The Mind of Chaz

Well, I’m frustrated. We have cities being taken over by hostile mobs who are destroying our history without stopping to think about what they’re doing and burning our homes and businesses and the governors and mayors are threatening the president if he steps in to help. As of June 12, 2020 it’s possible that biker gangs are about to take control of the situation themselves so we’ll have to see how it goes. 

The moronic knob heads at the center of all this, who I will for the remainder of this post refer to as a college dropout named Chaz (capital hill autonomous zone), have also released a series of demands. While a few of them are understandable, and don’t need a revolt to be heard, others are absolutely unfounded and absurd. This is going to take a while, since they have 30 demands as compared to the 25 of the Nazi party, so I’m not going to give a big preamble lets get into this cow patty pile. {Also just so you know, this article contains grown-up words. The bard is amgry.}

LAW ENFORCEMENT

First are the demands regarding the police and law and order. Some of this stuff will require its own page to go into depth on, but I’m going to stick with an overall summary for now. 

The Seattle Police Department and attached court system are beyond reform. We do not request reform, we demand abolition. We demand that the Seattle Council and the Mayor defund and abolish the Seattle Police Department and the attached Criminal Justice Apparatus. This means 100% of funding, including existing pensions for Seattle Police. At an equal level of priority we also demand that the city disallow the operations of ICE in the city of Seattle.

Let’s start with some numbers shall we? In 2016, in Seattle, WA, there were 2.5k aggravated assault cases, 8k burglaries, 27k thefts, 20 murders, and 250 rapes. Overall they had 4,294 violent crimes and 38,433 property crimes. (pic) Who exactly are you expecting to take care of these things without the police? Not only is Seattle above the state average for crime, it’s far higher than the national rate in all things but murder and arson. (pic) What happens after your little plan is enacted? 

Because, if I’m honest, I’d prefer the police to what seems to be the Chaz solution. Rapper Raz Simone recently decided he and his crew would make excellent guards for the little wannabe nation so he started patrolling the streets and seeking out anything not allowed by their people, or more accurately not allowed by him. (1) Called a warlord by some, Raz and his goons don’t hesitate to beat men for supposed crimes. A man caught tagging on his turf was beaten on livestream. His glasses were broken and his phone taken as protection money. (2)

Anyone who has learned of the Stanford Prison Experiment isn’t at all surprised by this. But what I am shocked by is the fact that people on Reddit and Twitter actually think his skin color compared to that of his victim gives him an allowance to enact this violence. He continues to raise weapons and funds for his cause, alarming some. {I am some.} Also in ultimate irony, walls and fences surround the border of their region. (2)

So, to clarify. Within two days the “independent nation” who calls for the dissolution of the police has put up signs for a night watch (pic) and been taken over by a hip-hop warlord. I wish they would look me in the eye and make their case about ending the police. Two days and you already replaced the police [who we’ll go on to see you expressly think beat and steal from people] with untrained armed men who actually film themselves unapologetically beating and stealing from people. 

Now let’s tackle the ICE bit because it always comes down to the ICE bit. While some sources I found seemed to dance around the issue before deciding they didn’t know if illegal immigrants were more likely than the average population to commit crimes, others weren’t as delicate. (3) 

Using statistics from the Arizona Department of Corrections, John Lott calculated that illegal immigrants aged 18-35 were 250% more likely to commit crimes than citizens. He also found they had a higher rate of committing violent crimes like murder and sexual assault. The article also raises the valid point that we don’t even know if all crimes committed have been reported as illegal victims wouldn’t go to the police in most cases. Therefore they would suffer crimes enacted on them in silence. All of this excludes things such as fake social security numbers, drivers licenses, and green cards; or taking public benefits. (4)

Immigration reform is one thing, and perhaps something you could argue needs to happen, but there are too many people harmed by the presence of illegal immigrants and harmed in a serious and irreversible manner. It’s a deep and complex subject and I’ll need to dedicate an entire article to it at a later date. {And here’s where we start a little drinking game if you’re legal: take a shot every time I say I need to expand on a topic and maybe we can get through this nightmare.}

In the transitionary (sic) period between now and the dismantlement of the Seattle Police Department, we demand that the use of armed force be banned entirely. No guns, no batons, no riot shields, no chemical weapons, especially against those exercising their First Amendment right as Americans to protest.

Hey, I’m just gonna post a few pics really quick. One’s a picture of the first amendment, and the other is what a high schooler might have seen in their textbook if they were paying attention in class and not fawning over Marx. 

Yeah. Peacefully. Funny how that word is right there. And I don’t know why I have to explain this to you but bricks, fireworks, and arson aren’t peaceful. 

As for the police being unarmed? Uh, no. Let’s look at some numbers again. So far this year 103 police officers have died. Now 47 of those are related to covid-19 and one died in an aircraft, but all the rest died during or due to their service. Whether from cancer from digging through the 9/11 wreckage or the 23 gunfire deaths, it’s not an easy job. (5) 

Not only is being a police officer inherently dangerous, there is little evidence to support, and plenty to negate, the idea that there are massive disparities between races when it comes to death by police. As pointed out in a recent study using the 2015 police shooting data, 26% of civilians killed by police in the US were black. This sounds bad when you compare that to the 12% of the population who are black, but there is another statistic to consider. (6)

Black people have much higher exposure to the police. The reason? Not racism, but the fact that  among the black community, violent crime is more prevalent. When this metric is added, and the demographics of a county are taken into account [these demographics tend to show that Black civilians are more likely to be killed by Black cops], the disparities that once seemed anti-Black prove themselves to be more anti-White.(6)

And what was one of their conclusions on the best way to reduce police shootings in the Black and Hispanic communities? Reduce the variable you have control over; lower violent crime among Black people. (6) 

Not what you wanted to hear, is it Chaz? Imagine that, we live in a world where people face consequences for their actions. And just to step back and remove the police from the equation and give a face to that statement, look at this chart about the percentage split of offenders to victims. 90% of Black murders were carried out by Black individuals as opposed to 8% by Whites. At 14% Black people are almost twice as likely to kill a White person than the other way around. Using the 2008 data from the chart, that would mean 2956 Black men were killed by other Black men while 250 were killed by White men. And 2795 White men were killed by other White men as opposed to 463 by Black men. (pic+math)

After being screamed at about listening to the scientists for covid-19 it gets a bit frustrating being turned around and told data is oppression when it shows Blacks aren’t as oppressed by the police/Whites as the media says, and yes I was told this almost verbatim, by a white man no less. On top of having most of America’s big cities destroyed and our stores looted and our heritage pulled down I’m just sick of playing nice right now.

