Author: tonihall805@outlook.com

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate need to know that enough Americans actually care about the rule of law and holding a sitting president accountable for corrupt conduct. The news narrative has been that Americans don’t care about the Mueller Report or the President’s lying and dirty dealings. I do and so should every American.

Most of the reporters seemed to interview white folks in middle America as if they are the only ones who matter. One man said that he thought that the president was a “despicable human being” but that things were okay because the president was doing so much good for the country. A woman said she was more likely to vote for him in 2020 than she was in 2016 because he is a good businessman and all his wrongdoing was just what businessmen do. These are the people that Congress is listening to? These are the voices of Americans that the media gives a megaphone to? I have an entirely different take and I want my voice to be heard too. I care about good policies (which he doesn’t have) but I also care about ethical lawful conduct coming out of our White House. We deserve and can have both.

Despite Attorney General William Barr’s summaries and press conferences to try to shield the president ahead of the release of the Mueller Report , the Report itself makes clear that Donald Trump and his administration did some pretty suspicious things during the election and beyond and then tried to cover up their wrong doings. Apparently, Mueller was never going to indict the president, he was going to leave accountability actions to Congress. And so now, Congress must act on our behalf, as is their Constitutional duty. They can censure or they can impeach. But it’s become obvious that they need to be encouraged to act. It comes down to what we want.

I don’t want a president who fools around with foreign governments to get elected. I don’t want a president who actively tries to obstruct justice. I don’t want a president who lies to the American people on a daily basis. I don’t want a president who appoints corrupt, incompetent and self-dealing people to cabinet positions. I don’t want a bully in the White House. I don’t want a president who vilifies immigrants and cruelly separates children from their parents. I don’t a president who is ignorant of science and doesn’t care about the environment. I don’t want a president who won’t show his tax returns. We have a person in the White House who would rather hide his dealings and endure the speculation of wrong doing that to actually let the American people see the truth.

To me, all this hiding only means that the reality that would be revealed in his tax returns is far worse than the speculation about what is in them. The same was likely true about all those meetings with the Russians. Everyone lying about the meetings during the election and then no note takers in his Russian meetings afterward. But too many people are willing to ignore all this corruption. I’m not.

I spent time on Friday writing to my congresswoman and senators as well as the speaker of the house (Nancy Pelosi) and the senate majority leader(Mitch McConnell) to let them know that I want them to fully exercise their Constitutional duty of oversight with regard to this president and the Mueller Report, his taxes, and the other areas of wrongdoing. They must investigate on behalf of our nation, even if many in our nation are only focused on “kitchen table” topics. Congress has to walk and chew gum at the same time. They must hold Trump accountable since middle America won’t. It is therefore up to the rest of us to push Congress and especially the Senate to do the right thing and hold this president accountable. Our very democracy and the rule of law are at stake.

Do we really need to lock people up for everything?  According to multiple sources, in the “Land of the Free”, we have the highest prison population rate in the entire world, accounting for about 25% of incarcerated individuals worldwide while only comprising 5% of the world’s population.  It makes me wonder what country actress Lori Loughlin thought she was living in when she mistook the threat of prison time for her role in the college admission scandal as only a bluff.  I only wish it were a bluff.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m all for the rule of law and holding everyone equitably accountable when they break the law.  What Loughlin assumed was that she wouldn’t be held accountable because she is both rich and famous.  That too, has been how America has operated for a very long time.  The rich can hire high priced lawyers to defend them while the poor take plea deals for crimes they may not have even committed because they have no money to mount a good defense under the threat of an even longer prison sentence.  Last year I served on a jury where the defendant, a poor Latino male with mental health issues, had already served nine years hard time for possession of marijuana-time that wouldn’t even warrant arrest today. Of course this is the nature of our broken and inequitable criminal justice system.  The poor, black and brown people, and the mentally ill make up the majority of our prison population.  Many shouldn’t even be there. The poor, particularly black and brown people, are more frequently targeted by police, prosecuted, and then given longer sentences for similar crimes committed by wealthier Americans.

On top of this, our society has made the mistake of allowing capitalism to infiltrate our prison system. When there is a profit to be made in incarcerating people, the whole society loses. Not only is the system is unfair to the people locked up and to their families, but it is unfair to the tax payers. We could and should find alternative methods that improve society while also holding people accountable.

