Editor,

No, we must not let black deaths at the hands of police go unabated, as a sign of the times. These horrific “traffic stops” that lead to bullying, beatings and death is unacceptable on all levels and should never be allowed; it should have stopped when we saw the tapes of Rodney King and became aware of what was happening. If the police somehow think this is OK, then their mindset must change.

Why a policeman comes at a motorist, out of the gate yelling displaying angry negative emotions and not treating the person with any kind of dignity or respect or humanity is never the right approach. Their assumptions of who that person is is wrong, each stop is different, each person is different. They seem to assume that every motorist will be violent and a problem, why? Are all motorists usually violent a problem? No of course not. So it must be something else. If it is because he or they are black then we have a much bigger problem, which I think we do.

So the basic training of police must change, and we as the larger society must also change, to support and demand these changes in policing. Perhaps we must stop sending police out as warriors to do battle, but as fellow humans, who most of the time will not encounter a problem with a traffic stop. As long as we look to people like Majorie Taylor Greene, who says fellow Congress people should be killed because they are Democrats, or Gregg Abbott and Ron DeSantis thinking it is acceptable to treat immigrants like pawns in their political machinations by shipping them around the country in buses, and we accept them as “leaders” with these attitudes it will lead to problems.

Treatment of our fellow Americans should start with the people we put in positions of power. Abuse of that power is a fine line and these “leaders” should always be aware of how they use that power and be wary of any abuse they might be tempted to use for their own gain, if abused we should vote them out. If we want a better society it should start with our leaders and they must reflect what we want. We must demand they respect the people they serve or we will reap what they sow inhumanity, cruelty, a brutish society reflected through the police force.

Nancy Mayer

Freeland