| Chief James Craig Detroit Police Department |
Who remembers the movie, Brubaker? It stars Robert Redford. You know, Sundance? I loved Brubaker; until the end. Well, Brubaker became the warden at this bad ass prison. Before he had got there, he had heard everything about it. Instead of coming in through the front door, however, he decided to come in as a prisoner. An inmate, just like everybody else. He wanted to see, if everything he had heard was true. It was all true and he found out a few things he didn't know. There were bodies buried on a hillside, people were being electrocuted and beaten and local business men, were hiring prisoners at low labor cost, and hiding bribe money in apple pies. One guard in particular was running the show, but it was Brubakers show, but it didn't seem that way. Everything he tried to do, was somehow diverted by one crisis or another.
When I see Chief Craig on television, I think of Brubaker and his trials. I know that he didn't sneak into Detroit, but he had worked for other major cities, and had a pretty good idea what he was in for. I know that he was blown away by the things that were going on. The phone calls he received from citizens about his officers, and the devastation of it all. Where do you begin to fix it? He did what Brubaker did in the beginning, he changed ranks. He put people in charge who would be on his side, and willing to help him out. They also had to endure great challenges and attacks on their lives and careers, because this one thing is true...
Detroit is one of the most corrupt cities in the world. Note, I didn't say in the United States. I said the whole wide world. Like my city, Pontiac, the corruption runs so deep you can't make enough cuts. My city laid off people, people retired, folk got fired and still nearly everyone involved was corrupt. So, cutting them out isn't going to help, because their game is too tight. What needs to happen is what Chief Craig is dangerously trying to do, change the policies. Create a system where it is difficult for corruption to exist. As a business student, I understand that top heavy administrations are very hard to change. In fact, any bureaucracy is hard to change. You throw in a budget, paperwork, union demands and a dirty work pool and you have your work cut out for you. Somebody, somewhere, thought Chief Craig was the man for the job...
Drug dealers run that city. Even with everything that Chief Craig can accomplish, he goes to stand that Detroit is a city filled with addicts. When you have addicts, you have dope and when you have dope you have dope dealers. People in Detroit buy more crack than they do cars, houses and groceries. Drugs fuel this country's economy. Wall Street, the Dow Jones, is supported by drug money. Many of the states to the south are fueled by drug money, too. Florida, Texas and Arizona are all thriving, due to the inflows of drugs in their economy. Not to point out the obvious, but both Bush brothers were governors of Florida (Jeb) and Texas (George W.). We know their affects on our country and the favors George W. did for his friends, starting wars, killing men and lowering interest rates. That may have saved our economy, but helped fuel a housing crisis that America still hasn't recovered from.
Like Brubaker, Chief Craig has to deal with people who don't want to change, and who were fine with things just as they were. The love of money is the root of all evil, and those cops and politicians in Detroit were making plenty of it. Why would Charles Pugh leave a lucrative position at Fox 2 to become a City Councilperson? Monica Conyers and all her mess. It's not about bribes, those bribes were chump change. It's all about dope money, and like TV money, it flows long and in abundance. Kwame Kilpatrick is doing 32 years in prison. With all his women and bid-rigging, you don't think he had his hands in the dope trade in Detroit? That included the police, and if you know my story, you know that the police don't police the police. They put up that blue-wall and protect each other. Now, don't get me wrong, there are police who want a change, in Detroit and OCSD, too. The bad ones have the ability to stand in their way!
In the 1980's when drugs got so big that Reagan declared a war on it, Coleman Young was in office. He was the first drug dealing mayor. White Boy Rick is a product of his administration. You can't have an empire without soldiers, and in Detroit, those soldiers are the crooked police. One thing I discovered from Brubaker, because he ultimately failed.You can't push back at the wrong time and you can't be too aggressive. You got to bide your time, make your changes and push where you see your way clear. It's like having a baby. When my nephew was born, 24 years ago, I found out that a woman is supposed to push when it hurts the most. As soon as that little monitor started beeping real fast, she's having a contraction, and the nurse commanded her to push. After a while, she became used to it. When those beeps sped up, my brother's girlfriend grabbed her knees and started to push.
As hard as it is, Chief Craig has to push in times like these. Not when things are slow and they are content. It's no good to shake them up. They will make moves to get what they want when things are stable. They want to shake you up! When they make those moves, you push. They are focused right now, on making him look bad. His administrative changes are causing them to lose money. Every story on the news is how his men are dying, he can't protect you. Children being molested and posted on Facebook. He's uncaring and not swift enough in a crisis. Old news stories that are now going to trial and thrown in his face about what has gone wrong in the past. The untimely death of Kenneth Stiel. There is no doubt in my mind that these are all man-made disasters. The creation of bad situations to make a man look bad. Chief Craig needs to keep plugging away at his agenda, while secretly pushing his own agenda of war. Because that' what he's in.
Fox 2 shows Oakland County Sheriff's Deputies rescuing teenagers from burning cars and getting awards. Where Mike at? Hiding.. While Pontiac, is recovering from five deaths in five weeks. While Chief Craig battles his demons that they aired over the screen, everyday. He can't be like Brubaker, however, and get obsessed with the fighting. He has to understand that he also has a city police department to run. He can't fight them all the time, besides they are too good at the game. They have women set to take down his men with seduction, teenagers willing to start fights and riots, and posting their shenanigans on Facebook and men willing to kill for the right price. White boy Rick, ain't in Florida, because he committed another crime. No, he's there, because they don't want him out. If he hit the streets of Detroit, he'd be dead in no time. Warren Evans and Benny Napoleon are hiding out and Chief Craig is left holding the bag.
Some deadbeat, mental case from the neighborhood would kill White boy Rick It's been 30 years and they still hate him. It's been almost 20 years for me, and I still haven't gotten any relief. Some toxic person that was a hothead and couldn't hold himself together they would say. Unless your like me and know better, when the police say something on TV, people believe it. When people have to die, the police are two-to-three degrees removed from the situation. Believe me, they can kill a man and not get dirty. Eric Teasley, who was into it with our police was murdered. Some kid killed him in his own house. You could never tell me our Pontiac Police weren't somehow involved. If it wasn't just putting a bug in the kids ear that Teasley had a lot of money at his house or setting a man free when his sentence wasn't over. "Trickery" is the police middle name. Good cops use it and the bad ones do, too. Some are even forced to take one for the team.
Garry Jackson, of the OCSD, sits in Ionia prison for a crime that is normal at the jail. He was receiving oral sex from an inmate. Black and stupid, he allowed himself to be seduced. The women, "the brides" I call them, had nothing but bad things to say about Jackson. But Fredline would smack them around and hit them upside their head and they wouldn't say a word. The police, FBI, CIA do what they want to do. The good ones are afraid of the bad ones, and making a change takes sacrifice and patience. Black people in Detroit applaud corruption. They see it as a Black man standing up to the White man. Kilpatrick is a stellar example of that. Playing by the rules can get you killed. Careful boss...Careful...
I love a good movie. But like "Boys 'N the Hood", I can only watch Brubaker, until the last 15 minutes. That's when he is stripped of his job, and humiliated for becoming obsessed with the corruption. Because they sit back and wait for you to fall into the plunder. They set up little scenarios to see if you'll take the bait. Stay calm and relax and pick your battles wisely, because they will be there with gloves on ready to fight, and throw dirt in your eyes. Push when it's painful and let your light shine all the time! Don't take that walk of shame, even if your supports cheer you on. Retire, get your party, your cake and gold watch. Know that you did something, and that you made a change for the better. Succeed...
| Richard Wershe Jr. "White Boy Rick" |
No comments:
Post a Comment