If there is one image from last weeks murders — of unarmed black men, of police — that refuses to go away — and we can be very thankful — it’s the already iconic Standing Woman photo. The symbolism is extraordinary. Soft, vulnerable, centered, grounded, divine feminine power meets harsh, imbalanced, riot-gear clad militarized masculine dominator “power.”
Though we know that Leshia Evans was arrested immediately after the picture was taken, and jailed overnight, the photo itself makes it appear that her energy field disorients the police, even pushes them away.
Why did she do it? Because she wants a better future for her five-year-old son. This was her first protest. She traveled to Louisiana from New York, and says that while the arrest was difficult, there was a kind policeman in the prison.
“This is the work of God. I am a vessel.”
Since Dallas, there are numerous reports of protests across America.
Road Blocks and Peace Signs: Black Lives Matter protests across America
Interstates blocked. Why?
Why do protestors block highways? The inconvenience is the point.
Just imagine. Everybody in all the car line-ups thinks he or she needs to be someplace, soon. They’re working hard, on schedules, after all. But instead, they are forced to temporarily stop what they are doing, and notice what is really going on.
I don’t know what percentage of protests were/are peaceful, and which turn violent, but here’s one where the police are applauded for “exemplary behavior.”
Atlanta Police Applauded for Exemplary Behavior During Massive Protest
Stepping back a bit from the melee of swirling angry/compassionate individual and collective dynamics, it is clear that we U.S. citizens are faced with a choice.
Unite or Not Unite: That Is the Question
Some say “blame the cops.” But here’s one person that says there’s plenty of blame to go around; that that we need to begin to get beyond the blame game and see to the root of our present impasse.
Don’t Just Blame the Cops: Who Is Responsible for America’s Killing Fields?
And yet, as Paul Craig Roberts says,
Police Murder Because They Are Trained to Murder
Trained, often by Israelis, who teach them to use the same tactics on Americans that Israeli soldiers use on Palestinians. In order to do that, the police must see only their own lives as of value, and the lives of other Americans as somehow subhuman.
Here’s a particularly chilling excerpt from the above article which makes me imagine that it’s not just the police; perhaps most populations can be classified with these percentages: 15% awake; 15% psychopathic, lacking empathy; and 70% so asleep they can be swayed in either direction.
A former black police officer provides revealing insight into the real situation. He says that about 15% of a police department consists of people who are there for the right reasons and represent a culture of public service. Another 15% are psychopaths who routinely abuse their power. The remaining 70% of the department goes with whichever of the two cultures prevails.
Widening the perspective, Tom Dispatch asks:
Whose Century Is It? Life on an Increasingly Improbable Planet
Peace activist David Swanson slams the situation home:
US Plans to Saturate the Globe with Weapons
And, in a particularly chilling note, we need to consider:
What happens after cops start getting shot
Is our only option “open insurrection and rebellion,” or can we somehow finesse this moment, do what has not been done before.
Meanwhile, the temperature is bound to heat up even further during the upcoming presidential “party” conventions to feature two “presidential nominees” that most voters simply cannot stomach.
Maps. Philadelphia (DNC)
Cleveland (RNC)
