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janetmiles. It also fills the "Dark" square in my 6-1-20 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Monster House.Warning: This poem obliquely references murderous police and intended consequences to same.
"Waiting for Sunset"
I found them by the window,
pressed against the glass like
two cats watching the same bird.
The bogeyman was all white hair
and skin like spilled milk, while
the lurking shadow was pure black --
an odd couple, but good friends.
"What's going on?" I wondered.
"We're waiting for sunset,"
the bogeyman explained.
"Okay?" I said, hardly
less baffled than before.
The bogeyman tilted his head
toward the lurking shadow
to show whose idea it was.
"We saw the news," he said.
"They're bold, in their way,
to murder in broad daylight,
in front of a crowd, on camera."
The lurking shadow hissed,
a sound like ashes stirring
in a firepit, black form rippling.
"Ah," I said. "You're not
the only monsters in
the world, I'm afraid."
"No, but we are among
the oldest," the bogeyman said,
"and they've been such bad boys."
"Sssunsset," the lurking shadow hissed.
"Don't wait up for us," the bogeyman said
as he pushed away from the window.
"I'll leave the porchlight off for you,"
I said, opening the door for them.
The bogeyman stepped out and
disappeared into a shaft of moonlight.
The lurking shadow flowed down
the porch steps into the waiting embrace
of the night, one shade among many.
"Good hunting," I whispered, and
went back in to turn on the news.
* * *
Notes:
Black lives matter to black people and cosmopolitans of other heritage. They don't matter to a majority of white Americans, which is why police are free to murder black people with impunity. Support the Black Lives Matter movement. Make your workplace better for black employees and customers.
(Some of these links are monstrous.)
Police routinely murder citizens in broad daylight, in front of a crowd, on camera. They know they won't be punished, and they have no morals, so they see no reason not to murder people who annoy them. This reveals America as a tyranny, a police state, rather than a healthy democracy. Displeasing the police is a summary death sentence. If you dislike this, you can take steps to defund the police. After all, if they work for citzens, then citizens can fire them; if citizens can't fire police, then America is an occupied nation and forceful resistance is justified to restore a decent society. Here are science-backed reforms. This manual explains how to fight police abuse in general.
My suggestions:
1) Institute an Office of External Affairs staffed by citizens and policevets to mediate conflicts between citizens and police. This office requires the power to fire police who fail to meet community standards of competence. Police absolutely must be accountable for their actions to the citizens they serve, or they are not police but state-sanctioned predators.
2) Since body cameras are overwhelmingly used against citizens, who cannot readily access the footage, and police are free to murder on camera anyway, body cameras should be banned as a worse than useless violation of privacy and attack on citizen safety. If people do not wish to ban them, then footage must be made freely available to citizens upon request per the Freedom of Information Act which forbids the government from secret chicanery.
3) Defunding the police is an excellent idea since they have been saddled with many things they are neither trained for nor competent at. Mental health emergencies should be answered by mental health professionals. Domestic disturbances should be handled by family dynamics professionals. Drug emergencies should be handled by substance abuse professionals. And so on. Such professionals should have training that allows them to handle violence safely without murdering anyone. These should all be funded out of the former police budget. Police should never be sent when a firetruck or ambulance has been requested, as this dissuades people from using other emergency services for fear they could be murdered or otherwise harmed.
4) Police departments must recruit from the local neighborhood and thus reflect its gender, racial, religious, etc. demographics. If the police do not look like the neighbors, then the police are an occupying force that must be expelled. Nothing about us without us!
5) Fix police training. Stop training police to be cowardly (e.g. the "I feared for my life" defense) and start training them to be heroic. Feature de-escalation and other problem-solving skills, not just violence. They are supposed to keep the peace, not break it. This includes estimating what percentage of time officers spend on which types of calls, then tailoring the training so they spend the most class time on the most frequent calls.
Or we could just let the friendly neighborhood monsters eat them. That works too. I've been to Detroit. This is a thing that probably happens.
July 27 2020, 09:46:04 UTC 11 months ago
These days the police and prison system are forced to care for the mentally ill who are without family or who lack the financial means to provide for their own care. The police are definitely NOT trained to deal with these people nor do they deserve to be in prison.