We demand an end to the school-to-prison pipeline and the abolition of youth jails. Get kids out of prison, get cops out of schools. We also demand that the new youth prison being built in Seattle currently be repurposed.

I might have mentioned this before but for those of you who don’t know, my current day {or night since I work thirds} job is at a residential facility for teens who get in trouble with the law. It’s one of the reasons I try to stay a bit anonymous, I don’t want any harm coming back to them from some internet wack job. We all know the type. We are often used as a step down from the DOC to help teens get adjusted and ready to go home.

I cannot express enough how difficult of a job this is. Not only are there volatile teens who need drastic changes to medication and more counseling than we can give them even with multiple groups and weekly private sessions, but to deal with these kids who throw chairs at each other and staff at occasion, we make around $12 hr. Day shift works on a 2/2/3/2 schedule for sixteen hour days {which is why I came to thirds}and nights work 6/2 weeks paid on a bi-weekly schedule to get us some overtime. 

And between those hours and some of the kids who come through, it’s an emotionally draining position. We are always understaffed, even with the campus providing good health insurance and the ability to apply for on-campus housing, meaning people can wind up working 5+ days in a row, 16 hour shifts. And when you have students who have grown up thinking that following the rules is something you only do if you were raised with a silver spoon in your mouth or who lash out from years of sexual abuse, you can hit a wall. We’re humans. Mistakes happen. 

I can’t speak to every juvenile placement, but I can offer some good, fact based hope. After a ludicrous peak in the mid-nineties, the juvenile arrest rate has been falling. In 2018 the numbers were down to less than 2.5k per 100K persons aged 10-17. That’s down from around 8K in 1996: a 74% decline. (7) And this trend remains across all sorts of crimes. 

Now since this all started because of cries of racism let me say that the same trend seems to carry over with youths as with adults. More Black youth are getting arrested than White youth overall. It’s not quite double the amount, and American Indian rates are nearly identical to White and Asian is far lower. Oddly, there is no separate statistic for Hispanic individuals since that is considered an ethnicity, not a race. The charts say they could be counted as any race. (7)

I also wanted to look at certain crimes since, as noted above, more violent crime leads to more involvement with the police. Topping at over 50 in the mid-nineties, Black youth murder arrests have dramatically fallen resting around 10 for the past 10 years or so. This is still higher than the arrest rate for White youths for murder which settles with the other demographics around the 0-5 threshold (7)

And drug abuse arrests? The White and Black margin on this is much closer, especially since 2015. And overall, they seem to be in decline across the board after a nineties/early 2000s spike. All ethnicity groups are at less than 500 arrests per 100k persons aged 10-17. (7)

So while the topic of juvenile prisons might need an expanded overview {shot 2} I think it’s safe to say we’ve been making good and lasting progress on this front in the US. Compared to the mid nineties, we’ve reduced black youth drug arrests alone by ⅔! (7) That’s astonishing and should be celebrated. There does seem to be some stalling since 2014/2015, and it may be good to look into how we can best help curb those numbers more, but Jackie Kennedy and D.A.R.E. egg commercials can’t do it alone. At some point the environment children are raised in needs to be addressed. 

We demand that not the City government, nor the State government, but that the Federal government launch a full-scale investigation into past and current cases of police brutality in Seattle and Washington, as well as the re-opening of all closed cases reported to the Office of Police Accountability. In particular, we demand that cases particular to Seattle and Washington be reopened where no justice has been served, namely the cases of Iosia Faletogo, Damarius Butts, Isaiah Obet, Tommy Le, Shaun Fuhr, and Charleena Lyles.

Okay, this one is a bit more in depth and requires a piece by piece examination. As a longtime watcher of true crime, I know there can be a feedback loop in local law enforcement that doesn’t do anyone of any color favors and I could agree we need a way to break that cycle. We do have our court system that allows us to keep going higher and higher in the pursuit of justice but that can be prohibitively expensive. An oversight committee of sorts, completely divorced from the normal justice mill, could have its benefits. But let’s look at each of these cases and see if calls for reexamination have any merit. 

Iosia Faletogo ran from the police when backup arrived at a traffic stop on New Year’s Eve. After the chase ended, Faletogo was tackled to the ground and six officers, all with their cameras on, wrestled with him. The footage shows a gun near Faletogo, though there is debate as to whether it was on the ground or being held in his hand by the muzzle. One officer warned him that he would be shot if he didn’t stop resisting while another called for a taser repeatedly. In the end, a gun was used by Officer Keller, who had previously been one of seven officers to open fire on a man in December of 2017 allegedly armed with a gun. (8) 

I’ll admit. I’m not immune to the bias of running from the police = guilty. I will also admit there is a part of me that thinks six men should have been able to end the situation without firing a shot, or at least tried the taser first. However, the city’s OPA found that Keller had no other safe option but to shoot because Faletogo’s handgun was within his immediate reach while he struggled. The OPA continued that Seattle police are not trained to use anything less than lethal force once a gun becomes involved for their own safety. I find myself asking if a man who was willing to start a high speed chase and then run and fight would have eventually pulled the trigger if given the chance. (9)