Lori Loughlin shouldn’t go to prison.  She also shouldn’t just be given probation. She should instead be made to pay monetary retribution to society and social retribution in the form of community service.  These people who steal from the common good, should pay what they stole three-fold, first to the people who were directly harmed and second to society in general.  In Loughlin’s case, I would like to see her pay 1.5 million dollars in endowed scholarships for low income students to attend the elite college (U.S.C.) where her undeserving daughter was enrolled because of her $500,000 payoff.  Second, I would like to see her do community service where she helps to improve the lives of others through her own labor.

In my estimation, the only people who belong in prison are those who have committed violent crimes against other human beings and animals.  This includes those politicians in Flint, Michigan who allowed whole communities to be poisoned by lead in the water.  Prison should be reserved for rapists, murderers, and violent offenders.  Everyone else who breaks the law should be forced to provide restitution to their victims and to society in general.  If you are caught stealing a car, you should be required to pay the owner back as well as pay a fine to the community plus doing community service.

Our current system punishes us all.  We spend an estimated $80 billion in taxpayer dollars to keep people locked up, feeding them three square meals a day, and providing them with medical attention.  Those dollars would be better spent on giving would be offenders actual jobs, improving education, childcare, health care, mental health care, and infrastructure.  Our current criminal justice system is a misappropriation of tax payer dollars.

It is high time that we demand that our lawmakers reform our system of justice so that it is not only more just, but also more cost effective with our tax dollars. I want Lori Loughlin to pay for her misdeeds. I don’t want the rest of us to pay for her to go to prison while lining the pockets of the private prison industry.

As a society, I think we’re headed in the right direction toward respect for the female body as more than a playground for men. As a female who has been the victim of unwanted sexual contact on three separate occasions and one horrific stocking incident, I fully support the Me Too Movement and the Time’s Up Movement. Our culture is past due for a change, but with the Biden non-sexual touching issue being raised this week, I wonder if we are about to lose valuable human contact.

My first reaction to the young woman recounting her experience with Joe Biden’s hands on her shoulders, smelling her hair, and kissing her on the back of her head, was that he was a grandfatherly guy trying to show his support, encouragement and affection. We’ve been watching the touchy-feely affectionate Joe Biden for years. It is one of the things I have appreciated about him. We need more caring people like him in the world. That said, perhaps he takes it a bit too far at times and doesn’t recognize that some people don’t want to be touched that way, particularly by mere associates. This is the reality that we must all recognize to be the case. Biden must be more sensitive to this reality and watch for cues that signal a reception to his affection or an aversion to it. I believe we tend to give these signals to one another. Biden just needs to pay attention to them.

With all the women coming forward to talk about how uncomfortable they felt about Biden’s non-sexual touching, I’m afraid our society is about to lose the kind of physical contact that helps connect us to one another. We need to acknowledge how sometimes a hug and a pat on the back are welcomed. Physical touching of this sort actually boosts our immune systems, improves our emotional well being, and builds human bonds. This is healthy for our society and confusing it with real sexual assault is a mistake. Lets keep touching. Many people touch as a means of greeting through hand shakes, hugs, and kisses. Granted, some people don’t like any of it, but we can respect these people’s “hands off” approach by paying attention.

I would say that people have an aura about them. Some are warm and approachable and exude a welcoming of affection. Just this past week, a former student of mine and now colleague, saw me while on a walk across campus. As I approached her, she opened her arms wide, signaling an oncoming embrace. We hugged. In a separate incident, I met a campus visitor at a meeting in our office on Monday and invited her to a luncheon that Thursday. When I arrived, she was already present and she greeted me with a warm embrace. A male international student whom I hardly knew hugged me after a meeting where I helped him resolve an issue important to him.

Each time, the hug seemed natural, warm, and welcome. I hadn’t initiated any of these hugs, but I was definitely receptive to them. I’m glad that these three people were able to rightly discern my vibe, otherwise they might find themselves being talked about on the six o’clock news. Joe Biden doesn’t need to stop being affectionate, he just needs to read the signals better. Granted he has a tougher job by being surrounded by so many people and trying to make quick connections, but he has to do it.

In reality, I guess this is true of all of us, because while we need the touch of other human beings we must also respect other people’s space. However, in the world we live in today, now is not the time to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you see me, bring on the hugs and kisses. I open to “respectful” human touching.

