Uniformed Brutality

Let me preface this by saying I have relatives who are members of the police and the military, and I understand the difficult situations they often face.

But nothing can justify the actions we have seen from police and military in the past week or so. Nothing can justify the use of mounted officers, tear gas, and flash-bang grenades to clear a park and plaza of peaceful citizens, most of whom were there to offer rest, water, and first-aid to equally peaceful protesters. Nothing can justify the scene I just saw from Buffalo, NY, yesterday, of a riot-geared cop knocking a 75-year-old man to the ground, and his fellow officers just walking by as the man lay bleeding.

Yes, we have seen police and military act in exemplary fashion--protecting protesters from those who would attack them, linking arms with them as they march, taking a knee during moments of silence. But we still have to deal with those--both in the streets and in command--who view their jobs as only having to do with the latter half of  "law and order"; who see maintaining control as their most important function; who see "protect" as applying only to themselves and not to the civilians they meet.

There's a reason we have always maintained a distance between the military and police in this country....because the military are taught to consider those they confront as the "enemy" and police should be taught to consider them as fellow citizens. It's time to once again insist on that distinction.