R-E-S-P-E-C-T ??

It has been an awful week for Oakland.

I have been trying not to write about it... but it is not possible to ignore it completely. The events of the past week will shape the community for a long time to come.

That angers me because once again the lives of some are valued differently than the lives of others.

I am not trying to bemoan the fact that the city is hurting or that mourning is necessary and important, particularly for the family members.

But let's be honest... for many months and years to come the triggers will be poised because four men gave their lives in the line of duty -- something that they all knew well was a possibility when they took the job.

We ignore, however, the real issues that led to the fateful day.

This man is the product of this community -- and that community is larger than just his family. We, as a community, failed him over and over and over and then he did the unthinkable and now we demonize him as though we had nothing to do with this.

And that is not even taking into account the gun manufacturers or the NRA (there -- I named them by name, let their search engines find this and see the havoc they have wrecked).

I feel these three articles sum up the desperate straits where Oakland finds itself right about now.

-The educational system has systematically (sorry for the redundancy) produced undereducated graduates that have few options as adults.
-Once parolees serve their sentences, the community and society does not adequately support or supervise re-entry.
-With the economic situation continuing to deteriorate and the aforementioned educational situation, we can expect to see more and more brazen crimes -- as long as it is easier to get a gun than an education, we cannot hope for a better citizenry -- productive citizens do not drop from the sky or spring from Zeus' brain fully formed.

I hope that the officers will rest in peace -- and that the deeply troubled young man who took their lives and gave his own will also find some peace.

I think this young man's piece from Youth Radio sets forth the feeling of many of Oakland's residents.
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Update: I thought this story would end here -- without the mention of the finger pointing at the black community for raising c*p haters, but no, I am forced to discuss the rancor because the "families" who were willing to put their loved ones on parade as a final farewell instead of giving them private, dignified burials, were also willing to display the racial hatred that all too often justifies the deaths of young black men but not the justified anger of the black community towards a justice system and law enforcement.