tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8010473.post-27419994757581342762008-04-30T18:56:00.000-07:002008-04-30T18:56:00.000-07:00This is a magnificent post Liz. You've created a great community of commenters over here, something I have not been as successful in doing!<BR/><BR/>The Sean Bell thing is tragic on so many levels, not just for him but for the police officers as well. What do I mean? We have a society that is grossly unjust but very clever at keeping things that way. One way is to create a class of folks, most of whom come from working class and poor backgrounds themselves to "police" other poor and working class people. Meanwhile people with ridiculous amounts of wealth go on accumulating it all the while being protected by the sons and daughters of people less well off, both domestically (the police) and internationally (the military). The wheel just keeps turning and Sean Bells keep ending up dead, while the cops get attacked reinforcing their lack of consciousness of their own exploitation further fueling the process. I think part of what must happen is rather than attacking the police is to engage in a critical dialog that will assist at least some of them to wake up to their location in the social hierarchy so that they could start to work towards changing that. Otherwise you essentially have the same old game which is working class and poor folks divided against each other so that they cannot effectively unite for a better society. Just a thought.Phillipe Copelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18342490962831946701noreply@blogger.com