What Do We Want?

Art Credit: Jun Cen

We want better.

We want equality.

We demand change. 

We demand a transformation of our law enforcement system. 

But, what can that look like?

I am equally as frustrated as many of you when it comes to determining an actionable strategy for combatting systemic racism, especially within our policing system. We know what we FEEL. We know what we WANT. But, we have not NAMED it. What does a transformed policing system look like? Posts on social media all seem to be rooted in emotion, but an appeal to pathos without a goal for a logical solution leaves us without something to act on.

It is important that whatever demands we come up with be made with consideration for the current system. We must be savvy with the strategies we devise and one of the best ways to do that is to study our current system and the history that brought it to be. This way, we may perhaps be able to foresee potential challenges and prepare accordingly.

Make the law. Interpret the law. Enforce the law.

Those are our three levels of government as written by the Constitution. It was deliberately drafted in this manner in 1789 -- a time in which Black individuals were not citizens of this nation, but merchandise. As such, this formal document decreeing the law of the land, was not created with the souls of Black folk in mind. The Constitution, paired with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, are the red, white, and blue threads that weaved the states of this country into a single nation, but they were weft so tightly that all those not equally considered within their statutes were left to suffocate beneath the heavy fabric of the American flag. The damage was done. 

Without a measure of enforcement, those concocting and bending the law to their will would have no power. It is the legal license to destroy that emboldens law enforcement. And it is law enforcement that firmly positions lawmakers and law interpreters as the commanding officers of this country. They have a strangle hold on dissenters. When a Black man, Black woman, or Black child dares question their authority, even to ask them what it is they are being arrested for, that hold has been known to break necks.

With each new murder of Black life, we have been trying to wrench ourselves free of their grasp. A demand for an eradication of the system would be cutting their strangle hold by the wrist. A commanding officer can give as many orders as he or she pleases, but without the power to enforce them, they have no control. We would be nullifying their authority. A nightmare they very well might do anything to avoid coming true.

Where does this leave us? What do we want? What are we demanding?

What does a just law enforcement system look like? What do we want it to look like?

How do we develop an entirely new system that seeks fair justice for all Americans that can actually reach fruition in our lifetimes?

Revenge is not what we want. Equality is. Stop being scared of us. Help us.

A just government would free us all to the pursuit of happiness, why don’t you want that?