Damarius Butts is a less complicated case, even taking his age into account. He shot at three police officers over donuts and beer. One officer only survived thanks to her bullet-proof vest. I’m sorry but if you rob a gas station for beer and donuts then wall yourself up in a building and instigate a shootout with the cops, you don’t have much of a defense to cry foul if you get hurt or, unfortunately, die. Police don’t have to stand around and let themselves be killed just like any other citizen and you brought the gun into this. (10) 

Next they mentioned Isaiah Obet from 2017. Isaiah broke into two homes armed with a knife before getting into a chase with police on foot. The shots that killed him came while Isaiah was trying to force his way into an occupied vehicle at an intersection to make an escape. (11)

Now in 2020 the case is being reopened and what initially seemed easy enough has become a bit more muddled. The same newspaper as reported this case before now says a K-9 unit was involved and had Obet by the arm when the first shot to the suspect’s chest took place. A lawsuit also claims that after this shot, and after Obet was on the ground and no longer resisting as the dog held him, Nelson stood over him and fired another shot into the head. The lawsuit also claims that Nelson has 65 excessive force complaints filed against him and has committed three of the five deaths on a police force of 115. All three were double shots with the final shot being to the head and one other was a Pacific Islander like the named victem, according to them. (12) 

However, while this is what the lawyers claim the police have been quick to shoot it down. 911 calls from the home invasions that brought police out, which the lawsuits instead frame as reports of a mentally disturbed individual while skipping over the armed break ins and attempt to carjack a woman and small child, and toxicology reports flagging high levels of amphetamines and methamphetamines both call into question the claims laid out in the suit. Officers also dispute that the K-9 attack stopped Obet from attempting to stab his way into a car window, nor did it cause him to obey repeated commands to drop the knife. They also insisted that it was incorrect that the first shot, which hit his chest near his shoulder, had incapacitated Obet who was struggling to get back up and still within reach of his knife. They also denied the claim of Nelson having excessive force complaints. (12) All I can say to this is someone is lying and with the way the lawyers just skirted around the real reason police were called, and even more maliciously fabricated a new spin on it, I am much more inclined to believe the police. 

Next we have the tragic case of Tommy Le. The night before the 20 year old was to attend his alternative high school graduation, police were called to a neighborhood due to his erratic behavior. Several people had phoned in that a man with a sharp object, maybe a knife, was threatening people and pounding and stabbing at doors while screaming that he was the Creator. Police initially used tasers which did not dissuade Le before they used a gun. The part that gets everyone the most upset is that the midnight encounter prevented officers from seeing until too late that the knife was, in fact, an ink pen. Mental brakes rarely give warning unfortunately, especially considering Le is said to have no prior history of mental illness. But given the situation, what had been reported by callers, and their attempt to use non-lethal force to no effect beforehand, I personally think the police did all they could. (13) 

This next case proves that they weren’t paying attention to anything but skin color when it came to these demands. Shaun Fuhr is caught on camera refusing to stop for police after fleeing with his one year old daughter from the scene where he beat his girlfriend, the child’s mother. The man was reported by the girlfriend to be armed and to have already fired a shot at her. The most concerning thing in this case, as the article points out, is how quarantine has increased the number of domestic violence calls by 25% by increasing the time abusers and victims have to be in close proximity. Please, for yourself and your children, use the numbers in this article if you need help getting out of such a situation. And DON’T continue the trend of making abusive, lawless fucks martyrs just because they had a different skin color than the police who had to stop their reign of terror. The way the officers are described from the videos of caring for the girl should be enough evidence to prove it was his actions and not any bias that led to this incident.(14)

Finally, the last case mentioned and the second I think merits another look. Charleena Lyles had a history of mental illness and a fear of the police as she thought they might use her mental illness to remove her children, especially her special needs toddler. This didn’t prevent her from calling them when she was robbed. However she did meet the police at the door with knives in hand which led to the shots being fired. The audio released has her report an Xbox stolen before repeated frantic demands from the officers to get back. Lyles refers to them as motherfuckers before the officers radio that they need backup for a woman with two knives. In quick succession, the officers find they have no taser and the shots are fired. (15) 

My main concern in this case is that despite the audio claiming they had no taser, the department claims they did have non-lethal options. And with her prior record of police violence that caused them to send two officers in the first place, they should have been more prepared for things to go south. Also, considering these are two grown men and Lyles was a pregnant woman, I feel there may be something to say about them being able to stop her non-lethally even without a baton or taser. And it is upsetting that her unborn child was also killed in the incident. (15)

And there you go. Each one of their cases put out one by one. Two who the police had every right to confront in the way they did, two tragic cases where mental illness and misunderstanding played a big part, and two where the facts are a bit muddied but don’t necessarily point to fault on the part of the officers but could probably do with a fresh set of eyes. Especially if there is any ground to the claim that the Faletogo case was not handed off to an outside investigation team like law requires. (8)

Overall, I think these six cases make the opposite argument than what Chaz wanted. Five of the six cases can almost uniformly be called tragic but situationally justifiable. The one case isn’t even necessarily wrong depending on where the gun was in relation to his hand at the time the shooting took place. I think we’re in a rut where, like the lawyers in the Obet case, we’re seeing details being added, subtracted, or skimmed over to create the story we want to be enraged over. (12) 

We demand reparations for victims of police brutality, in a form to be determined.

It always comes back to money, doesn’t it? Here’s the thing, in order to get money you have to prove the officer is guilty. Even if they walk on a murder case, a civil suit for wrongful death can be filed and with less required evidence for conviction, it’s easier to convict for and will get you some money. (16) As for if you think you were actually assaulted, you don’t just get to go to the Police Station and demand they hand over a check. Nor should we change it so you can. Tax payers would be out the butt with money from people abusing the system. Assault or battery will have to be tried either as a felony or misdemeanor which can carry a range of prison sentences and a fine of $500-10k. (17) There are options available and there are many lawyers who won’t charge you a fee until after they’ve won your case, though be careful to read all the fine print before you sign.

