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STREET
GANG
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POLICE
GANG
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Very protective of identity
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Called to protect and serve others but protecting and serving their
false sense of power
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Will defend their color
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Will defend their uniform by any means necessary
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Protection of family/territory
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Protection of the blue
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Will kill when a perceived threat manifests
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Will kill when a perceived threat manifests
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Will judge by the color you wear
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Will judge and make assumption by the color of your skin
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Must join and conform to the code
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Must join and conform to the code
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Hard to get out
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Conform to feed my ego, my family and/or racist beliefs and won't get out
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Gang members and gang bangers
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No such thing as good cop/bad cop
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Born as a child of G-d with a purpose for good
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Born as a child of G-d with a purpose for good
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Born out of response to a marginalized system designed to oppress
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Born out of a racist system designed to continually perpetuate White
power/privilege
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Kill or be killed
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Kill or be killed OR be exposed
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As I was reflecting on the peace work we are doing in the Denver community, my heart was suddenly grieved by the continuous shootings and murders by gangs and by the police. Then it hit me, yep at 3:30 in the morning, there is not much difference between the two systems.
I must add this caveat here. I know great police officers. I have family and friends who are police officers. I have family and friends who are gang members, hustlers, repeat offenders... At the same time, I must acknowledge this system, this way of system thinking that forms to protect a given group/mindset (good, bad, or indifferent.) This system of desensitization has proven fatal and systemic. We must bring humanity back!
The same way we are addressing gang violence is the same way we must address the police gang. We must be strategic in tearing down these oppressive systems from the top down and from the bottom up. We cannot address one and not the other and there must be a simultaneous approach to combat these adverse systems. We must know Black Lives Matter whether you are in a blue uniform or wearing the color red or blue. We must not villainize the street gangs and ignore the police gang (police gang bangers) who are killing and arresting our people.
In the worldview, just like organizational development, systems thinking and design, team dynamics, relational learning, redesign, restructure; transactional, transformational, relational, and values based leadership we must use these human resources and strategic gifts to build new systems and relationships.
In a spiritual view, as Christians, religious people, spiritual leaders/members, community leaders/members, we must peel back the onion, beyond the system, to impact the person who was created for good. We have the power to build systems of Love and not hate; systems of Life and not death.
Speaking of the power to build ~ I am grateful for Pastors Haroun, Jason, and Age and the remnant of others who picked up the mantle to do the work others opted not to do. I am grateful for the weekly prayer walks. I am grateful for those who stepped out on faith believing that prayer changes things. And most of all I am grateful for Trey, a former gang member, who in front of the Mayor and approximately 60 faith leaders said "...if you don't put G-d first you ain't changing nothing!" Trey has been an inspiration to this effort and an amazing leader in bringing peace to our communities.
So I say all this to say, we have a lot of work to do. There is more than enough work for everyone to play their part. This is the only way we are going to tear down these oppressive and evil systems to build better, life-giving communities for the greater good. This effort includes addressing the system of street gangs as well as the racist, oppressive, murderous system of police gangs.
My blog! My thoughts!
Reverend Tawana Davis
Never hopeless ~ always searching...
