America has real problems, and it’s not Hilary Clinton’s emails.
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BLACK. BIPOLAR. VETERAN. NAKED. MAN. UNARMED. DEAD. POLICE SHOOTING. FUCK!
America, we have a problem, and it’s way bigger than what email account Mrs. Hilary Rodham Clinton used when serving the country as Secretary of State.
America, we have a problem, and it’s bigger than the ass-clowns from Oklahoma who were filmed participating in a racially charged sing-a-long, though the attitudes of the youngsters speak directly to the core of our social-ill.
Our problem, America, can be articulated all at once just by examining the life and death of Mr. Anthony Hill, a 27 year-old Air Force veteran who was having a bipolar episode when he was gunned down by Dekalb County Police Officer, Robert Olsen.
In life—though Mr. Hill embraced his mental illness—his sickness reminds us of the poor mental health services available for veterans nationwide. In death, Mr. Hill reminds us of the systemic, racially bias style of American policing that allows Mr. Jared Leone, then 18 years-old, to be high off mushrooms, grab an officer’s gun and shoot it in Oregon’s City Hall in 2013, and be subdued with only bruises, while Mr. Hill’s family has to plan a funeral because Officer Olsen, a white man, chose to use to lethal force when it wasn’t absolutely unnecessary.
In death, Mr. Hill reminds us that cable news, for the most part, is fluff and fold bullsh*t that doesn’t actually produce substantive conversations—and former Philadelphia Mayor, Mr. Ed Rendell, would agree.
Mr. Hill’s tragic story was ignored by the cable news institutions in favor of Hilary Clinton’s email and the SAE Frat scandal, despite recommendations from the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing being released just last week.
The government’s response to veterans, the police’s response to people of color, the media’s coverage of almost anything … America, these are some of our most pressing problems, but luckily we’re not so forgone that a solution can’t be put forth, or that communities can’t mitigate these issues through civic engagement.
For example, next month in Philadelphia, I’m co-moderating a forum of mayoral and city council candidates to drill in specifically on issues related to veterans. Issues like, why doesn’t Philly—who’s Edison High School lost more students in the Vietnam War than any other school in the nation—have a veterans grave-site registry or a Director of Veterans Affairs?
Also, next month I’m co-organizing a debate among mayoral and city council candidates specifically on the issues of reforms to policing and the criminal justice system.
And to address the media problem, I’ve scaled my content marketing and news organization, Techbook Online, to the largest and most active publisher associated with Project Open Voice, a national initiative to strengthen local content.
Now, I’m not suggesting you do what I do, but I am suggesting that you do something, anything. America, we are in crisis and its impacting us all, whether we want to believe it or not.
America, we have a problem, and the problem is that we’re the Americans allowing these problems to persist.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
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Photo: AP/File