We demand that the City of Seattle make the names of officers involved in police brutality a matter of public record. Anonymity should not even be a privilege in public service.

I don’t even need a source for this one because it’s just putting two and two together. Police officers wear their names on their chest every time they go out, unless they are undercover. Police sometimes go undercover, which would be interfered with if their faces were plastered all over the internet. Also the internet, especially the whiny Chaz portion, has a habit of doxxing people and terrorizing them with death threats. Police officers have enough to deal with while getting shot at on the streets as people shout death threats at them for doing their job. They don’t need the added fear that their partners and children are going to get caught up in Chaz and the crazies mailing bombs and anthrax to their house or calling in the SWAT.

If you want to make a community complaint subreddit to keep track of complaints, though I think if you had a real complaint you could file it with the police force or take other legal action, then make a website or subreddit. Use a YouTuber’s code to get a deal on SquareSpace or something. It’s not that hard, don’t make the government hold your hand on this. 

We demand a retrial of all People in Color currently serving a prison sentence for violent crime, by a jury of their peers in their community.

This one is just unapologetically racist. Unless you can prove the KKK or Proud Boys were in the jury box, there is nothing saying that a White juror is going to act differently than a Black one. If you feel someone was unjustly convicted, and court cases are public, you have recourse through appeals and things like the Innocence Project. But a blanket statement that unless a jury is 100% Black they can’t be impartial during a Black man’s trial is just racist plain and simple. 

We demand decriminalization of the acts of protest, and amnesty for protestors generally, but specifically those involved in what has been termed “The George Floyd Rebellion” against the terrorist cell that previously occupied this area known as the Seattle Police Department. This includes the immediate release of all protestors currently being held in prison after the arrests made at 11th and Pine on Sunday night and early Saturday morning June 7th and 8th, and any other protesters arrested in the past two weeks of the uprising, the name Evan Hreha in particular comes to mind who filmed Seattle police macing a young girl and is now in jail.

No. 

… 

Oh, I’m sorry, were you expecting something more in depth? Okay, how about this. Evan Hreha was already released from jail. Also he was arrested for discharging a laser, a felony, and not for filming the poor girl getting dragged into adult’s bad decisions. (18) 

The fact that you know what you’re doing is criminal just adds a big ol’ premeditation sticker onto your sheet and I hope you get your due for it. For every business owner, Black and otherwise, who had suffered at your hands, for every family, Black and otherwise, who lost their homes, for every life, Black and otherwise, lost during this piss fit of a disaster I hope the guilty spend a long time in prison. Not just sitting either, I hope they put you to work earning off the debt you owe to society for your actions. There’s your longer sentiment. 

We demand that the City of Seattle and the State Government release any prisoner currently serving time for a marijuana-related offense and expunge the related conviction.

Hey guys, take note it only took nine demands before Chaz and I agreed on something. With pot legal in Washington State, unless they have some major weapons charge or assault/gang conviction or were an adult who sold to minors I don’t see the reason this hasn’t been done yet. Didn’t need to start a dystopia in downtown Seattle to get this point across. Literally if you each mailed your governor/mayor a paper letter every day with the same request he/she’d probably get the message pretty quick to do something about it. Or if you brought a group lawsuit. Or voted in someone who ran on that platform. Or stood outside the courthouse without taking over it. You know like a civilized person and not like the same type of colonist you claim to be disgusted by as you actively refuse to move to European nations despite claiming all of America should belong to Native populations. Moving on. 

We demand the City of Seattle and State Government release any prisoner currently serving time just for resisting arrest if there are no other related charges, and that those convictions should also be expunged.

I looked at Washington State’s law for resisting arrest here: (19). And I can say, there might be use in amending it to have greater clarity. Often times resisting arrest is what they use to get dangerous people off the streets while they wait for more serious charges to go into effect, and I think a case by case retrial to see if you were just startled and asking questions or kicking officers in the head is more productive than just wiping the law out all together. So 50/50 with Chaz on this one. 

We demand that prisoners currently serving time be given the full and unrestricted right to vote, and for Washington State to pass legislation specifically breaking from Federal law that prevents felons from being able to vote.

Again with the no to the no to the no no no. Murderers, rapists, and pedophiles etc have given up their right to vote when they committed their atrocities. You don’t get to terrorize children’s butts then vote for politicians who might make it legal for you to further terrorize children’s butts. Not happening. And no, I’m not joking or exaggerating, pedophiles have started calling themselves “MAPS” or “transage” and are trying to make themselves part of the LGBT+ movement. Most LGBT+ people don’t want them there, and there is push back, but I’ve seen too many 10 year old boys in drag and kids laying on the laps of men in dresses and men flashing children in the library to be at all comfortable thinking that this is a thing that’s going to end without a fight. {shot 3 we’re going to hit this later} You look at this picture and tell me with a straight face that this isn’t grooming. [It is blurred between those legs btw.]

We demand an end to prosecutorial immunity for police officers in the time between now and the dissolution of the SPD and extant justice system.

Okay so this one had me stumped. I think it’s another instance of Chaz not doing their homework. Prosecutorial immunity is, as the name suggests, for prosecutors. Prosecutors and Police are different entities. (20)

Due to Section 1983 of the Civil Rights act of 1871 you can sue a police officer and his department for excessive force. You can also use your Fourth Amendment rights if you feel you’ve been unlawfully searched. Discrimination, false arrest, and harassment are also things you can put against them. As always this requires going to court which means you had better have evidence, witnesses and a lawyer and act through said lawyer and with evidence gathering tools if you at all think they might try to cheat you out of justice. (21) 

But I do think that prosecutorial immunity should go. If you can prove in court that a prosecutor withheld evidence that might change your verdict, they deserve to be tried for the resulting miscarriage of justice. And prosecutorial immunity isn’t a law that was voted on. It was a decision made by the Supreme court. (22) Since the Marbury vs Madison case in 1803 the supreme court decided that instead of just being a court they could decide if a law was unconstitutional or not. It’s how we were forced to legalize abortion, and how, through the Dred Scott decision, we started the civil war. If you think 7 people deciding whether things are constitutional or not over the people’s will which completely flips the power balance of the system, then yea, it’s an entirely separate argument that we should get back to later. (23) {Shot 4 people}

We demand the abolition of imprisonment, generally speaking, but especially the abolition of both youth prisons and privately-owned, for-profit prisons.

