Flat Foreheads Forever -- and Brunswick Town Governance

Well, the Brunswick Town Council met last night, and the last item in their public session was to discuss and act on their proposed "Statement on Criminal Justice and Policing."

You can watch the video here: http://tv3hd.brunswickme.org/CablecastPublicSite/show/4404?channel=1  Start at about 1:15 in the time line.  You can also read the print media coverage in The Ostrich here: https://pressherald.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6544575de905dda7d18aa459&id=bb627184d4&e=7a71570a65

The article is less irritating and time consuming, but the video tells the real story.

We promised in this preliminary post http://othersideofbrunswick.blogspot.com/2020/06/brunswick-town-council-proposed.html that we would submit a response to this proposal, and we did.  It had even less of an effect on the deliberation than we expected, and we expected none.

So our reputation for banging our head against the wall because it feels so good when you stop is remarkably intact.  Here is the text of what we submitted; we expect some of you may take exception(s) to what we wrote, as is your right, just as it is our right to submit our thoughts.

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Response to:

Draft Town Council Statement on Criminal Justice and Policing

I take vigorous exception to your draft. My reasons are as follows:

Attitudinal Bias: Negativity Towards Brunswick, America, and Police:

• The document is relentlessly negative. “The country” is seen as “systemically and institutionally racist.” Nary a good word is said about the Police who daily take great risks on our behalf to see that the lives and liberties of all citizens are protected. “Pervades,” “entrenched,” “inequities,” and other similar terms add to the pall of the narrative. Is there nothing positive to say about our country, our town, or our Police? Is there no redeeming value in any of these? What do you mean by “offer spaces?” Can you communicate without relying on trendy social warrior terminology?
• You invoke the language of identitarianism and identity politics, saying “no one should be targeted because of their identity.” Yet you implicitly target whites and Police as systemically flawed and racist. You have fallen into the trap of judging everyone on the basis of skin color. And you judge Law Enforcement Officers with the same singularity.
• In indicting the country and all police, you cast shame upon Brunswick residents and Police. And you do so with no specific justification; instead, you adopt the methods of the anarchists taking over the streets nationwide. You profess no concern or disrespect for their behavior. One wonders what your official response will be if and when they threaten the order, tranquility, and property of Brunswick.
• In so many words, you are asking us all to confess to sins we did not commit. Where is your confession in this statement? Are you exempt from the transgressions you cite, even as you have held the leadership mantle in Brunswick?
• You talk of “ending excessive use of force, racial insensitivity, and police misconduct here in Maine,” as if you have evidence of it here in Brunswick and elsewhere in the state. Are you sure you don't mean prevent these behaviors? If they have occurred in Brunswick, why haven't you already dealt with them as part of your ongoing leadership and oversight of our town?
• You ignore the fact that racism is a two way street. Do the words “what do we want? Dead Cops. When do we want them? Now!” ring any bells? What about “pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon!” Have you actually looked at the statistics associated with civilians killed by Police, and Police killed by civilians? Have you absorbed what goes on in cities like Chicago week in and week out? If you have told yourself there is no racism in the hearts and minds of non-whites, you aren't willing to realistically consider all aspects of the problem. And you should likewise consider the rampant destruction of private and public properties in riots and demonstrations we've seen all too frequently in recent years, regardless of who it hurts or belongs to or disadvantages.

• The statement reads as an expression of shame and guilt meant to appease town residents who likely demanded such a statement, and much more likely, the protest groups who have already shown up in town, blocked streets, and all but occupied the Police Station.
• It confesses to “systemic” and “institutionalized” racism “in our country, and by inference asserts that Brunswick residents, whom you represent, and the Police whom you employ on our behalf, are guilty by extension. You tacitly imply that all of Town Government, all residents, our Churches, Bowdoin College, our businesses, and any other institutions in town share this guilt, since all fall under your purview and governance.
• This act of contrition is reminiscent of the situation that led to the formation of the Brunswick Human Rights Task Force to deal with all manner of “systemic” and “institutional” injustice in treatment of others in Brunswick. Apparently the efforts of this body did not bear fruit.
• I resent the inference that my family harbors systemic and institutional racism, and I know that many of my friends and neighbors think likewise about theirs. I especially resent the direct suggestion that our Police are racist.
• You do not have permission to take a knee, figuratively or literally, on my behalf or that of my friends. And I request that you direct town officials, including the Police, not to do so, no matter what kind of social pressure is applied by aggressive, sign-carrying protesters. Doing so “to keep a lid on things” is a sure sign of appeasement, which will only lead to worse.
• Your five bulletized steps raise questions of their own. Are you suggesting that none of these are already standard operating procedure? Three of them are within your purview as governing officials over Brunswick Police, and yet your words suggest they are not already in place.
• You seem to assert that you understand these problems and how to remedy them. One is wont to ask if you had such clarity on the issues and how to resolve them, why have you not dealt with them before the current crisis was reached?

Aligning with and Endorsing BLM Without Full Knowledge:

• I am troubled by your official endorsement of “Black Lives Matter,” which is a nation-wide, formally organized 501(C)3 charity with 40 Chapters across the land. You may think you are simply voicing a slogan when you use the words in proper, capitalized form, but you are in fact not. You are instead approving of and advocating everything they stand for.
• I doubt that any of you have taken the time to do due diligence on the organization before officially endorsing it as the Town of Brunswick. Posted below is a letter I submitted to the Times Record on Wednesday, June 10. They did not run it, and did not even reply to its submission. When you read it, you will find enough information to confirm that BLM is in fact a political organization with Marxist--Leninist roots, and they are extremely selective in which black lives they choose to mourn publicly with street protests and related unrest and destruction.
• BLM explicitly does not lobby on behalf of black Police Officers who are injured or killed by members of the general public.
• Your closing two sentences are particularly troubling, because they show fealty to the BLM organization, and specifically close by affirming that “Black lives matter to the town of Brunswick.

Addressing Potential Escalation of Troubles; Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst:

• Rather than going to such extremes to figuratively take a knee on behalf of the town, perhaps you should be planning with the Police Department on what our response will be if some “peaceful activists” decide to occupy several blocks of Brunswick's down town.
• And what if others decide that “Black and White” Police Vehicles trigger waves of oppression by the old white men patriarchy that runs the town? Will you promise to get the vehicles repainted in a tie-dye rainbow theme?
• What if the BLM organizers and their associates from other aggrieved groups demand that we disband our Police force? Are you prepared to deal with that? Have you considered whether you can muster any arguments to defend retention of the Brunswick Police in the face of aggressive, possibly violent direct action by “peaceful protesters?” What will be your response if any destruction, burning, and looting takes place in our town?
• Don't say it isn't possible. It's happening all over the country and can happen here. The more acquiescence you show as a Town on our behalf, the more the social justice warriors will demand that the Town Mall be covered with groveling pads for ceremonial penance rituals.
• Before too long, 1700 or so Bowdoin students will return to campus, all fired up from what they have been watching for weeks now. Aided by the faculty, and the strength of their own numbers, they will be whipped up into righteous fervor to “stand up for social justice,” and to “take action to make it happen.” Have you discussed how you and the Police will react to any such uprising? Will you take steps to contain it, or treat it as a loving expression of human longing?

Closing Thought:

• I cannot fathom why you have not made clear that your lives matter, my life matters, others' lives matter, and Police lives matter, summing up to ALL LIVES MATTER. Such a pronouncement would be more in keeping with principles of equality, inclusion, and justice, and respect for all people in our country and in Brunswick. 
  Shouldn't that be what you stand for?