Sitting On My Porch Part Forty Two

The air is full of pollen and grown is full of that brown stuff that falls off the trees this time of year. It seems like there is more pollen in the air this year than there has been for awhile. I don’t know what this means but I have to look it up and see if it has anything to do with hurricanes. Yes, it’s almost time for that but we have two months before I put the Weather Underground icon back on my desktop. There are other things to worry about at the moment.

People are resigning from Mayor Elect Mitch Landrieu’s committee to find a new chief. They say the process isn’t open enough. I am all for transparency but do we really want a chief that didn’t care enough about the city there are in now and the officers who work for them to have their name all over the media as someone dying to leave and take the New Orleans job? What if we decide not to hire that person and they have to keep working where they are? It isn’t fair to them.

Some of that is a little political posturing in my opinion. That’s how the game is played. I think you will see a bit of this here and there by some local folks who may be getting the feeling that outsiders are coming in to run our community. I understand the sentiment on general principle but when it comes to police chief you need to let that go. You can’t ignore the obvious. The fact remains that our last two chiefs were black and from New Orleans and the environment was so out of line that a group of officers killed innocent people after the storm and are just answering for it because their superiors help them cover it up. I’m not saying that every qualified officer currently on the force or was born and raised here wouldn’t do a good job. I’m saying that past history isn’t on their side when it comes to the benefit of the doubt. Personally I am confused by people who want to see the Danziger 7 brought to justice and at the same time publicly support Chief Riley. We can’t have it both ways.

Maybe now since one of the Danziger 7 officers turned on his comrades and gave explicit details about what happened that day the city can unite around the idea that things like this can never happen again. Good and honest police officers should be first in line to start the process of changing the image of the department. You guys have to be trusted enough for the community to work with you to reduce crime and make the city safer. If anyone blindly supports these officers it’s the same as me not turning in my childhood friend if I know he shot someone then complaining about the violence in my neighborhood. You can’t have it both ways.

Now on to a few things that are really bugging me….

We have been having a rash of pit bull attacks. I am surprised this doesn’t happen more often because so many people have pit bulls now and some of these folks are not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I don’t believe all these cats even like pit bulls. Some of them probably want a cocker spaniel but they are too afraid to admit it to their boys.

The fact that people expect more violence in the streets when it gets warmer outside pisses me off because it makes us sound like amphibians whose self hatred gets higher as we build up heat. It also depresses me because it’s true. Violence does goes up when it gets warmer.

The governor of Virginia just commemorated Confederate History Month! In recognition all the minority citizens should catch a train to Canada to commemorate the Underground Railroad. Does everyone know its 2010?

Enjoy reading this blog for free while you can. After the court ruling on net neutrality you will soon have to purchase the social media package along with the blogging bundle of websites to go with your Internet service.

Oliver Thomas is home in New Orleans after serving a three year sentence. I hope he starts working in the community where he belongs and leaves political office alone. Mitch Landrieu should send him a thank you card because if he wouldn’t have messed up he would be mayor right now.

This song has been in my head all day and I don't know why.