I wonder when it became okay for people to thumb their noses at common decency.  This week, I’ve found myself repeatedly feeling sick to my stomach every time I heard Trump speak about the Mueller investigation and how he has been totally exonerated and how those who accused him of wrong doing are deserving of punishment.  It makes me want to scream. 

I said last week that I didn’t need the results of the Mueller Investigation to inform my opinion as to whether or not Trump is guilty of wrong doing.  He clearly is.  Mueller didn’t exonerate him as he so loudly claims.  Mueller didn’t proclaim him innocent of all wrongdoing.  In fact, on the issue of obstruction of justice, Mueller didn’t pass any judgement, except to say that the President is “not” exonerated.  On the issue of conspiracy, I’m actually relieved that the Trump campaign’s underhanded conduct with the Russians didn’t rise to that level.  However, the campaign clearly knew that it was wrong to take so many secret meetings with the Russians during the campaign.  Otherwise, why did they keep lying about them?   

 I’ve grown weary of Trump’s impertinent and crass behavior.  I find it difficult to believe that any decent human being is okay with his constant lying, exaggerations, and ignorant claims.  He stands before crowds of people and spews the nastiest, most meanspirited, divisive things and the crowd cheers.  Who are these people?  Who were their mothers? Who were their teachers?  What wrong has this society done to them that they cheer on someone whose ideas and demeanor are so insolent?  We have a President with so little respect for the American people that he will steal away their healthcare with nothing to replace it.  He shamelessly separated children from their parents as a deterrent to families fleeing violence and abject poverty.  He allows industry to pollute our air and water and enacts deregulations that may eventually destroy our planet.  He ignores the science behind climate change as floods, draughts, and fires ravage our country and the world. He breaks every rule learned in Sunday School about how to treat others.  He even picks fights with dead war heroes. And still, these sad depraved souls will cheer him on at a rally. Is feeding xenophobia, packing are courts, and giving tax breaks to the wealthy really worth it?

There has to be a counter narrative.  Justin Timberlake wanted to bring sexy back.  Meghan Trainor wanted to bring boodie back.  I wish some artist would write a song about bringing decorum back.  We need a song about bringing the truth back.  We need a song about bringing science back.   But most of all, we need to get our nation back from the impertinent person occupying the highest office in the world.

Friday evening I heard the news that Robert Mueller had completed his two year investigation into possible collusion between Trump and Russia to aid in Russia’s interference in our 2016 election and also to determine whether or not Trump’s firing of James Comey was obstruction of justice. I realized during the announcement that his findings don’t really matter to me.

The findings don’t matter because I can see who this president is. For these two years, Donald Trump has made his character known by his words, tweets and actions. I don’t need the results of an investigation to tell me that Trump skirts the law and even breaks it when it suits him. I don’t need the Mueller investigation to tell me that Trump and his administration lie about practically everything. They are masters of misrepresentation. They are thieves who are using their positions for personal financial gain. We see it pretty much every day in their dealings using tax payer dollars. They routinely scoff at the laws and ethics. They arrogantly see themselves as above it all and the rest of us as law-abiding suckers.

The truth of the matter is that we put a crime boss in the White House. The folks around him are criminals and some are finally going to prison. His lawyer, Michael Cohen, was his personal henchman who turned on him. Cohen’s descriptions of how Trump operates and of the things he did on behalf of Trump for the past ten years, including during and after the election, only confirm that the man has no business being president. It bothers me that he remains in the White House when we can see clearly who he is and how he has greatly diminished the office of the presidency. He has made our country a laughing stock across the world.

What bothers me most is that too many Americans don’t care. Their admiration of this mob boss in the White House seems to stem from their distain for corporate and government elites and their fear of minorities. It’s as though a third of the American people are cheering for Bonnie and Clyde. Back in the day, the public knew Bonnie and Clyde were breaking all the rules, but they were wooed by the bold personalities that gave the middle finger to the elites. Trump does the same. He loudly and proudly voices their bigotry in public, strokes their egos, and ignites the lowest instincts in the human brain. On one of the news shows, a woman takes an audience microphone and tells Steve Bannon that she wasn’t for dictatorships until now. Trump is the only person she would welcome as a dictator in our country. And the audience applauded. What the hell?