Okay let’s get this out of the way first {shot 5}. Now let’s take this in two halves. 

Where the heck do you think murderers and rapists should go if there are no prisons? And we’ve already covered that children under the age of 18 do those things and I’m not cruel enough to want them in with the adults. 

The part I want to look at in depth later is the for-profit part. I’ve heard horror stories about feeding a quota into prisons to keep the money rolling in from the government and terrors of long hours and low wages. If true, there could be an argument there that would have us looking into jails, judges, and the overall budgets. But yeah, we still need them. 

We demand in replacement of the current criminal justice system the creation of restorative/transformative accountability programs as a replacement for imprisonment.

Hey guys, what the fuck does this mean? No really. Because with King Raz of Chaz beating people for graffiti and a man getting surrounded by people with a baseball bat over an accusation, I’m not sure I like the Chaz accountability system. This is such a non-suggestion that I’m really swinging at the dark trying to figure out how to address it. 

The only thing I can think of is them claiming they can hold their neighbors accountable for their actions and no, really you can’t. With anti-snitch culture and the proliferation of gangs I think it’s pretty damn safe to say you can’t hold people accountable. And unless you want Bubba and his shotgun making the Amaud case look like a typical Tuesday or you subscribe to the shoot first ask questions later approach to pedos, rapists, and murderers, you really REALLY don’t want the general populace taking over the job of the police. 

Overall, if you know a drug dealer and you haven’t turned them in: you can’t hold people accountable. 

If you know a murderer and helped him to cover up or lied to keep her safe or kept silent for them: you can’t hold people accountable. 

If you let a gang run around in your neighborhood and introduce your children to a life of crime before their 18th birthday: you can’t be trusted to hold people accountable and need to reevaluate who is really hurting your community. 

Clean up your neighborhood using the resources on hand. Then see where your communities end up. 

We demand autonomy be given to the people to create localized anti-crime systems.

Nice try Raz, but we all know who you are and what you did. You need to be locked up for battery and theft. Also can we just point out how ironic it is they want their little brownshirt units to have the protections that they think the police have and should lose? Good stuff.

We demand that the Seattle Police Department, between now and the time of its abolition in the near future, empty its “lost and found” and return property owned by denizens of the city.

Sixteen. And we’re still in the anti-law section. And wouldn’t you know it, another one that doesn’t make any freaking sense. Unless you lost your crack or child porn hard drive, all you have to do is waltz into the station with proof of ownership within 60 days of it being turned in. Ta freaking da you have your shit back. They’re even required to make weekly postings about the items so you know it’s there. If they’re withholding things that you can prove you own, there’s already laws you can use to prosecute them. They aren’t stealing. You just have to get your butt to the station. It’s not the cops’ fault you have seventeen warrants and don’t want to go or mommy won’t drive you to pick up your hemp bracelet. (24)

We demand justice for those who have been sexually harassed or abused by the Seattle Police Department or prison guards in the state of Washington.

Yeah? Okay? That’s illegal and prosecutable. The only alarming thing I found is that 35 states say people can consent while in police custody. That needs a redo but other than that I can confirm that it is illegal to rape people. (25) 

We demand that between now and the abolition of the SPD that each and every SPD officer turn on their body cameras, and that the body camera video of all Seattle police should be a matter of easily accessible public record.

Yeah, body cameras should be on all cops nationwide. And there maybe should be a federal or otherwise separate database where the information is stored so it can’t disappear accidentally. But sometimes having it public can interfere in an investigation by revealing crime scene information. Criminologists and those who otherwise participate in homicide investigations would have to figure out how that could work. You might have to go through a court system to get the footage released if it pertains to you with limitations on spread. Just remember, you got COPS shut down so if you see less transparency from officers, you have only yourself to blame. 

We demand that the funding previously used for Seattle Police be redirected into: A) Socialized Health and Medicine for the City of Seattle. B) Free public housing, because housing is a right, not a privilege. C) Public education, to decrease the average class size in city schools and increase teacher salary. D) Naturalization services for immigrants to the United States living here undocumented. (We demand they be called “undocumented” because no person is illegal.) E) General community development. Parks, etc.

*cracks knuckles* Hoo boy of course the last one is a doozy. I’ve been ignoring how you think that all your demands are going to be met up to this point but now we have to address part of it: what you think is a better use for society than the police. Let’s do this. 

Socialized Medicine

{Shot 6} I don’t know how much I can add to this topic that wasn’t already said before. But since it’s fresh in our minds and the protests/ communal love ins going on at Chaz [and totally not any riots you guys don’t say riots] are likely going to expedite a second wave, let’s take a peek at how we did overall with COVID-19 versus socialist countries.

And wouldn’t you know it? Per capita we have a lower death rate than multiple European countries with socialized medicine. Even Switzerland. The UK has a rate almost double our own and it’s praised for its socialized care. We even beat Denmark, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands for total cases across the population. But that might change once we look at how well COVID respects the people’s right to protest 1000 deaths a year. (26)

Even Snopes, while qualifying that they weren’t ordered to stop treating the elderly, admits that Italy got to a point where they had to make decisions about the ultimate longevity of coronavirus patients to decide who deserved the ventilator. (27) And in Canada not only are people forced to pay roughly 1,200 per year in taxes per person for their ‘free’ care, all outside insurance is forbidden, there is no competition to keep hospitals up to date with the latest technologies, and prescription drug coverage is only free if you’re over 65. (28) So not only would the police budget not cover this, it especially wouldn’t cover this and the rest of your demands.

