Stand Up!

What’s that saying, if you won’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything?

What is it that our nation’s police leaders will stand for? What are their guiding principles in policing a free and democratic society? (International Chiefs of Police Code of Ethics). I ask this because the way things are going, these ethics will soon be tested.

The first test will be about enforcing immigration status. While you may at first think this is a good idea; that “illegals” should be sent back to where they came from. The problem, however, is complicated. People flee to our country for safety, for a better life, and the residency process takes time. But most of all, and the reason my city supported me in NOT enforcing federal residency rules, is that every non-citizen man, woman, and child would then be in danger, subject to being victimized. For if they could not report being harmed to my officers for fear of being deported, there would be those who would take advantage of this. That reason alone led me to order my officers not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement personnel. 

But there is more, much more, going on. I sense the current political direction in America today wants to criminalize women who seek control of their bodies, the rights of persons of LGBTQ orientation, and to punish even those who challenge today’s administration. I also sense there is a desire from many to overturn past efforts to have a more racially and gender-equal nation in our schools and workplaces; in short, the desire to make America white again — as if we ever were!

Historically, everyone ought to know these are dangerous movements in a nation which most of the world has tended to respect and support. Some nations build fences and laws to keep people in. That has never been our problem.

We are a nation that is unique in the world. We are diverse, of many races and ethnicities. We are a people that respect others and wish to see them free as we are. We cheer for “underdogs”. We welcome others to come and prosper with us. Remember the inscription on our Statue of Liberty? It’s still there. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me…” – (From the 19^th century poem, “The New Colossus,” by an American Jew, Emma Lazarus.) 

We are a nation of immigrants. Unless we are Native American, we come from immigrants. We also are, predominately, a nation of Christian and Jews. Our religious and spiritual heritage is one of immigration problems, sojourners in a foreign land, wandering, and seeking God. Our holy scriptures are strongly about a people of God being enslaved, persecuted and wandering — seeking to be free and having a homeland.

It is our Constitution and its first ten amendments (The Bill of Rights) that give us value and direction in our national and political life together. These first ten amendments add very specific guarantees of personal freedom and rights such as speech, assembly, and governmental searches. They impose clear limitations on our government’s power in judicial proceedings. The Founders had personal experience of political abuse by kings and dictators. They wanted to precent tyranny and the “right of kings” from happening in the new nation they were creating.

While we have not been a perfect nation, we have always been a nation that attempted to be good, and to do the right thing.

And I will boldly suggest that the way this happens, to create a “more perfect union” (to quote from the preamble to our Constitution), not only is assured by our courts, but also by our police – through their democratic, constitutional behavior day in and day out!

Our national vision in our Constitution was not only to create a “more perfect union,” but also “to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…”

Yes, we have made mistakes along the way. We tolerated slavery far too long, we still struggle with racism and sexism, we interred Japanese citizens during World War II, we have made many questionable foreign policy decisions. Nevertheless… nevertheless, we still have a dream, an ideal, of who we are and what we should be. It is a dream shared by many others in our world today. We have always found ourselves leaders in that world.

And I suggest, as I have over the years, that the best way to ensure our union, our way of life, is to have educated and well-trained local police officers who are dedicated to this goal.

This is a warning, friends. Beware. The police power of our nation must always be one of restraint and care — and within our historical, national, and democratic principles.

That’s what we stand for.