------
Another segment of society that shouldn't be handled by the police are pre-teens and teen-agers. The police aren't trained to handle them either.
Also, here's an idea whose time has more than come: Let's provide mental health services to teens starting by age 13 (or 12 if there's a serious need) which isn't parent-controlled.
I know I'd have lined up for it--if I could have done it secretly! It might have made growing up with my clueless and depressed parents a lot more bearable. Just having someone around to to help me develop coping skills would have been a huge help.
:^)
Thoughts
July 27 2020, 10:12:13 UTC 11 months ago
Absolutely. There need to be various levels of supervised and independent living for people who need that kind of support. The earlier asylums were just prisons with slightly different window dressing; that is the opposite of helpful.
>>These days the police and prison system are forced to care for the mentally ill who are without family or who lack the financial means to provide for their own care.<<
True.
>> The police are definitely NOT trained to deal with these people nor do they deserve to be in prison.<<
The police make zero provision for people who are unable to meet demands (e.g. mentally disabled, Deaf, blind, non-English speaking). Such individuals are frequently murdered by police. Those crimes need to be punished. Really, how would society view an unlicensed murderer who preyed upon the most vulnerable? Probably not very well even though society also despises those groups.
>> Another segment of society that shouldn't be handled by the police are pre-teens and teen-agers. The police aren't trained to handle them either. <<
Agreed.
May as well add seniors, who often have physical and mental impairments that make them unable to perform on demand. I remember one garish example of a old man jailed for "drunk driving" because he could not walk a straight line. He was unable to walk straight under any circumstances. He was also not driving the car.
Crises particular to these groups should be handled by persons trained in those life stage issues.
>> Also, here's an idea whose time has more than come: Let's provide mental health services to teens starting by age 13 (or 12 if there's a serious need) which isn't parent-controlled.<<
Let's provide mental care to everyone. And let's restore privacy instead of counselors being a stalking-horse for the government. If it cannot be done any other way, we can use the same method as priests for confession: make it entirely anonymous.
We could really get on a roll and teach mental wellness for free. That ought to save a mint. And while we're at it, put a Shock Room in the goddamn hospitals so people actually have somewhere to go when horrific things happen. Other than a bar.
Re: Thoughts
July 27 2020, 21:44:11 UTC 11 months ago
Let's provide mental care to everyone. And let's restore privacy instead of counselors being a stalking-horse for the government. If it cannot be done any other way, we can use the same method as priests for confession: make it entirely anonymous.
We could really get on a roll and teach mental wellness for free. That ought to save a mint.
And while we're at it, put a Shock Room in the goddamn hospitals so people actually have somewhere to go when horrific things happen. Other than a bar."
I agree with all of this.
You are absolutely right about there needing to be rules for dealing with people who cannot comply/perform on demand.
EX: Someone who's blood sugar is way above that it needs to be might have the appearance of being drunk when they aren't.
Locking such people up so that they can "sleep it off" might very well result in a police officer finding a dead body in the "drunk tank" the next morning.
:^|
Re: Thoughts
July 27 2020, 21:59:23 UTC 11 months ago
Similar, but usually slower, problems occur with pretty much every other condition that relies on medication or other support.
As far as I'm concerned, once someone is forcibly relieved of the ability to care for themselves, the entity which has removed their ability becomes fully responsible for everything that happens to them.
In Terramagne-America, if someone gets sick, injured, or dies of preventable causes in custody then typically the government is liable, period. Res ipsa loquitur. No trial is required and there are set penalties. Some things, like malnutrition, can be ruled out if a medical cause (e.g. impaired absorption of nutrients caused by some conditions) is found, but without that, the institution is at fault. Shiv could've sued them to the ends of the earth if he wanted to, just for not noticing that he was chronically underweight and malnourished, first in foster care then in various institutions including the prison where someone finally noticed. Other things, like injuries stemming from inmate fights, are more debatable with some people arguing that ALL harm in care is the institution's fault while others feel that inmates who choose to fight (rather than being attacked) should bear some responsibility, partial liability, and thus a trial is warranted. But the prevailing stance is whoever decides what happens is liable for any negative outcomes.