My last blog post mostly quoted from a radical political article about police and police violence against black people. My “politically correct” radical, political mind resonated with the article, but life’s a lot messier and more complicated than that. For example, technically I believe being a police officer or a soldier is wrong livelihood, supporting an illegitimate system. But police officers and soldiers do a lot of good things, too, like – at times, at least – protecting us from criminals and, potentially, attacks on our country (not our country’s “interests,” which are those of the 1%, our country as a geographic entity).

Also, I myself worked as a juvenile probation officer for 16 years. People have to make a living, and can do good in almost any job.

My goal is to make my blog posts humble and respectful, as well as politically relevant and radical in the sense of challenging a largely illegitimate system. I don’t want to preach, lecture, or judge, or come across as if I am. That just turns people off who don’t already agree with you.

I want to reach out to everyone, in the spirit described by President Obama in his (I thought) excellent speech in Dallas this past Tuesday. We need to cooperate, see the good in each other, and the good in ourselves as Americans, despite our huge challenges and problems.

As far as the racial situation is concerned, I think our country’s leadership and educational system need to acknowledge our racist and genocidal history – toward African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos. We need to apologize for the wrongs that have been done, and talk with the groups involved about making reparations and planning respectfully and equally for the future. (The unequal criminal “justice” system needs an overhaul for sure, in the direction of restorative justice.) Those of us who are white need to look at our racist thoughts, speech, and actions, conscious and unconscious. For example, we need to understand that countering the slogan Black Lives Matter with “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter” is, purposely or not, failing to understand its purpose. It’s countering, dismissing it. Of course, all lives matter. But putting the priority on black lives for now and seeing how and why they’re being discounted must be at the top of our to-do list, so that someday we can honestly say we’re ensuring that all lives matter.

Thanks for “listening.” Let me know what you think.