So, this is how low some of us have sunk. This is how low Republican lawmakers have sunk. They are either silent or they betray themselves to publicly defend the indefensible. This is precisely why the Mueller investigation doesn’t matter. The best it can do is confirm what we already know and a third of the country won’t believe it anyway. But still worse, it may be inconclusive. It may point toward wrongdoing, but no indictments for crimes dealing with collusion are being issued.

For many Americans, like me, the decision about this president has already been made. We either want him in or we want him out. Personally, I want him out. I don’t need the Mueller investigation to determine that.

There has to be a balance between self-preservation and being my brother’s keeper.  Friday at 11:30am I joined some campus members in a gathering around the campus flagpole at the invitation of Campus Ministries to support our Muslim campus members in the face of yet another tragic massacre of innocent lives at two mosques in Christchurch New Zealand.  Forty-nine souls were lost.  We were gathered in community to say that we are our brother’s keeper in the face of hatred that characterizes itself as self-preservation.  In the gunman’s distorted thinking, white people were targeted for genocide and he was fighting back.  Am I too distraught to believe that mankind can truly act as though all lives matter as much as our own?

How is it that some white heterosexual males are seeing themselves as in peril?  How after all these years of discrimination and oppression against women and people of color, do they now see themselves as justified in murdering innocent people as a means of “not being replaced”?  They are cowards. They fear having to compete with others for the first time in a very long time.  They question their true place in the world and find that they are not smarter, wiser, or more deserving of wealth and influence than others.  They just had bigger guns and were more willing to use them to slaughterl the Native Americans, enslave blacks and oppress women and other minorities.  Their tactic was brutality back them. Some are resorting back to their weapons while others have resorted to cheating. 

I was dismayed but not surprised earlier in the week to learn that some 800 or so wealthy and famous parents were scheming to get their children into prestigious universities at the expense of hardworking, unconnected, but more deserving students.  This was all about preserving the status of the next generation.  It wasn’t enough that their children had every educational advantage growing up.  And perhaps the side door to the most prestigious universities that was always open to the children of the rich and famous willing to make a huge donation was closing a bit amid equally and sometime more talented students from diverse backgrounds.  I read a book several years ago titled, “The Price of Admission” that details the alternative methods into the most prestigious institutions.  While society laments Affirmative Action that seeks to remedy the past in present discrimination of black and brown students as being somehow lacking in fairness to whites and now Asians (current law suit), this other game was going on for years.  It was a form of Affirmative Action for the privileged where a student gets extra points because of a parent’s alumni status.  But as diversity became an educational value along side of educational justice for students from disadvantaged backgrounds grew, fewer slots were reserved for the children of the wealthiest donors and legacies who were typically white.  So, we accidently learned about the cheating schemes of the last ten years. 

This is why I’m angry.  I know that self-preservation is a human trait.  But so is altruism.  So is caring about others.  So is a sense of fairness and fair play.  How do we get to the balance?  I feel like the scales have tipped toward white self-preservation and that Trump’s comment last week about having strong people on his side was a threat to those of us who demand access and opportunities for everyone.  If white people can’t convince themselves, their family members, and their friends that other men and women are human and capable and also worthy of opportunities, no matter their skin color, religion, or sexual orientation, then I think that there will be more flagpole vigils in my future. 

Friday, March 8^th was International Women’s Day.  I started the day intending to focus and celebrate women from all over the world in a meaningful way. For a tabling event on campus, I had prepared a trivia wheel, featuring influential women from around the world and I had designed empowering door knockers for the occasion.

I was glad to begin my day by hearing on a morning news program a few important statistics about how important it is for mankind to focus on educating and supporting women. For example, when women earn an income, 90% of the money is invested in their family’s welfare versus only 30% of the income men earn.  I learned that 98 cents of every dollar invested in businesses run by women is used to generate greater revenue versus only 47 cents on the dollar by men running businesses.

I’ve long supported international women’s education by donating monthly to Women for Women International an organization that provides marginalized women with the resources they need to elevate themselves and their families.  Educating women is key to lifting families out of poverty. I am proud that I paid the tuition from junior high through high school of twins Adama and Awa whom I met on a trip to the Gambia in 2008.  Since then, the twins have gone on to college in China on full scholarships.  Because of how empowering the Boys and Girls Club was in my personal life as a child, two years ago, I added the Boys and Girls Club of America to my automatic monthly giving routine.  I decided to help where I know there is a great need, so I chose my hometown, Detroit, Michigan to receive my monthly donations, even though the one I frequented was in Los Angeles.  And then this morning, I added FINCA International, a microfinance non-profit that helps impoverished women build businesses to my list monthly support list before going to work.

