Editor:
Minorities and the homeless have long known what it feels like to be treated unfairly by the police and the public (“Abhorrent,” March 25). The homeless have experienced it first hand in forced moves, unavailable housing, wasted jail time and public indifference. Minorities can’t find adequate housing and can’t find a restaurant that serves familiar food. Nor can they find a barber shop or beauty salon that will give them a proper haircut.
The police have no business forcing a driver to get out of his car. This is where most deadly conflicts occur. Handing a driver a ticket describing his problem and sending him on his way is all that is required. The community has had enough of poorly trained, racist cops murdering innocent people. And police unions need to stop defending their co-workers from committing unjustified homicides.
Police officers should be well paid and respected for the dangerous jobs they do. But if the community can’t find enough humane officers who deeply believe that black lives and all lives matter, their funding should be removed.
Fred Mazie, Eureka
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‘Abhorrent’
This article appears in ‘Through the Cracks’.
Cops do what those in power want them to do. The business community wants “bums” and “undesirables” moved along, and many cops are just thugs who decided to be bullies for the law instead of burglars. Better pensions. Yes, we need more honorable cops calling out the ones who are most dangerous, but the entire profession exists to serve its masters and ours. If the society is just, the cops will be too. If not, we get what we’ve seen. They are just the vanity screen over the chamber of commerce and other “respectable” folk.