Thank you, sis, for the question about de-escalation.
I believe one of the most pivotal roles in law enforcement is de-escalation. With all the killings of unarmed black people going on, I was a witness to a de-escalation by local police involving a domestic dispute where the guy, a young black man, needed to be on medication. I knew him. I was married to his godmom at the time.
The police were there in force, with a dog. And trust me when I say this young man was trying to give them reasons to end his life. Suicide by cop. But again, he was unstable and his girlfriend/baby momma was the worst possible choice because she had a temper and an undisciplined tongue. I will never forget riding with him to walmart to buy ammo for his gun so he could shoot her. I drove him to a walmart far out of the way just to have time to calm him down. When people get emotional they often get stupid because they stop thinking logically.
The point of this is that he is alive today and not, to my knowledge, locked up. And it's because he was able to get the help that he needed.
A lot of these people who are promoted to us as criminals and lunatics are people who need help. No, we are not trained therapists, but many of these people are not going to seek therapy. They don't have people in their lives who can or will force them to get professional help. People give up on people. People often dismiss people and turn off their empathy towards them. And then we are surprised when that person turns off their empathy towards other human beings and attack them.
I'm too empathetic to be a murderer. I could beat someone up if I had to but my mind would be fighting to use only the amount of force necessary. But gun culture in America? It's all about killing. You don't like something? Kill it. You don't like someone? Kill them? You don't agree with someone's lifestyle? Kill them. You don't like people of a certain color or ethnicity? Kill them. I cannot promote this mentality because I'm too empathetic to be a murderer or to take part in murder. But everyone is not so limited.
De-escalation, imho, is about finding the source of someone's pain and applying empathy to it. Have a conversation. Figure out what's bothering them so much that they would be willing to use so much negative energy toward other people. Energy flows. Energy has to come from somewhere and it has to go somewhere. Even if a person is taught racist ideology that doesn't mean they have it within them to fire a single bullet. Most often what gives them the actual motive is a bad interaction that reaches into them personally and makes them afraid in a way that makes them feel weak and helpless. And so they seek out others. With them, they feel safer. They feel more secure. And those others are also afraid. Individually, they feel weak. Together they feel strong. They reinforce each other's beliefs at the same time and they "talk stuff" to act like they're hard... tough... pretending they are not afraid. And then if they do attack, they often attack people who are weaker or unarmed. They're not going into the hood to battle the bloods and crips. They're going to shoot up a church or a school or a grocery store or a restaurant or a massage parlor. Because in all actuality, they are exactly as weak as they feel and it is only the gun and their "friends" who make them feel otherwise (though much of this is also true of the bloods and crips).
When the only friends they have (or could have) are the same type of beta bullies, scared of the shadow of a 6'2 muscular black man, this is why this image is enemy #1 for the police. EVERYTHING, including racism and white supremacy, starts with an IDEA. Ideas can be taught but they can also be modified by new information. When Yeshua spoke about how to treat one's enemy it wasn't from a position of fear or weakness. Turn the other cheek. Bless them that curse you. These are things you can do only if you're strong. You have to be strong enough, not to want to hit back. You have to be strong enough not to want to curse back. And when that enemy sees the ineffect of their weapons, but moreover, that you can still be welcoming, still be gracious, etc. Either people conform to the image their enemies have or they don't. I'd rather not. And I think this helps to de-escalate their agents. But this doesn't mean supporting or allowing their propaganda agenda either. So while they're trying to use us (to plant seeds) I think we should be trying to plant seeds of our own and figure out what is at the source of their grievances and/or pain. If we can get past the symptoms we may be able to find or recommend the cure in a way that they can take it.
Now that we "know what they look like" and what they're trying to do. We can take the next step in disarming and learning to disarm them. I don't know if you remember Sonic the Hedgehog but when he would hit an enemy they would turn into a cute little animal. People have many layers but underneath is still that inner child. And that child may have been abandoned, may have been abused, may have been molested or raped, etc. Children start as seeds and everything that happens to them is part of the environment they grow up in it and it helps determine what kind of tree they will become. Tree of life? Or one that produces poisonous fruit?
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