Banksy had it right.
I know a fellow Pennsylvanian -- or I should say, we are "friended" -- who is a retired captain of Police of the city of Philadelphia and an Occupy acitivist, Captain Ray Lewis. You should friend him too. He was heading down to Ferguson a day or two ago, so he posted his protest sign on Facebook to ask us if we thought it was okay. It said "Police: Try LOVE" in large letters.
He had it right too.
Clearly this man was not trained by the likes of Rudy Giuliani. But I fear that the Giuliani Group has been doing some consulting for the Ferguson Police.
I can't imagine how torn Mr. Lewis must feel: a black, former captan of the force, obviously street-wise, and old enough to remember well the lessons of Birmingham. He had another sign that he also posted on Facebook, which read "Police: Stop Open Season on Black Men," peppered with bloody bullet hole marks. Can you imagine wondering which sign to hold at the protest? Should he hold both? I can't decide, I want the message to be both, I want the LOVE sign to be the one that hits them, POW! and I feel slightly foolish for it. But it's right.
To the Giulianis of the world; go have a beer with Banksy and ask him why he did it. I'd pay the bill; I wish the people of New York City could vote you a mandatory sit-down with Banksy. To the City of Brotherly Love: MOVE ON (You know what I'm sayin). To the Ferguson Police: No more violence. No more hatred. You don't have to agree, you don't have to become some kind of hippie, you don't even have to like it to have a heart.
We all know it, we just don't say it. But underneath it all, we are all fools, and we all know it's right. We all want love to be too big to fail.