without this happening again.

-JC

… to Overcome.

A successful investor like Warren Buffet is successful because he invests in the things he uses, the things he enjoys. There is no big secret… there is no magic wand or crystal ball. At its core, it’s basic common sense. The KEY is having the confidence to ACT when the timing is right.

But even Mr. Buffet knows… there is no “I” in team. An organization is only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and their input shapes the decision making process as well. A good team not only reinforces good ideas, they also expand the field of view and provide insight into areas previously unknown. A good team also tells their leader when they are WRONG, and they demand only the BEST LEADERSHIP for their endeavors…

Meaning a good team must have core ideals that NEVER BEND.

“What… like Hitler?”

No. We know where that leads… we’ve seen that message before. Whether it be a religious institution or a corporation, a king or a president; those organizations that STAND the test of time are STRONG at their foundation. Because they stand in the RIGHT. Not just factually or authoritatively…

Because they stand FOR what’s right.

And this is what makes OURS the greatest! That SIMPLICITY… the well-thought, endlessly debated, constantly remade and amended, beauty and simplicity…

That we are ALL created equal, and entitled to be judged equally in the eyes of the law. Without favor due to family ties; and without the prejudices of race, religion, or creed. In this moment, we are judged by our ACTIONS. What we defend is what will define us. Our actions will declare to the world what THE PEOPLE of the United States want this nation to BE.

Today we write our HISTORY. Today marks our beginning… let us celebrate in remembrance OF what was, instead of mourning what might have been.

Let no crime go unpunished, but not to make punishment the ends that we seek. What punishment exists that could surpass what we already face…

For this crime of INACTION we’ve been sentenced to CONFINEMENT with nothing but TIME on our hands, in a penitentiary of the mind. Once we’ve paid this debt to society and we begin our rehabilitation, we must decide… what will we create? What will we deem ‘worthy’ of being pulled up from the ashes, in this hour… as so many of us fight to survive?

DIVISION is our enemy.

Not some NATION, not some VIRUS. As we fight amongst ourselves, the other nations of this world CARRY ON… with or without the United States.

The answers we seek will be found once we UNITE in-support of OURSELVES. The Moral Compass that guides the heart of every American points TRUE. In every instance over the course of the last 200 years, inevitably… we’ve found our way.

The MAJORITY of this nation STILL STANDS united in SPIRIT and in PRINCIPLE; and when the majority of this nation stands united in common cause… Continents remain FREE. Viruses are eradicated.