The attention surrounding policing in America is continuing to mount thanks to peaceful protesters of all colors and ages. Despite the cowering and political antics of some politicians who may agree with these protesters that there is a problem and the pushback from some who believe that Officer Daniel Pantaleo is a model police officer, protesters are keeping the media’s attention trained on our country’s justice system dilemma. Thank you protesters!
Most of us are aware that simply by virtue of the fact that we are a democracy – and a very proud one, things many times happen slowly. Some legislation that needs to be passed quickly to keep America operating at her optimum might churn through our governmental system at a painfully slow pace; but this should come as no surprise because that is the natural nature of the democratic process.
This is why no matter which side of this policing issue that you stand on you should want America to step back now and take a real close objective look at this situation and bring all of the various reasonable leaders together to work to resolve it. It pains me to speak the words but they must be realized and spoken. Resolving this problem will take a long time and a tremendous amount of dedication and effort.
We need all of our elected leaders – who should have been engaged at the first sign of this problem instead of using it to hone their political thespian skills – to get engaged now because of the long road ahead of us to reach a solution. We also need Business leaders, Civil Rights leaders, Faith leaders, Law enforcement leaders, and layperson citizens – especially youth leaders, to be a part of finding this solution. We need this to begin now!
Our country is strong and resilient. We have proven this in the past; now, let’s prove it again. This is something that we absolutely have to do. The likelihood is that none of us will be completely satisfied with the final product but again, America is a democracy and if we are and want to remain a part of her we must be willing to take part in her messiness.
All of us have to be willing to do whatever it takes to assure that America remains the great democracy that it is. We can bask in our political victories but we must also be willing to accept our political defeats, no matter where we fall along the political spectrum, and continue to work to make and keep our country great.
I know that as a lifelong Democrat, I have suffered many political defeats but still consider the democratic battle to be one worth waging. I hope that you feel that way too. So let’s get to work on this problem, resolve it and once again show the rest of the world what a resilient nation that we are.
Eulus Dennis