Statues, law enforcement, and balance

First, the title for this blog post sucks. It’s not just about those things, but it IS about those things. I needed a title, so…there it is.

This summer, a lot of statues were pulled down. Most of these (Confederate generals/politicians) should never have been put up in the first place since they were traitors to the United States. We even name bases for them. Ugh. The thing is–not all pulled down were obvious villains. In one instance, a statue of Grant was pulled down, justified with the logic that he owned one slave, so he was part of the problem. In Wisconsin, the statue of Hans Heg was destroyed–because he was a white man from the 1860s–really.

In terms of context, Grant did own one slave, given to him as a gift. Grant was near bankruptcy at the time (he was never good with finances) and could have sold the man and erased his family’s debt completely. He didn’t. Within the year, he freed the man for $0.00. Indeed, while Grant married a woman from a slave-holding family, it is also documented that Grant chose to work beside the slaves and refused to give them orders. With Heg, he was an immigrant from Norway in 1849. He found many things unjust–and even ran for office on a campaign for prison reform (same as it ever was) and was an abolitionist from Day One–including aiding/abetting an escaped slave to reach Canada. Heg joined the Union Army to help destroy slavery, but was killed in battle at Chickamauga in 1863.

With law enforcement, there is a list of wrongdoing over the past six months that could fill a book, all documented since the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin. Sometimes, those pursuing wrongdoing find stuff like this, too, from three years ago. Believe it or not, al-Jazeera has created an outstanding visual article on this. It is depressingly repetitive to see the lack of accountability when police commit crimes, inevitably protected by police unions led by some who are even more reprehensible than those who ‘accidentally’ kill people while in uniform.

On the other side of the ledger, you have other officers saving kids from drowning or joining in a neighborhood basketball game after someone called in a noise complaint on the kids. You have the law enforcement personnel who have rounded up child traffickers in multiple states. The idea that all police are bad is wrong. No one rationally believes that–because they know the examples of good cops.

With statues and police, people do not wish to discuss. It has sadly become ‘you are with us or against us’. There can be no middle ground.

That is incorrect. There is no ‘middle ground’ only if you are seeking trouble–and even then, those all-or-nothing people are sometimes hypocrites.

If we are to topple a statue of Grant because of his temporary ownership of a slave, ignoring Grant’s actual achievements in ending slavery; if we declare all police to be evil or fascist because of the killings, beatings, and other illegal actions of some police, I have a question:

How can these people complaining, these people of total intolerance continue listening to someone like Michael Jackson? The Mamas and the Papas (due to John Phillips)? Ike Turner? Tupac Shakur?

*Jackson allegedly molested children who spent the night at his Neverland Ranch *John Phillips sexually assaulted women and had an incestuous relationship with his daughter *Ike Turner violently assaulted his wives/girlfriends *Tupac was convicted of sexual assault (or the circumstances around his 1995 murder)

Do we ‘cancel’ Paul McCartney because he recorded with Michael Jackson? Do we ban Ike/Tina Turner recordings from classic rock/R+B stations? Should all recordings from Death Row Records be banned because of everything that happened during the Tupac Shakur era?

The same people who pull down statues, lump all police together have no problem listening to a multitude of musical artists who have committed violent criminal acts, ranging from murder to armed robbery. …I just listed the ones obvious to me–so essentially people pre-2000. I’m sure an internet search would reveal many more recent.

What about film stars? What about athletes? A dozen MLB players have been suspended for domestic violence in the past four years. Michael Vick did prison time (rightfully) for his part in a dogfighting scheme–but everyone still loves Ben Roethlisberger even though he was suspended for sexual assault (no criminal conviction though)…Ray Rice’s domestic violence incident ended his career. …hmmmm, Vick/Rice career-ending, Roethlisberger still playing. I wonder what’s different there?

it’s more complicated than what people want to believe. I don’t have a solution–other than to call out hypocrisy. If you are going to tear down statues, make sure you’re not endorsing/buying stuff from individuals who have done horrid things. If you are going to criticize police–do so but remember not all police are bad; the number of bad cops is way too high, but it isn’t 100%.

The problem is anger rules the day. No one wants to talk or discuss potential solutions. It’s easier to howl at the moon, point fingers at the other side and point out their faults.