How can our commitment to the principles of nonviolence be used in these days where police violence is out of control?
The nonviolent protests related to not standing for the National Anthem are one way, and because of the risks taken by nationally recognized athletes and others, much needed conversations are finally beginning to occur with a much broader audience. I really appreciate these actions. We have to add our voices. Silence is violence.
But police practices, in the end, are what need to be changed. There just has to be better training and more accountability.
Ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court:
“We do not eliminate flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion analysis whenever a black male is the subject of an investigatory stop. However, in such circumstances, flight is not necessarily probative of a suspect’s state of mind or consciousness of guilt. Rather, the finding that black males in Boston are disproportionately and repeatedly targeted for FIO [Field Interrogation and Observation] encounters suggests a reason for flight totally unrelated to consciousness of guilt. Such an individual, when approached by the police, might just as easily be motivated by the desire to avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled as by the desire to hide criminal activity. Given this reality for black males in the city of Boston, a judge should, in appropriate cases, consider the report’s findings in weighing flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion calculus.”
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault II addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, to build international opposition to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the reservation.
“Thousands have gathered peacefully in Standing Rock in solidarity against the pipeline,” said Archambault. “And yet many water protectors have been threatened and even injured by the pipeline’s security officers. One child was bitten and injured by a guard dog. We stand in peace but have been met with violence.”
Quakers, social justice and revolution 