Little Pink Animals
Michelle on May 12 2007 at 2:09 am | Filed under: The Political
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This post was inspired by Teaching And All That Jazz, although we are not at all talking about the same thing.
First of all, let me apologize. One of the reasons that I have not been posting is because my posts tend to be on the negative side. I’m pretty self-conscious about that. I am actually a fairly cheerful person, but this blog all too often tends to be my outlet for the darker things in my life.
Anyway.
The pigs were at my school today. They handcuffed a kid and ground his face into the concrete. The kid did resist. I was surprised–he is a supersweet kid. I think it was terror. The kid was crying and pleading for one of our staff not to leave him. He had had a very small amount of marijuana on him.
The impact on staff was intense. The woman who relieved me for lunch was openly crying. The man who the kid was pleading with had to take an hour to get it together before he could take the kids to community service. I felt pretty unhappy. I told the kids that it makes us hurt to see them in cuffs, powerless. The kids remarked that the atmosphere felt like someone had died. It was not a fun afternoon.
One thing that creeps me out is that another kid is the one who let the cops know. He had asked the secretary how much money he would get if he called Crimestoppers. This kid, who advocates the legal use of marijuana, ratted out another kid for the money.
Drugs do not belong at school. I think, however, that this could have been handled differently.
On another note, the same cop who was here today is one I have a beef with. He is the one who arrested my son and paraded him through a crowded cafeteria in cuffs. Interestingly, he caught another kid with Xstasy at school. He did not arrest that kid, nor did that kid get expelled. That kid is in my program for a few weeks. I know this because of the paperwork on the kid and my own chats with him. I can’t tell you how tempting it is to sue. My son didn’t have a controlled substance. I just don’t get how random the whole thing is.
Weird thing about the cop is that his wife is locked up. She embezzled a few hundred thousand from her employer. Hard to believe he didn’t suspect anything. Hmm. I found out today that one of my colleagues has a son who is in prison for drugs. There are so many of us who have kids in the legal system. It is strange when it begins to feel normal to be one of the people who interact with “the system” from the outside.
Disclaimer: I don’t have a problem with all law enforcement folks. One of our district police officers is one of the best guys you can imagine. It is a shame that he is the rare exception, though.
ITK code for Singing The Sky:
The background on mean pig and his wife certainly illuminates things. A friend of mine was telling me that in Costa Rica they have term limits on how long somebody can be a police officer (or civil guard) and I think it’s three years, to avoid corruption or abuse of power. I know that we won’t be able to institute that here … but it does illuminate the fact that this is a job that can breed misuse of power.
Yes, who polices the police? o_O
(I like pigs.)
Wow…makes you stop and think for sure. I just cringe when I think about what it is going to be like by the time my kids get old enough for high school. Ugh..makes me want to home school!
Well, it sounds like quite a week for pigs, pardon my pun. One reason I have little use for police is this lack of consistency in their behavior and actions. Why is it that they give tickets to people traveling a couple of miles per hour over the speed limit and then fly down the road 10-15 miles per hour over the speed limit with no lights or sirens so they can get to their favorite bar for happy hour. Once a local cop plowed into my dad on his way home from work. He had the nerve to give dad a ticket. When they went to court the judge chewed the cop out when he found out that the guy had run a red light with no lights/siren, supposedly chasing another car. The cop’s insurance company had to pay all of the costs.
The police generally don’t appear to care about anyone’s feelings but their own. They also seem to feel that laws don’t apply to them, only to others.
You know Michelle, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that your blog is “darker”–you live through a great deal of pain and misery in your work. It’s not a good thing to hold all that you experience in day, and it seems like a good thing to put it out there. I know, I certainly appreciate being reminded of how hard other people have it! It helps keep perspective on things. I don’t see what you write as “negative” but realistic–nor do I think you’re negative for having written it. You need to put this stuff somewhere, if not on your blog, then where?
We all blog for different reasons–and in doing so, give different things to to the world. Your gift is the gift of reality seasoned with immense compassion. There is a hopefulness there, that other might not see at first read–but it’s there, you just have to dig deep!
I think it’s hard to not “resist” anyway. It’s against human nature to have your arms twisted and not put up a fight when physically confronted. I remember being trained to go limp while I was working for a non-profit community group in Houston.
Have you heard yet if you’ll be there next year? That place sure does need you, even though it may be hard.
I enjoy reading the dark posts though and can hear your positive voice behind it all. You are a survivor, Michelle. And I admire that so much!
[…] police are. That was hard to do, given that Sky and my school have both contrived to give me the inside view that I never wanted to […]