On campus, the student group, Her Campus, put together the tabling event I mentioned for their annual International Women’s Day Fair. There were many creative tables hosted by campus clubs and offices, including my own.  It was a pleasure to visit each of the tables honoring women, providing “girl power” encouragement or highlighting women’s issues such as labor and sex trafficking.  The campus community, both males and females, were actively engaged in the process of educating and learning and trying to make a difference in the lives of women around the world. 

Friday was one of those rare days, when I could go to bed and say to myself, “Mission accomplished”. It was definitely the most impactful International Women’s Day that I can recall and I hope individuals find the most suitable way to encourage and empower women, or like me, just take one more step toward upping the contribution. When we educate and empower women, we change the world for good.

As parents, mentors, and teachers, we do our best to instill the value of honesty and integrity in our children.  We use stories like “Pinocchio” to demonstrate the consequences of lying.  We share with them the fairy tale of the boy who cried wolf to remind them to keep their credibility in tact so that people will believe them when it’s important.  We teach them to let their word be their bond. We might even use Bible verses that associate lying with the father of lies, Satan, and how “…all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone…” (Revelation 21:8) But these days, it may to be difficult to instill these lessons.

I watched about two hours of Michael Cohen’s testimony before Congress last week.  Boy does he have a tale to tale about the criminal and immoral character of Donald J. Trump after 10 years working for him. But, he has to deal with credibility issues stemming from all the lies he told while he was loyal to his former boss.  He lied on bank loan applications. He lied about a myriad of things, some of which were to cover up the misdeeds and criminal behavior of our sitting president, both before and after the man took office.  So, now he wants people who believe him and the Republicans just kept pointing out the fact that he is a convicted liar.  Of course, the president got on television and said that no one should believe Cohen because Cohen is a convicted liar.  But what of this president himself? How does he have any credibility?

I had to laugh when a Republican congressman suggested that Congress should only call witnesses to testify who were not known and convicted liars.  I thought to myself, “Does such a person in Trump world even exist?”  They are all liars!  Integrity doesn’t seem to exist among them as a value.  Even Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, was proven to be a liar this week when she said in an interview that she and Jared received no special treatment to get their security clearances. He and his associates are caught on tape lying about so many things and so often that no one is surprised any more.  In fact, one newspaper counted over 8,000 lies Trump has told since his candidacy for president.  What kind of example are these people on the world stage setting for our children? 

Perhaps the best way to teach our children to be truthful today is to allow them to see our reaction to the abhorrent behavior happening before our eyes so that they can be exposed to and repulsed by it as opposed to being encouraged to emulate it.  We should let them hear the lies being exposed on a daily basis. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump, and his associates might be the real life and perhaps best examples and caution for our children against lying.

It’s so disappointing when someone who has a platform on the national stage completely blows the opportunity to do good for apparently selfish reasons.  If what the police are saying is true about Jessie Smollett staging an attack against himself, then this young man has done a lot of harm to the people he claims to care about.

The intersectionality that he represents as a gay black man in a nation that continues to struggle with both homophobia and racism doesn’t need a staged hate crime to draw attention to the animosity that is evident almost everywhere.  If what the police allege is true, then his ridiculous scheme only heightens the skepticism faced by true victims of hate crimes.  Crime victims may hesitate to report incidents for fear greater skepticism and doubts from law enforcement and juries.  The public will question the veracity of victims more often.  The reporting of these crimes will be much more cautious and rare. Crime victims and their families will loose. It’s already rare to for crimes against people of color to make the headlines; that might just get worse. Actual perpetrators will be given a pass to victimize marginalized individuals because they will realize that no one will believe the victims. 

Jessie Smollett has done real damage.  He has given the racist and homophobic Trump supporters the ability to call themselves victims of false accusations. They can claim that the left are out to get them and to make them look bad. 

I find it hard to believe the reports that say that Smollett staged the attack in the hopes for more pay on his television series.  That doesn’t make sense.  I think it’s more likely that he wanted to highlight the truth that gays and black men are targets of violence in this nation by white nationalists in the age of Trump.  I don’t doubt that this is true, but instead of helping to highlight the problem, he has only created more problems for those with credible complaints and given cover to the actual haters.  So, what is to be done?

