The trial on Minneapolis is now over and a guilty verdict was given. Now I agree with the verdict but I do not think that it is time to celebrate. Doing what is right is not something to celebrate but is something to build on. We need to keep moving forward trying to live up to the principles of We the People. I have always been a believer that All Lives Matter but until you can say that Black Lives Matter you really do not believe in All Lives Matter. We have a lot of work to do to make All Lives Matter a reality.

All my life I have heard people say that no one is above the law yet is this really true? There have been a few police shootings and when you read a lot of the comments to those shootings you will see that there is a segment of the population that do believe that most police shootings are justified. Police should not be above the law. Now resisting arrest  is a crime that is usually a misdemeanor or a felony that can constitute jail time or a fine.    Now when I look at it I do not see that shooting the suspect is one of the punishments for ressisiting arrest. A person is entitled to his or her day in court and whenever a suspect is shot that right has been denied.  I know, I know we have to think of the safety of the officer. I agree with that but we need to raise our standards of what justifiable force is. Too many people are dying and the police are not judge and jury. We have court system that must be respected.

We seem to have a former President that thinks he is above the law. He has been accused to rape yet he has not had to account for it. If we are going to be a nation of laws then the laws have a apply to everyone. Poor, Rich, White, or Black it should be applied evenly. I know that this is a hard thing to do. In this country is seems the more money you have, the more power you have, and the less you are responsible for your actions. I think that just the opposite should happen. The higher up the ladder you get the higher the responsibility should be to set an example for the rest of us. With power comes responsibility. I know that is very naive of me but that is what I do believe.

Now I have stated before that 4 years ago I had a heart attack. My wife called 911 and then stated CPR on me. The first person on the scene was a Police Officer. My wife saved my life that day but I got a big assist from the Police for which I am grateful. I know firsthand how necessary they are for a community. They have a very hard job that maybe they need more help with. We need to get the guns off the streets. Legal, illegal I don’t care. Just about every gun out there was legally purchased  at one time. A Police Officer should not have to worry when they pull a person over for speeding whether I am packing or not. I will say that that is not violating your constitutional rights. When you governor calls up the militia go ahead and bring it but our streets are safer if you are not carrying it around.

I am not infavor of defunding the police. Reorganizing yes. Updating SOP yes. Redefining what a community expects form the police because the police do work for the people. You can have broad legislation form the Federal level but most of the discussion and change has to come from the State and most important the Local levels of government.   The police and the community need to work together to bring about that change. The police need to be part of the community and the community need to be part of the police. This us or them is not a recipe for success.

The Chauvin trial was not a failure. Yes justice was served but the problems were not solved. We still have a lot of work to do.