Obligations, Responsibilities

In recent days, I have come across several examples of people who served in the military using the phrase "I fought for your rights" in response to those who disagree with them on matters of race, politics, or protest...almost always from people taking the most conservative stance on those issues.

I honor, respect, and thank those who have served in the military, such as my late father, who was a SeaBee in WW2, my late father-in-law, who retired as a full colonel from the Army, and my niece, a West Point graduate who is currently a captain in the Army Reserve and has taught at her alma mater. But having worn the uniform of your country does not excuse you when you act in a manner that sullies that uniform.

You have an obligation, a responsibility, not to use that service as a cover for your racism, your disrespect for those who honestly disagree with you, your wholesale disregard for the values of the nation you say you fought for. Don't tell me you fought for my right to protest while you simultaneously tell me I shouldn't be protesting. Don't tell me you fought for my right to vote while you simultaneously support those who would deny that right to others.

Live up to the oath you took when you put on that uniform and performed that service you claim to be proud of.

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.