Guest commentary: Why we distrust and fear the cops

In Oxnard and throughout the nation

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All of us in Oxnard, throughout this nation, and the rest of the world for that matter, are indoctrinated from womb to tomb to believe that this country, the United States of America, is a nation of laws. Many of us would agree with that assertion, the problem is what set of laws are we talking about? The laws for the white folks? The laws for the rich folks? Or the laws for the rest of us? Exactly which set of laws are we talking about?

Invariably for many people of color in this country our first contact with this evil paradox is with the cops. It turns out that Freddie Grey, the 25 year old black man, was killed by the Baltimore police for making eye contact with the cops; that was his only crime and he paid with his life for it! That sick and warped mind set of the nation’s cops that automatically prompt them to rabidly execute the law and exact justice on us for simply being Black or Brown has been around the barrios and the ghettos of this country forever.  Just ask the folks that live in these impoverished and often lawless communities.

Something cold, inhumane and sometimes evil happens to a cop when she/he patrols the barrios or the ghettos of this nation. Why is this so? At this point is where the vast majority of the American public faint stupidity and ignorance, why indeed! We, the American public create this militarized monster.

For decades the American policing narrative has been to blindly grant,  concede, acquiesce, and rollover(like the good lapdogs that we are) at every turn the common sense, legal, moral and ethical community safety high ground to the cops. So with  every stupid, inept, and deadly new experiment that the cops wanted to roll out, the American public gave the cops a free and unfettered pass, as long as the polices’ brutal often lawless macho war games were conducted in the barrios and ghettos of this nation. So the barrios and ghettos got the tanks, the armored vehicles, the no knock laws, the three strikes, the zero tolerance, the mandatory and enhanced sentences, the elimination of the Miranda rights; we are the new slave beneficiaries of the prison industrial complex curtsey of the police and their minion.

We in American have become a psycho-hybrid of cowardice and alpha bully, our fear and hate drives us to do inhumane acts and atrocities that we level on our own besieged citizens of color and export it throughout the world. We talk peace and justice and then execute precision drone massacres throughout the world. We have become a nation of hypocrites!

The modern militarized cop is a creation of our worst delusional and sick fears; that is the modern Frankenstein monster that we have created. And for the past four or five decades this police monster has been given free and unrestricted license to wreck havoc and death here in Oxnard and throughout the nation. Meagan Hockaday, the 23 year old black woman from Oxnard, was perhaps inebriated, in full psychological meltdown, allegedly with knife in hand when she allegedly attacked the OPD cop; she was shot and killed almost instantly by the officer. We will never know her side of the deadly encounter. Sometimes, and far too frequently, when we, in the hood, make stupid or bad decisions with cops and it costs us our lives. Sometimes we are just the innocent victims of police murder.

The violent and deadly  psycho-policing genie is out of the bottle, it is now the horrible truth that has universally been revealed that we are a nation of violent hypocrites, living in a nation controlled by violence and money; and that the more money you have the more justice you can buy or exact on your enemies, foreign and domestic.

Brothers and sisters we must take a hard sober look at what we have become as a nation; and at this very historic moment decide where we want to go with this current and abiding pathological myth that we are a nation of one set of laws for all of us. We are not and in our gut we know it! So where do we go America?

We must my brothers and sisters go to love, non violence and reconciliation; that will lead us to justice and peace! There is no other path if we are to save this nation. How can we possibly justify and live with ourselves if we continue down the same  evil, violent and horrific world of apartheid “American style” where less that 1% of the mega-rich  rigs and control the entire game, where the upper and middle class is drowning in delusional and very real fear of losing everything that they have worked so hard to acquire; and the rest of us smolder in our despair, rage and hatred ready to explode like an apocalyptic volcano the likes that no one has ever witnessed or experienced, that will rain justice for all or buries us all in fire and brimstone once and for all. Justice for all or peace for no one, no matter your riches.

Love demands that we put down the fear, the hate, and weapons, and open our hearts, souls and minds to the simple demands of peace. We are in this mess together, all of us! Together, only together can we transform our hearts, souls and minds; extend a caring hand to help uplift our brothers and sister, and slowing begins the massive redemptive job of transforming this town and this nation into a just, equitable and peaceful world. We have nothing to fear and our humanity to regain, love will illuminate our path!

— Armando Vazquez, M.Ed., is the executive director of The KEYS Leadership Academy@ Café on A in Oxnard.