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Want to make serious inroads in decreasing the dangerous police confrontations instead of just having everybody yell at each other? Assemble a blue-ribbon panel of 15-20 athletes, entertainers, etc. -- LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Jay-Z, etc. -- who have real clout./1
Have them participate in one of those police courses in handling encounters with people -- do you shoot here, not shoot? Let them see that perspective and then produce a series of PSA announcements of how to best to navigate encounters with the police./2
The people most likely to have police encounter police are a lot more likely to pay attention to those who have some sort of street cred. Messages from them, informed by knowing the law-enforcement side of things, could really resonate./3
But it shouldn& #39;t stop there. Let& #39;s have public hearings, panels, whatever you want to call them, with these icons involved in discussions about shaping policing policies. Make them genuinely involved in the process so they aren& #39;t just propaganda pawns./4
When I& #39;m talking hearings/panels, I& #39;m not talking about these nonsense Senate hearings where windbag politicians are making speeches and grandstanding rather than having productive dialogue. I& #39;m talking about real discussions, in public, so people can have transparency./5
It needs to be a mix of these icons, law enforcement experts, lawmakers, so that they can have productive conversations from all relevant angles. Let it be an open dialogue, a national brainstorming session. Find common ground and craft a bill Congress doesn& #39;t dare reject.
If we don& #39;t take an approach like this, if we allow it to be handled strictly on partisan political lines, then we will never come up with a framework that will have credibility across the board./7
Defunding/disbanding the police is no answer to anybody but anarchists and the hold-my-breath-until-I-turn-blue crowd. Defunding/disbanding doesn& #39;t poll well in the crime-ridden areas -- most want MORE police presence, not less./8
So we need to find a way to reform policing in a way that is productive AND credible. And if we just leave it to politicians, we know we will never have an outcome that will be credible enough for the buy-in we need as a nation. Our politicians have ZERO moral authority./9
So let& #39;s put these widely admired public figures -- people who have street cred our political class lacks -- in position to make a difference. Put them in a forum where their opinions are welcome, as opposed to the hollow gesture of wearing shirts with pithy catch phrases./10
Or, we can just keep yelling at each other. /END