Free Public Housing

{Shot I think we’re on 7} Homelessness is a complexticated problem. And as you’ll see in a later part, what Chaz thinks will help hasn’t really proven itself to work where it’s been tried.

We have about 96,913 chronically homeless people in the United States. Though the overall total fluctuates around the 550k point. 37K of those are Veterans who can’t earn enough due to injuries or PTSD. While Transitional housing might be a big help despite being on the decline, Permanent supportive housing, which would require more interaction with people and more money to run, is the only option for some people. (29)

In fact in places where housing first programs have been tried, homelessness has increased. Why? Because if you just pick people up off the streets and throw them into a home, you’re not dealing with how they became homeless. Many people become homeless due to drug use. In one instance a man had a 30 day notice to move out of a housing project due to 9 violations including drugs, vandalism, theft, and unauthorized guests. (30) Homelessness is not the open and shut case they think it is. Sometimes, you’re only giving them a dry place to overdose before you bring in the next struggling victim. And again, getting rid of the police does not do anything to help their plight. 

Public Education

{shots shots shots 8} The entire education system needs to reform, especially now that it’s been proven how much of a dangerous propaganda machine it is. But I’m really wondering how much money you think goes into law enforcement for you to think there’s enough to completely reorganize society on Officer Joe’s salary. Honestly, I kind of would like to see a system with more classes dedicated to morals, thinking, and the ability to graduate high school with both a diploma and, if interested, trade school qualifications or even certificates. But that’s something I’ll go more into later. 

Naturalization Services for the “Undocumented” 

You’re right that a person can’t be illegal. But waltzing into someone else’s house sure is. This isn’t the Legend of Zelda where you can go in, break pots, steal rupees, and sleep next to the farmer’s wife then just go about like nothing has happened. Why are we the only nation made to feel bad for having immigration standards? Canada has them. The UK has them. Why are we the bad guys for wanting people to tell us when they come to visit? {aaaaaand Shot 9} 

Community Development

Parks are great. Art is great. But locals can do plenty with this and if your city is struggling trying to fix the 47 other things you have a problem with why don’t you take down the wall and roll up your sleeves, Chaz? Is the Clean the Parks challenge not getting you Insta likes anymore? Not enough retweets? Do it to make a better community like in every cartoon we watched growing up. Don’t wait for the government to tax you for it. Plant some grass and flowers and kick a ball. 

Final Thoughts

And just in case you thought I was exaggerating earlier when I said that cops don’t make enough to cover their honey do list: 

In Washington DC, where they spend the highest tax amount on police, they spend around $911 per individual. How symbolic. Also short of the $1200 needed to cover even what Canada provides medicare wise. (31) 

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s tackle the smaller sections. 

ECONOMIC DEMANDS

We demand the de-gentrification of Seattle, starting with rent control.

So I’ve always wondered what this meant so I looked it up. Gentrification is a fancy word for making neighborhoods less shitty. And the problem people have with their neighborhoods being less shitty? The housing prices go up. (32) Of course, I think there might be something to be said about making all homes un-shitty to make it less of a surprise. That might help. And overall, if people don’t buy houses, the prices will be forced down no matter what. Gentrification alone is not the only issue at play. 

Now let’s talk rent control. If you look at the picture here you’ll see what kinds of rent control and how intense the rent control is. California has statewide rent control and caps as well as city specific laws. DC has rent control, New Jersey has rent control, New York has rent control. (pic) Now look at the other picture that shows the highest rent in America. California, New York, and New Jersey are all in the top ten for cost of rent. And while it can be seen that not having rent control doesn’t guarantee a low rent, it clearly doesn’t help.(pic) It doesn’t help homelessness either as it turns out, with California and New York both having more than triple the homeless populations of the next closest state. (29) So again, the rent is too damn high but let’s think about a way to fix it that hasn’t already failed miserably. 

We demand the restoration of city funding for arts and culture to re-establish the once-rich local cultural identity of Seattle.

Here we go with this again. Now, you’d think they scrapped the budget entirely but no, the Washington State Arts Commission spent roughly 5 million dollars between 2017-2019 and are proposing a budget of 6 million for 2019-2021, a 20% increase. (33) Six MILLION. If you can’t make that stretch tell them to stop buying tape and bananas and start budgeting. Because guess what, if homelessness and rent are such a problem, they’re kind of more pressing than a metal bean or another mural or whatever it is you think you want. Petition to let street artists make approved designs in certain places. Be creative. You don’t need a crap ton of money. 

We demand free college for the people of the state of Washington, due to the overwhelming effect that education has on economic success, and the correlated overwhelming impact of poverty on people of color, as a form of reparations for the treatment of Black people in this state and country.

I saw this in one of my socialized medicine articles but when do we stop when it comes to rights? Because we’re over here whining about free college when we’re throwing half of our food away while people are starving so I think we have some more pressing things to worry about. Also everything else you have on this list. 

College isn’t a right. You don’t need it to survive. And guess what? College is only as good as the major you choose and the effort you put in. Check out this article for a list of people who made it big without college. It isn’t impossible or unheard of. So, you know what the real solution is? 

Skilled trades. That and crushing monopolies {shot 10} but we’re going to tackle that later. 

While not the choice for everyone, to the 53% who don’t have any real personal goals for college, trade school is a cheaper and more practical option. (34)

If you don’t need a bachelor or master to work in your field, you shouldn’t get one. The over inundation of degrees on the market drives their value down as seen by the people who advertise starting jobs as needing a bachelors and 30 years of experience. They’re spoiled. Now you have to have a masters, or a doctorate or whatever. It’s ridiculous. Not to mention expensive. State college for four years is 82% higher in cost than a community college associate. And the payoff? After 10 years a worker with a one year trade or vocational certificate only made $1,347 less than a person with a bachelor’s degree. And at a fraction of the debt. (34)

And some of the fastest growing fields don’t need a degree. Home health aides don’t make as much as nurses but they are a good place to start. Wind turbine technician jobs are almost doubling. Pet caretaker jobs for all those people who don’t want their dogs pooing all over the place while they work are on the rise. And if you don’t do well in a classroom environment? Trade schools are hands on which eliminates most if not all of that. (34) 

So yeah. Change your outlook and stop going to school for stupid degrees and demanding free shit. 

