No More Chokeholds!

By Daddy

Las Vegas — I am now 64 going on 65. As a child I remember water fountains that were labeled "White Only" and restrooms labeled "Colored." It was rare but in the late fifties and early sixties it was still happening. Today I can't think of any place where it's still happening.

As a teenager I remember the race riots at our school because of the finger plan in Oklahoma city to force integration. I remember both the black students and the white students resenting being bussed across the city. I lost one of the sweetest most loved teachers who was cracked over head sending her to the hospital never to return. I was a part of the "Finger the finger" movement.

Those trying times led to the concept of magnet schools where they picked specific schools as more specific subjects. One school became the electronics magnet. Another school became the drama magnet. It caused the Oklahoma city schools to become self-integrating because the students went to the schools they wanted to go to. "Poor" schools in predominantly black areas became "Great" schools because the spending was concentrated from many areas to a those areas.

I remember my church going from a few minorities to almost a majority of minorities because the pastor and the congregation opened our hearts and let them in. It was a point in time where we started losing our prejudices.

My Grandmother firmly believed that all Blacks were going to hell and backed her belief with Biblical quotes. Our parents knew that it was wrong but kept quiet. The grand children worked and played with other minority children. The great grandchildren didn't know the difference.

By the time I went to college most of the my fellow students were of mixed races. To my knowledge there were only a few schools that were still segregated. Slowly through the years each segregation has been successfully challenged.

Then we come to George Floyd and a nation that is grieving for him. In a perfect world he would still be alive. But instead the officer is rightfully in jail waiting for his trial along with the three officers that let this tragedy happen. A friend asked: "Would it have been different if the officer was black and the victim was white?" I sincerely hope so but suspect it won't have been.

In Oklahoma city they found a alternative that was out of the box and worked. What we need is an "out of the box" alternative that doesn't require riots, murder, arson, looting, or graffiti. Writing "BLM" on a wall doesn't solve the problem but propagates the notion that the anti-social acts that are occurring are acceptable. They are not.

How to solve the problem? Make sure the officers involved have their day in court. Make sure that government know that we the people want the restraint techniques used to kill Mr. Floyd banned nationwide and then rigorously enforce that ban. It shouldn't matter the color of either the officer involved or the person in custody.

Is our society we need to be willing to say: "That is not right," document what's wrong and vigorously prosecute the people involved. The only way to change what's happening is we the people say: "We don't want this," not a small specific segment.

I'm going to take a three day weekend and work on knocking down some of the problems with the new website, and perhaps putting some new features in place.

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