Darwin Deez

I imagine this is one of the harder times to be in law enforcement. Is this what you want to be doing with your life? Does it “feel right” when you get to work in the morning? I ask because I care about the human being behind the badge. The job is about justice, protecting the weak, bringing order and harmony to society. Is that accurate? In those areas, are you helping, hurting, both or neither? I can’t judge you; I don’t know you, but you would know because this is your life, so I ask you. Is this what you want to be doing with your life?

Is stopping bad guys what inspires you? Who are the real bad guys? Who is the worst guy you know, morally? No one is all bad, but who is the worst person you know? Is it someone you work with?

Who, outside of the police force, is doing more than you to bring justice to the world—anyone that you know personally? Is it a judge? A lawyer working pro bono publico? Is it really fair and just to expect a young black person, born with no net worth, given no college education, to work inside the law? And if he strays once and gets marked by the judicial system, is it really fair and just to expect him to work his whole life in an Amazon fulfillment warehouse where former military personnel have admitted to being physically broken by working conditions? Are these people really what’s wrong with our society? Or is it something else? Ticketing working class people for tinted windows to raise money for the state—is that what you signed up to do? Are you a fundraiser? Tax collector? Who are you really when you go to work? What are you? What are you made to be when you show up to work? And does it reflect who you really are?

Do you not have the financial freedom to entertain these questions? Do thieves have the freedom? And what is the difference? The difference is that you have values: justice, protecting the weak, social harmony. Is that difference because you are a better person or because you had slightly more financial freedom to begin with? Have you witnessed any honor among thieves? Has a criminal ever treated you with respect?

Who needs your protection? Do they get it? When was the last time you defended someone weak from a stronger aggressor? In that situation, without a badge, would you have done what you did anyway? Does being on the force improve the lives of the citizens in your community? Or is the opportunity cost—the loss of you, the time you spend on the clock—greater? We need harmony in this country. Are you bringing it? Are you working under people who are bringing it?

To care about your soul feels right to me. I also believe meaningful engagement with ourselves and our lives is what brings us that harmony. But even if it never does, there is still you. And me. I write this for me, because it’s in my soul. And here you are in a job. Is it still the right job for you today? Would resigning your commission be letting your soul speak? Would becoming an art forger and donating the profits to charity be more or less helpful to society than what you currently do? Where is the truth? Where is justice? Where is the responsible use of force, in the name of liberty?

Is the American justice system fair to black people? Is it fair to poor people? Cash bail? Bail bonds? America is not fair; life is not fair. Are you balancing the scales toward the disenfranchised? Are you helping those in power to rest easy? Both? Neither?