VLOG: A Day in the Life of Rural Reentry (8): Justice

This week, Executive Director Jodi Hansen reflects on the Derek Chauvin trial and its repercussions. Join her in discussion of the events of the last year, Mass Incarceration, and more.

Text in video:

“At RI we work with the output of the criminal legal system—that is, the men and women it sends back to the neighborhood after they have served their time in prison. And, thus, we are very concerned about the root causes of crime. We believe in addressing those issues rather than defaulting to just sending people to prison—which, we are convinced, is an abysmal waste of time and taxpayer money.

Punishment is not the same as rehabilitation and “accountability” is often just a nice way of saying state-sanctioned revenge. 

This morning, I was listening to a news podcast about the verdict in the George Floyd murder trial. Like most Americans, the outcome caused me to sigh in relief. Justice has finally been served—FINALLY—after so many ‘not guilty’ verdicts and so many decisions not to indict, in so many trials involving police brutality that were caught on camera.  

And, as I listened to the end of the podcast, when the journalists played various sound bites from various activists and from the statements of the Floyd family themselves—I noticed a theme, “This verdict is only the beginning.” All these voices in various tones and different words said the same thing—we still have much work to do if we ever want to become a society that truly believes that all of us are created equal—and that black and brown people matter as much as those of us who enjoy the benefits of white skin. 

And that got me thinking...when we look for the root cause of this crime, we are going to have to look at some very uncomfortable recent history and acknowledge our part in how we got here. 

Derek Chauvin was trained to be a soldier—a soldier in a War that we the people declared on drugs and drug users in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. We the people, with power and privilege wanted broken window policing, we wanted stop and frisk and so many other laws that empowered the police to make us believe we were safe from scary drug lords. 

But we didn’t get safer healthier neighborhoods. Instead, we got Mass Incarceration, a militarized police force, and more systemic racism.

When we declared War, we turned the police into soldiers—and soldiers are trained to command, control, occupy and kill.

Yes, many law-enforcement officers have declared what Chauvin did was a horrific use of power and force and not good policing by any standard—but we still have to reckon with what these officers are being trained to do and who we are training them to be.

The simple suspicion of a black man passing a counterfeit $20—who may have been high at the time—was enough for those officers to believe that they could use that level of force—even when a camera was recording the whole thing! And that makes me ask, were those officers so bold because something in their training and experience led them to believe they were justified? 

It’s time to demilitarize the police. And for those of us who voted for all that tough on crime legislation in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s that funded their militaristic equipment and training—it’s time for us to repent, change those laws, acknowledge our culpability in creating this system, and support the communities of color who have been so systematically harmed by it.  

The Drug War is an epic failure that was designed to command, control, and occupy poor communities of color.

Mass Incarceration will be a shameful stain on this nation in our future history books. And now that body cams and camera phones have forced us to watch what black and brown citizens have lived with for years, can we stop criticizing the protestors and start empathizing with their rage? 

And, to my white brothers and sisters of privilege—if you look like me—it’s time we acknowledge that this country is the middle of a revolt against tyranny and tyrannical systems—just like the revolution that founded this democracy. 

You have probably heard the quote, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  

The bible says that justice WILL roll down EVENTUALLY! 

While other wise sages throughout the ages, have warned us that silence is an accomplice to injustice. Are you okay with that?”