And if you look at Bernie Sander’s idea of free tuition, he suggests taking a percentage of stock market sales as a tax. (35) What everyone from Sanders to the Occupy Wall Street movement doesn’t seem to understand is that more than 50% of US households are involved in the stock market. (36) It’s where your retirement fund grows, where your bonuses come from if you work somewhere like Walmart or GM who give their employees stock as part of their work arrangement. [Or at least they used to, don’t quote me on that and I have too many sources already.] So you’re not stealing from the rich with these programs. You’re, like we keep saying, taking money from the dwindling and often screwed over middle class.  

We demand that between now and the abolition of the SPD that Seattle Police be prohibited from performing “homeless sweeps” that displace and disturb our homeless neighbors, and on equal footing we demand an end to all evictions. 

We live in a free country where people can own property and lease to tenants. And unless a national emergency is happening, they deserve due payment to cover repairs and taxes and everything else having to do with rent. If you don’t pay, you don’t have the right to someone else’s property. Another thing, why do you hold these demonstrations in town hall whining about Sandra charging you too much rent when celebrities live in mansions larger than the average city block? You know that’s why they’re pandering to you, right Chaz? They will say whatever you want as long as you refuse to realize that they and the politicians are part of the 1%. 

Also we addressed already the whole mental illness/drug abuse thing with homelessness. There is no overnight solution and unlike what Marx taught you, bankrupting other people doesn’t get you more things it just means you’re squatting in ramshackle buildings with no amenities waiting for your dictator to croak or a war or plague to jump start your economy with death. 

{And shot 11 for addressing homelessness and jobs and rent but not the terrible musical where everyone dies of AIDS from doing coke instead of their HIV meds.} 

We demand a decentralized election process to give the citizens of Seattle a greater ability to select candidates for public office such that we are not forced to choose at the poll between equally undesirable options. There are multiple systems and policies in place which make it impractical at best for working-class people to run for public office, all of which must go, starting with any fees associated with applying to run for public office.

Okay, we do need reforms with our voting. We need to purge the rolls, require ID, and no, that’s not racist. Depending on where you live it costs $5-30 and usually lasts for 7 or 8 years. (Just google it, different states have different costs.)  And you should even need the number for absentee ballots. I would say it’s the 21st century and we should have something online by now but after seeing the Obama administration fuck up the health care website, I think we’d better skip it for now. Also Chaz, I heard you’re demanding IDs for people to be allowed into their homes. Not much excuse now is there?

We also need to kiss the sorry two party system goodbye and take the money out of elections. The way I see it, local and federal news slots, debates, and a website should be all that’s allowed. No bottles of hot sauce, no Kente cloths, no groping random children on the streets. If you want to do meetups, they have to be things you don’t pay for like “I’m going to this pool/ice cream place/park come say hi” but not charge millions of dollars and sell merch and all that. I don’t know really how best to do it but yes, something needs to be done. Hey we agreed on one for this section kinda. I bet you won’t like the ID part of my statement, though. 

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

I was actually shocked socialized medicine didn’t make a return here. I wonder if they got as tired of writing as I am and just said, “fuck it we said it once already.” I don’t know but the demands are getting even flimsier so I’ll try to maintain my standards as much as possible. 

We demand the hospitals and care facilities of Seattle employ black doctors and nurses specifically to help care for black patients.

Okay. So we all agree that there needs to be more encouragement for people of color to go into medical fields and other STEM areas, same as women. Cool? Cool. And if we stop overflowing the system, costs of college should come down and scholarships and grants will be more readily available for the doctors and computer scientists as opposed to the women studies major. All good? Yeah. 

This is racist. 

I’m not kidding. I looked into it and according to Harvard Business Review the reason we need more black doctors for black patients is because black patients won’t listen to white doctors who suggest they get tested for diabetes or anything more invasive than a blood pressure cuff. Now white people have a bit of a problem with this too. For both they agreed that doctors of all colors were just as qualified but there is this idea that only a same race doctor will understand your issue which breaks down the lines of communication. (37) This lack of trust and communication is where you start to have problems.

And some doctors have terrible skills. They don’t talk or ask questions and clearly got into the field to make money or because daddy wouldn’t pay for massage therapy and essential oil school {yes this is personal don’t ask}. This is less about race and more about shitty doctors at least 9/10 times I’m willing to bet. But yes, we do need more people of color pursuing STEM careers as a whole though if we don’t address this refusal to trust a trained medical professional based on skin color we’re going to still have problems. And Dr. Ben Carson went from welfare to Neurosurgeon so don’t make excuses. 

We demand the people of Seattle seek out and proudly support Black-owned businesses. Your money is our power and sustainability. 

This one is another of the dumb ones. If you want people to come; make a good product, have an inviting atmosphere, and make sure people can see you. Remember to pick a good location and just advertise yourself as a place for all. If you are doing something people want, they will come unless they know you’re using it as a weird power trip. Then you’re just going to get the sex weirdos and nobody wants that. 

We demand that the city create an entirely separate system staffed by mental health experts to respond to 911 calls pertaining to mental health crises, and insist that all involved in such a program be put through thorough, rigorous training in conflict de-escalation. 

