One of These Things is Not Like the Other

If, like me, you grew up watching Sesame Street you’re probably familiar with the “One of these things is not like the others” game. Grover or Oscar or some other Muppet would show the viewers a group of items and ask them to identify the item which didn’t belong. Well, I’d like to play that game with some recent stories I’ve read in the news, and I invite your comments below.

First, let me tell you about Faiz Khalaf. He lived and worked on a family farm North of Baghdad with his young wife, his three children (aged five, three and five months), his 74-year-old mother, his sister and his two nieces (aged five and three). In 2006 US forces stormed his home in a predawn raid. Shots were fired and the entire Khalaf family were killed. At the time local police, neighbors and multiple reporters called this a mass execution of innocent civilians. Multiple Iraqi TV stations aired gruesome footage of the children’s bodies (Winning hearts and minds!). Angered Iraqi officials demanded some kind of action be taken, but US officials denied anything inappropriate occurred. A US internal investigation cleared the US troops of all wrongdoing, claiming that at least one insurgent has been seized during the battle. A US diplomatic cable recently made public by Wikileaks suggests a different story. The cable makes no reference to the arrest of any suspect, or resistance from any residents. Autopsies performed showed that the entire Khalaf family had been handcuffed and shot in the head. After they were all dead US troops called for an air strike on the home, burned three vehicles and killed their livestock in an apparent effort to destroy evidence. Philip Alston, a high-ranking United Nations investigator, reported that executions like this, “were hardly an isolated incident.”

Second, let me tell you about LaShanda Smith. She’s suing Chicago Public Schools because her son was one of several first-graders at Carver Primary School who were ‘disciplined’ for talking in class by being handcuffed and detained for hours without being allowed to contact their parents. The arresting officer removed the youngsters from class in handcuffs, held them in an isolated room away from any other adults and told them that “they were going to prison and would never see their parents again.” In her lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Smith says that her son, “sustained injuries of a permanent, personal and pecuniary nature.” Pecuniary means, “of or relating to money.” Don’t feel bad. I had to look it up. Sounds to me like she’s better off home schooling anyway. Their family attorney said the Chicago Board of Education ignored repeated attempts to resolve the matter outside of court, and no disciplinary action against the officer has been reported… go figure.

Finally, let me tell you about Derek Lopez. He’s a 14-year-old boy who got into a fight at a school bus stop. He reportedly punched the other boy once. This was witnessed by police officer Daniel Alvarado who decided to intervene. Alvarado had been reprimanded 16 times in the previous 4 years, specifically for insubordination and failure to follow supervisors’ directives. So, the cop ordered Derek to “freeze,” but instead the boy ran and disappeared into the neighborhood across the street from the high school. Alvarado called dispatch and his supervisor directed him to stay at the bus stop with the other boy and not to go searching the neighborhood. So, of course he followed orders…. just kidding. He sped into the neighborhood. Derek jumped over a fence and hid in a shed in the back yard of a house. Alvarado exited the patrol car, weapon drawn, and stormed through the gate into the back yard. Within seconds Alvarado shot the unarmed boy hiding in the shed. The homeowner, who was an EMT, called 911. Derek died from his wound in the ambulance 50 minutes later. Rather than terminating Alvarado, the district transferred him to patrol.

So which of these things is not like the others? Is it Khalaf, because he was in Iraq while the other two were in the United States? Or is it Smith, because he survived while the other two were killed? Maybe it’s Lopez, because the other two were handcuffed and he at least had a decent chance to run and hide? Well, the fact is… I’m pulling your leg a little bit. There is no answer. All three of these stories are tragic expressions of the same systemic problem. When individuals are granted the insignia of authority, the tools of violence and immunity from accountability… they misbehave. Psychologically speaking, in order for an individual to consign their body over to the military, occupy a foreign land and attempt to annihilate an evasive enemy they must dehumanize that enemy and every suspected enemy. That’s the only way a team of allegedly sane men/women can enter a home, gather a family in one room, and systematically execute them. They must on some level regard those victims as less than human.

So what happens when those individuals come home?

The militarization of the civilian police force in America is undeniable. Many of those soldiers are swept into a domestic law enforcement position when they should probably be spending some time in a mental health facility. Across the country local police departments have inherited millions of pieces of surplus military equipment. Military-grade semi-automatic weapons, armored vehicles, helicopters and other heavy equipment intended for the battlefield is now being used here against us. Tactics and training that was developed for soldiers against foreign insurgents are now implemented by domestic officers against political protesters. Paramilitary SWAT raids originally meant for violent emergency situations are now routinely used to carry out a warrant.

The uncomfortable reality is that the average American civilian is more similar to Faiz Khalafthan than they are to their own domestic “peace officers.” Similarly, Daniel Alvarado and other average American cops are more psychologically similar to US soldiers than they are to their own neighbors. Like soldiers they must dehumanize the criminal and every suspected criminal. They must on some level regard us as less than human. That’s the only way they could treat us so similar to livestock.

Davi Barker: In grade school Davi refused to recite the pledge of allegiance because he didn’t understand what it meant. He was ordered to do as he was told. In college he spent hours scouring through the congressional record trying to understand this strange machine. That’s where he discovered Dr. Ron Paul. In 2007 he joined the End The Fed movement and found a political home with the libertarians. The Declaration of Independence claims that the government derives its power “from the consent of the governed.” He does not consent.