Politics

by Luis Miranda

Chauvin's guilty verdict begins a new path to justice

We are subjected to the violent response of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which produces a new massacre every day.
Some time ago it was in an elementary school where most of the victims were minors, another day in El Paso Texas; shortly after, in Dayton Ohio in a never ending ghoulish recount.
Hundreds of victims throughout the country, without respite or compassion, affect the community that does not manage to react from the impact of one, when the next occurs.
In our South Florida neighborhood, the voices and tears of the families of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland still resound.
Dozens of parallel victims including orphans, widows, parents and members of communities affected by domestic terror, who will never recover from the tragic attacks even though the press no longer mentions them.
Facts such as Las Vegas, Orlando, others in the center, north and south of the country, on the coasts, keep the population afraid that they no longer know where to look.
After two decades of the XXI century, it is assumed that we live in a powerful country where it would be believed that the academies and police departments are professionally structured organizations with the highest levels of communication and technology; whose members are sufficiently prepared to maintain in a civilized and cordial way the harmony of our cities and towns throughout the country, however, the facts make us doubt that capacity and balance.
It had been shown that no one can establish themselves as a militia, and arm themselves to challenge the social and political order of the country in Waco, Texas when an armed sect wanted to challenge the institutions and operate above the law and was razed, in blood. and fire without any regard.
The United States has a modern and professional police force, a National Guard, an army made up of Naval Forces, Air Force, and ground troops, all trained and fully armed to deal with the unexpected.
Therefore it is totally absurd and childish to think that citizens in general should be armed, supposedly to avoid a dictatorship.
That idea made sense two hundred years ago when the sophisticated police and military systems that the modern world has today did not exist.
The idea of continuing to defend the second amendment to the constitution as the panacea of freedom is a mental, illogical aberration that has no valid rational grounds.
The reason for maintaining this agenda, allowing ordinary citizens free access to arms, has nothing to do with the guarantees of defending democracy, but on the contrary, of destroying it, and responds to the excessive ambition of arms manufacturers and sellers. who want to continue increasing their profits without worrying at all about the devastating effect of this market whose ultimate goal is to KILL other human beings.
This is known to the legislators of both parties, but the Republicans, sponsored by these entities that invest millions in them, naturally have solid interests in the arms industry and their task is to prevent serious and effective legislation from being established that removes circulating 400 million weapons from the hands of civilians, who resort to them at the first exchange: a love disappointment, a family or work conflict, or an obsessive idea product of one of those fashionable conspiracy theories. Even in unexpected situations such as a difference of opinion due to a parking space or a circumstantial situation in daily traffic on the road.
Anyone's impulsive, thoughtless and stupid reaction is to use their 'combat' weapon to vent. THIS CANNOT CONTINUE. The absurd massacres and deaths of men, women and children must be the main objective of the legislators and the authorities of the country.
President Joe Biden has asked Congress to definitively regulate the carrying of weapons, but the National Rifle Association, influences by all means to sabotage any initiative that may affect their profits.
The violence unleashed in recent years and especially in recent months is a consequence of the wrong policies of the previous government, its rhetoric of hatred and polarization.
In recent years, many Republicans have contributed to xenophobia by making an abhorrent portrait of Hispanics.
The country clearly remembers the opening words that unleashed the latest wave of hatred and discrimination that has not yet stopped:
"When Mexico sends us people, they don't send us the best. They send us people who bring drugs, crime and are rapists."
What is happening now is due to that anti-immigrant rhetoric and absurd conspiracy theories, repeated over four years, that littered the violent sense of obsessive fanatics inspired by him, the same ones who took over the Capitol on January 6 of this year.
Referring to some Latinos as "animals" and comparing migration from the southern United States to an invasion is violent language that encourages rejection. Every hateful word spoken against minorities is a direct incitement to violence and awakens the low instincts of those who believe that they are truly trying to save the country from such invaders.
These unhealthy and false ideas about the true nature of immigration confuse and make us forget that this country has been built thanks to immigrants from all over the world in all ages.
That rhetoric has roused local terrorists and white supremacists. The manifesto of a murderer, published shortly before attacking a Walmart and murdering many innocents, is an exact copy of the language used since the previous presidency.
"This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas," he said, demonstrating that the position of the former president and a powerful group of Republican Party leaders have promoted much violence.
Some, very few of these leaders, despite describing that speech as "intolerant, offensive and anti-American", have not changed their personal position, to show political coherence, disqualifying the promoter of hatred. With their prolonged silence, they are complicit in this policy that they are not supposed to share.
This rhetoric has also influenced the behavior of many individuals in police forces across the country, making them feel empowered to abuse their power as officers and commit crimes worse than those they must fight.
The murder of Floyd is a sign of the degradation of the criteria of justice.
Black or Latino men and women have been murdered by officers like Chauvin, who despite their history of abuse, have continued as police officers convinced that their unions and lawyers will never let them hold them accountable for their crimes and in 99% of those cases are acquitted in the courts.
What had been so feared that would happen is happening, countless massacres, the result of the combination of the republican rhetoric at the head of its previous leader and his courtrooms; QAnon's conspiracy theories and the lack of a justice system that holds police officers accountable for their abuses.
We cannot remain silent in the face of the normalization of so much mistake that has cost many their lives, such as that young man arrested for having his car registration expired, another UPS boy driver, kidnapped by some middle-aged thieves, who also they murdered the same as a couple of innocent passers-by who had the misfortune to drive there. A thirteen-year-old boy who in front of the cameras has his arms raised as ordered by the police, without carrying any weapon. Likewise, a deranged woman who was ordered to evacuate her apartment and refused, was executed in a mounted war operation, when what she needed was a psychologist or psychiatrist to help her in her delirium.
Very sad to witness the stupidity and indolence of these police forces that have no measure.
We are living a return to the times of the Old West where everything was solved by bullet. Terrified by the stupid Florida law of killing anyone just claiming fear for our lives.
To return safely to the opening of schools, in addition to face masks and social distance, we are in need of armored doors and windows and bulletproof vests for students.
Traveling on I-95, in addition to the risks of high-speed vehicle traffic, leads us to a greater danger, the weapons carried by the driver of another vehicle because if for some reason a small incident displeases him, he begins to shoot without any consideration, indiscriminately killing men, women and children.
The daily news about shootings in Miami, stray bullets, parents who kill their wives and children and vice versa, children who kill parents and siblings and then commit suicide, and armed youths who shoot the homes of families while they sleep; they indicate that we are living in a sick society, which must be diagnosed and treated before there is no point of turning back.
The only hope is that the Democrats will have the willpower and the unwavering decision to put the promoters of violence on their shoulders and change the laws that protect the free trade in arms and the wrong policies on immigration, breaking all the unconstitutional rules that wanted to impose the previous administration.
The presidency of Joe Biden represents a fundamental change and is the hope not only of the United States but of the entire world to see real changes that rescue human values and allow us to live in solidarity respecting the social and cultural diversity that makes up this great nation.
The conviction of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd in a reprehensible act recorded and broadcast around the world, represents a first step of justice towards the awareness of the police union that will now think twice before committing abuse, because the list of dead is long and you cannot distract your attention or forget facts that hurt and affect the whole of society.
This case has shown that no one can claim to be above the law and continue to execute people with impunity as has been done.
After this verdict, it can be said that George Floyd's life was valued and the lives of all those who have lost it at the hands of irresponsible officials should be given that same value.
This step begins a journey in the enormous task of fighting for justice and similar rulings are expected in all cases of brutal abuse.