First, since for the moment he is sticking to his story, let it play out in court.  If he never admits wrongdoing, then we move on with the ambiguity expecting that he will be a model citizen moving forward.  Some will believe him and others will not. He will have to find a way to live with the damage to his career, reputation, and doubts about his character.  If he admits to wrongdoing, then I hope he will apologize, admit to his true motive, seek therapy because his thinking is clearly amiss, and then find a way to redeem himself through community service and positive activism. Whatever the outcome, I hope he is able to find his way back to the stage as he is a very talented singer and actor.

One of the things I love about working at a university is the opportunity to listen to and consider innovative ideas. On February 5th I heard the most radical idea for our society from a speaker representing the Black Lives Matter Movement. When I read through the beliefs they espouse on their website, I feel empowered and moved. But, apparently every belief is not found on the website. I had to really think about the unpublished call from the Black Lives Matter Movement to abolish the police and prisons, too.

This idea was presented by the one of the organizers of Black Lives Matter who I invited to campus as part of my year long series on social and political movements in the country. I was right there with her as she talked about the tenants of the Movement and their activism until she described the Movement as a group of abolitionists who want to abolish the police and prisons.

I do understand and agree that black bodies are too often the target of police and the criminal justice system. I listened to her argument that because modern day policing has its roots in slave catching, that black and brown bodies will always be unjustly targeted, killed, and incarcerated by the current system. So, their answer is to abolish the entire system. In one of my more private moments with the organizer, I asked her who or what would replace the police? Her answer was simple: the community.

I have been thinking about this for weeks and talking it over with people I believe care about society and social justice as much as I do and none of us can fathom the idea that completely abolishing the police and prisons is a viable solution to police abuse, police brutality and an unfair criminal justice system that operates to criminalize and incarcerate black and brown people at higher rates and for longer sentences.

Two things are clear to me and to everyone I spoke to about the situation. First, we cannot continue with the current system where police are far more likely to kill black people in encounters. It seems that a white mass shooter is more likely to be taken away alive in handcuffs than an unarmed black man who poses no threat except that which resides in the imagination of the police officer. And a judicial system where judges routinely give black and brown people longer prison systems than white people for the same crime has to be replaced.

The second thing we agreed on was that we were for police reform and criminal justice reform rather than abolition. None of us can envision a system where the community enforces social and civil rules. Humans put laws or social rules in place to deter humans of ill-will from stealing, killing, or destroying the property of others in the shared community with impunity. In a small village, the rules are enforced by the chief. That might work just fine when everyone knows each other and the villagers endorse the chief as legitimate and just. But in a community made up of people who hardly know each other, where people move in and out, and where access to firearms abound, I’m not sure the community is actually capable of policing itself.

In the absence of a trustworthy police force, the biggest bully with the greatest fire power rules the neighborhood. There are countless examples of how miserable life can be for average people in the absence of police who are willing and able to fairly enforce the law. Look at Central America today with thousands of women and children fleeing countries where gangs have literally taken over and continually exploit the weak. I heard a Central American woman who made it to the U.S. tell her story about being gang raped multiple times and then fleeing with her daughter because that daughter was becoming a teenager and was now vulnerable to the same treatment. This is an example of a failed law enforcement system. In absence of police, the community wasn’t strong enough to take over.

Our police system isn’t great for communities of color, but it isn’t a complete failure either. We know that money or bribes can corrupt a police force and that racial bias is also a corrupting factor. What we need is a complete overhaul of the our police system, one that ferrets out the police of questionable character. There are too many who are racially biased and morally corrupt. In the prison system, we have to remove the racial bias permitted by judicial discretion and the profit motive created by establishing privately owned prisons. No prison should ever be for-profit! I’m for restorative justice rather than imprisonment for most people. Only people who are a real danger to society should be in prison. The others should be subject to fines, community service, repayment of loss property, mental health and addiction treatment, and education.

While we are not facing the complete collapse of a police system capable of enforcing the laws to protect its citizens like in Central America, we do need to pay better attention to who we recruit as police officers and how we train them. I’m for police reform and prison reform, not the complete abolition of the police and prisons. I’ve seen what that looks like, and I don’t think its better. It is in fact, much worse. My fear is that if we abolish the police and prisons that Canada will need to build a wall to keep us out.

I