A list of the ACLU’s clients can be seen here: www.aclu.org/spyfiles.
Briefing the police in to the fact that it is mostly innocent people being targeted as terrorists under the Patriot Act will render them less likely to cooperate with FBI orders to arrest “terrorist“ citizens. Unless, of course, they lack ethic.
It is perhaps a wrongful and unfair exaggeration in our own minds to assume that all or most police are unethical. Some of them are corrupt and violent; many or most of them are not. Don’t be biased in your judgment: I talked with police in my area about the dubbing of innocent people as terrorists and their faces fell. You should have seen how worried and concerned they looked. Assume them to be good people with hearts that care and ethic and integrity, and they will respond in kind. Many among us are inclined to believe that cops are a bad breed of people, approaching them as such. This only jades them even more in their work. We must be compassionate toward them, realizing that they are subject to harrassment and ill treatment themselves, and some may lash out violently in an over-reaction to the way they are treated by the public. If we citizens take responsibility for our own part in this, backed by a compassionate understanding of (and listening to) the police’s point of view in these matters, then we will likely effect peaceable solutions with the police.
Remember: The key to a successful meeting, and to a successful outcome affecting the entire community, is to listen. Surely we don’t have to agree with everything we hear, but at the same time to “hear people out” is a key cornerstone to diplomatic success. The entire community will be depending on your success in these meetings. Listen! Negotiate peaceably and compassionately. Things will work out if done in this spirit.
Between rebutting ideas in peoples’ heads, briefing them in to the dictatorial and oppressive facts of post-911 legislation, contacting grassroots leaders, and briefing police in to the statistics of violations and false dubbing of so-called “Terrorists”, and disabling the Patriot Act, we Americans should be successful in bringing about change.
To do that en masse will require massive effort. YOUR voice is needed. YOUR facts need to be out there with the public. YOUR request for others to do the same is what will be required. Thank you for your help in restoring balance to America.
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