From Drones to Chokeholds, We're Over-Policed!

The F Word with Laura Flanders

Hi I’m Laura Flanders of GRITtv. I’ve just spent two very different weekends in the company of two very different groups of people dealing with two very related problems; on the one hand, invasive, warrantless wiretapping; on the other, violent, unwarranted policing. The first gathering was dominated by white people: hackers, journalists and artists, concerned about surveillance, secrecy and censorship. Their stories were hair-raising, dealing with tracked cellphones, data-driven drone strikes and whistleblowers imprisoned. Ten days later, with the Millions March in New York, the demographics were very different. Predominantly African American, the triggers there were police brutality and killings in communities of color – as well as official impunity in the slaughter of among others, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Aiyana-Stanley Jones, Tamir Rice... and the list keeps growing. The two groups and the two events differed, but they put me in mind of a single story: the one about feeling the elephant. In the story, a group of people who can’t see are trying to learn what an elephant looks like by touching it, but each is feeling a different part. Is the monstrous creature mostly tusk, all tummy or overwhelmingly trunk? Compiling the big picture is no simple matter, but when the touchers compare notes, it all comes together. Depending on who’s doing the touching, our creature feels like drones and wiretaps or guns and chokeholds, but can we agree we’re touching parts of the same elephant? It’s not affecting us all the same, or all of us equally, or with the same result, but it’s one big problem. From our government’s urge to control global communications and punish dissent to our beat cop’s demand for total submission and obedience; too many of us are being policed too much, too brutally, with too little accountability -- to grievous effect on our shared body politic. Coming together could make us smarter quicker. In just one example, in a recent interview with The Nation magazine, NSA leaker Edward Snowden asked: “The question is: particularly in the post-9/11 era, are societies becoming more liberal or more authoritarian?” Frontline communities of color could have answered that question right quick, and they might suggest that 9-11 doesn’t have much to do with it. Drones or chokeholds, our elephant is rampant policing or if you prefer, authoritarianism. Now if only all those who’ve been feeling it, tusk and trunk, could feel their way towards one another and make common cause to tame the monster. You can watch my interview with Robin D.G. Kelley author of Freedom Dreams on this topic and more at GRITtv.org and find out about The Laura Flanders Show which you can now see on LinkTV and TeleSUR English. To tell me what you think, write to: [e-mail]. For GRITtv, I’m Laura Flanders.