Hey Chaz, remember that time President Trump said we should improve our mental health system to decrease school shootings and because he didn’t say it was the gun’s fault and yoink everyone’s Second Amendment rights everyone booed this idea and within two years everyone had their self-diagnosed mental illnesses in their Tumblr profiles and we had 37 new genders? Because I do and let me tell you, I’m tired of that political crap and want to play that clip 24/7 just to rub it in how much your Trump Derangement Syndrome has derailed progress over the last three and a half years. 

So yes, we do need more mental health care. And if the suicide hotlines aren’t enough, maybe looking into your extra 911 idea could have some merit. But like 911 operators and the suicide hotline, you’d be dealing with people who at most have a certificate and at least have the boring training videos that you hope they didn’t skip through.

But there’s a bigger issue with this. People having psychotic breaks don’t normally call 911 on themselves. They’re too busy having hallucinations, anxiety, processing issues, disordered speech, and paranoia to get on the phone. (38) The best way to keep a loved one out of the police’s way is to get them help before they start fighting the marshmallow man at the local playground dressed like Captain Underpants. And to get them medicine. It’s also important to make sure they take any prescribed meds which means helping them to understand that they are sick, keeping them off drugs and alcohol, finding a doctor they trust, and adjusting for negative side effects. (39) 

People need help and usually not from the government. {Shot 12 cause mental illness is a thing}

EDUCATION

Okay three more of these. Let’s do it. 

We demand that the history of Black and Native Americans be given a significantly greater focus in the Washington State education curriculum.

We already said that we need to give the whole education train and overhaul. Giving more attention to the American history of Blacks and Natives should be a part of that. I didn’t know until now the role Native Americans played in drafting the papers that tied the original colonies into the Union. And until Trump had an unfortunate scheduling overlap, I’d never heard of Juneteenth as more than a passing word with no context or meaning.

Not to mention all the different facts about slavery in the nation that makes it much more than just a black and white {no pun intended} issue such as Native American slave owners, free Black slave owners, and the universal tale of slave trade from the beginning to now. (40) I purposefully used an article that calls out the bogus claims while trying to negate the correct ones because I think it’s important to teach these facts from a young age to prevent both lies and the kind of bias you’re seeing crop up. 

We demand that thorough anti-bias training become a legal requirement for all jobs in the education system, as well as in the medical profession and in mass media.

I think this is about much more than any race bias. As noted with the black doctors part above, sometimes the perception of misunderstanding breaks down the lines of communication before it can even take place. A self fulfilling prophecy sort of deal. 

However, a Princeton study supposedly did link a bias in blacks getting worse and more punishment than their white peers in counties where people were more blatantly racist. Interestingly the “implicit racism” many seem to fear and look down on was shown to have a much smaller effect and similarly found next to no sexuality bias. (41) This leads me to believe that the teachers who are acting in a racist manner should be easy to spot and if you really are old-school racist, you just shouldn’t be teaching kids. No sensitivity training required just get out of the profession. 

I also looked at statistics overall affecting blacks and other minorities in schooling and found a helpful list that provided a look at what might be considered the real problem. {Aside from shot 13 fatherlessness and disruptive home lives which is a raceless problem.} It mentions that black students simply didn’t have access to things like advanced mathematics, qualified teachers, finances, school counselors, advanced reading programs. It also doesn’t help that many teachers, especially those of a different race with blacks being underrepresented as teachers, have low expectations for black students which lead to under-representation in AP classes even when available. (42) 

So to everyone who is clamoring for more lenient scoring for black students, sit your butt down, this is why we call you the modern racists you are NOT helping. 

But then, what will help? Luckily, what I consider to be the first and biggest step in the right direction is something that Trump has been campaigning for for years now and is finally getting the kind of traction it deserves. School choice. 

In an effort to help children stuck in failing public schools, President Trump has been pushing his Education Freedom Scholarships which gives states the ability to create tax programs to give underprivileged students access to private schools. Not only will this help pull many out of the bad schools they are in, but if they want to keep their funding, the bad public schools will be face to face with the need to make serious changes. (43) From personal experience I know my city’s school made some big improvements when the state passed school choice which meant a child could get a voucher to go to any school in the county. That first mass exodus really changed the landscape and increased attendance in a private school in the area.

We demand the City of Seattle and State of Washington remove any and all monuments dedicated to historical figures of the Confederacy, whose treasonous attempts to build an America with slavery as a permanent fixture were an affront to the human race.

I dare you to look up what Marx and his practices actually did in his life. Go ahead. Do it. Or Lenin.

Also does anyone find it funny how everyone whines about all the lost history from Europeans destroying Aztec monuments and the like when they actively practiced human sacrifice but now we need to overwrite our own history? 

But perhaps they have a point. Many of the statues didn’t get erected until after reconstruction while the South was attempting to undo all of the progress made during the integration period right after the Civil War. They were a sign of “we lost but we’re not going anywhere.” And I can see how that’s a problem. (44) I would want statues of Hitler to be at least moved into a “don’t do what this man did” museum and think statues of Baphomet and other demons should be melted down and salted. 

But leave Christopher Columbus alone. He isn’t responsible for what came later, he might not have been a nice guy but he did revolutionize the world, and the statues were made to commemorate Italians in America not the bad stuff he did. And the Presidents. Many were slave owners and that is terrible for us today. Back then it was the norm though, and they worked hard to create the nation we now have that eventually freed the slaves. Without the deep commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all men, without that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL not just by them but ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR, there would not be the legacy that we have of working towards that truly free society. They may not have been perfect or known where things would end up, but they started us down a path towards true freedom and equality unlike any other society present today.

IN CONCLUSION

Shut up Chaz.

Not even your good points make up for the horror you’ve put everyone through these past few days. Grow up and take responsibility like the rest of us. Oh, and just so you know, there are many people with black skin who think you’re full of shit and calling them all tokens or Uncle Toms is doing you no favors in the eyes of those who see you for the racist, pandering, whining, communist brats you are.

For everyone else: work to get healthy and be happy with the rest.

Take care and keep the light of hope for a truly free and equal society blind to everything but deed alive.