Police Abuse: Reform or Revolution?

Police Abuse: Reform or Revolution?

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

Aug 1, The Progressive Populist

Police reforms; if this is the end result of the primarily Black uprisings of the past five years, we might as well quit before we begin. Exhibit A is the President’s executive order on policing, which is, at best, misnamed. Exhibit B is that whatever Congress agrees to eventually has to be signed off by unrepentant bigots at the highest levels of government.

The proposed reforms, particularly as a result of the killing of George Floyd, are akin to taking water guns to a forest fire. The proposed reforms also mask the fundamental problem in this society that cannot be fixed with reforms; in this society – which began as a slave nation-state on Indian lands and has subsequently always had the racial character of an apartheid state – people of color are treated by all of its institutions as unwanted enemy others and subjected to a system of control. FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO https://www.populist.com/26.13.rodriguez.html

To go to the Aug 1 issue of the Progressive Populist, please go to: https://www.populist.com/index.html

https://www.populist.com/index.html

The End of Truth; The Triumph of Lying

By ROBERTO DR. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

MARCH 1, 2020

The legacy of the impeachment saga will not be whether senators ignored or accepted the evidence, but rather something even much bigger; that truth indeed no longer appears to matter, inside or outside of the courtroom. This is bigger than whether a corrupt conman stays in office or whether he is elected to a second term or even an unconstitutional third term or if he illegally seizes power for life.

No. What is even bigger, or what goes hand-in-hand with these developments, is that the erosion of the concept of the truth has arguably rendered a free and independent press irrelevant and has left Congress virtually impotent, but has also actually brought us to the brink of the collapse of democracy itself. That’s how much the truth matters.

This erosion of the importance of truth has not happened overnight. It has eroded by carving out exceptions and conveniently looking the other way. For instance, one lie from one president is actually considered greater and more offensive than the thousands of lies and counting by another president. This has been playing out in real time before our very eyes and ears these past few years. For instance, while in office, former President Bill Clinton lied before the Grand Jury and was impeached as a result. Conversely, the current occupant of the White House has told the public more than 16,000-plus lies while in office, with hardly a whimper. Aside from his corruption and insults against Mexicans, Muslims, migrants, African Americans, women, the disabled, the LGBT community, etc., common decency would have dictated that his serial lying alone during his campaign should have disqualified him from being able to run for office. But here we are now. FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.04.rodriguez.html