Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

The government needs a downsizing

Chris Chalk Flickr
(Chris Chalk Flickr)

This column is not anti-police, nor is it anti-military. It is anti-institution, anti-reaction and, more than anything, anti-hypocrisy.

Our government is not too big, it’s actually overwhelmingly too small when compared to other developed countries. When it comes to “protecting” our cities, though, our government is too large, not in its scope but rather in its reaction.

In September, during the Charlotte protests that erupted from the death of Keith Lamont Scott, riots and violence occurred. Most protesters were peaceful but unfortunately some were not. They vandalized, threw objects at police and burned property. It was a typical riot scene that we’ve grown accustomed to since the proliferation of television and cable news. While following the story, I remember coming across a story stating Governor Pat McCrory was bringing in the National Guard to “assist.” But to assist who exactly?

Was the National Guard coming in to supply police with body cameras, dashboard cameras and training on how to confront high-stake situations non-violently? No. So they must have been there to demilitarize the local police who, like police departments across the country, have accumulated military style equipment and weaponry over the past two decades. No, not that either. So they had to have been called in to address the problems of structural racism and inequality that plague inner city and Black communities. No, their assistance served to suppress the outrage of the oppressed.

The National Guard is an extremely important organization, but this is not their purpose. Calling the National Guard should not be the reaction to protests. Neither should furthering the militarization of our police departments, a practice that breeds distrust and fear in communities and is antithetical to the principle that founded our nation: the right to revolution. Instead, change should be the reaction to protest. When millions of black Americans believe that their lives are valued less than white lives, we must address their concerns with change, not occupation. When the Native Peoples of the Americas assert that their sacred lands and water supplies are being infringed upon by a corporation, we should change our regulation of business instead of reacting with tear gas, rubber bullets and tanks.

A common criticism of Black Lives Matter protests, or similar protests, is actually a criticism of the rioting that sometimes occurs, blaming the movement for the actions of a few. Some people let out their frustration though rioting and this feeling is perfectly articulated by the rapper The Game on the song “Savage Lifestyle”: “…and just so we’re clear, this is pain and despair/we burn our own *explicative* and we aware, and don’t care.”

If the needs of citizens were actually being addressed instead of being met with resistance, like the denial of implicit bias (something that literally every person has) and institutional racism in policing, maybe rioting and violence wouldn’t occur.

Furthermore, we must remember our nation was built on rioting and violence. In elementary school we learn about tar-and-feathering (a practice where colonists literally poured hot tar on the naked bodies of tax collectors), the Boston Tea Party, the creation of local militias and the Boston Massacre. We celebrate them, even though they were all violent endeavors, because they gave us our freedom.

In reality, those actions gave white men and, to a certain extent, white women freedom while leaving Black Americans in chains and essentially sentencing Native People to a 100-year genocide. Our message of anti-violence and anti-rioting is completely hypocritical to everything our nation is built on. If white people want to gain freedoms through violence it’s fine, but if you’re Black, brown or indigenous, you can expect tear gas, tanks and a wave of heavily armed men telling you to “stop resisting” while their knee boroughs into the back of your neck.

Oh yeah, just a reminder, being black in American has been much harder than being a colonist in America ever was.

So let’s make our government smaller but in the right ways: by listening to our people instead of calling in the National Guard, by demilitarizing our police to limit the terror they bring to communities, and by discontinuing thinly veiled phrases like “law and order” that suppress the voices of Americans who most need to get their message out.

To be clear, I am not condoning violence or rioting, but rather the freedoms and privileges I, and other white people, have today were gained through violence. If we aren’t going to address the needs and frustrations of the most vulnerable American citizens, how can we hold them to a higher standard?

Evan Gaudette is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].

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    David Hunt 1990Nov 11, 2016 at 8:13 am

    There’s a reason they don’t teach HISTORY and CIVICS any more. It would mean students have the context and scope of world history to understand how exceptional America really is in the arc of history. And it’s being done deliberately.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrt6msZmU7Y

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    Dr. VenckmanNov 7, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    What utter nonsense. The federal government has historically consumed about 18% of GDP. It now consumed 28% of GDP. Comparing ourselves to other pathetic, failed nations is not the answer. This country was built on the very idea that we wouldn’t be like the places people came from. We are over-regulated, over-taxed and under-employed. This is no accident. Those very countries you admire so much routinely have unemployment rates in the 8-12% range. Unacceptable. Because it creates dependency and a permanent underclass. Which is exactly what is happening here.Obviously, the police are charged with protecting life and safety in the face of immediate harm. It is by nature a reactionary force. The simple fact that the National Guard had to be deployed undermines your argument of a peaceful “protest.” Charlotte was a riot pure and simple, and could have become Los Angeles 1992 had the Guard not intervened and police tactics improved since those days. The entire premise of passive, peaceful protestors is so wrong it is laughable. Trying to tie the Boston Tea Party to subjugation of black Americans shows that you either have no concept of history or willingly distort it to fit this nonsensical narrative. The government is bloated as hell. One of its core functions is to provide proper policing. That is one thing most of our cities are doing well, at least during a crisis. You want progress? Cut every federal, state and local government by 10-15% for starters. Get rid of professional bureaucrats who would prescribe every moment of our lives with inane rulemaking simply because it is their job. The house is on fire, kids, and it not because of the issues I read about in this fine publication every week. Your professors are doing you a great disservice distracting you from much of the world’s problems by re-hashing the problems of the previous generations. UMASS needs to update its playbook. Even Berkeley students are on to protesting more legitimate things.

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    David Hunt 1990Nov 2, 2016 at 9:29 am

    If black people have such a horrid time here in America… go back to Africa. Let’s truly right the wrong of slavery and ship you back.

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