Every Rope a Snake: A Buddhist Appeal to Stop Funding Police Violence
I used to feel too cynical to write to politicians. Unless I'm a big shot, why would they care? Plus, it's depressing to have to kiss up to someone in power, begging them to NOT screw up the world.
Lately, though, my views are shifting. Even if the strategic pathway is shaky, it sometimes works. And the life-saving outcomes can be dramatic — if infrequent, or impermanent. Plus, I realized that these moments can serve as opportunities to check in with our own deep beliefs. We can be clear and compassionate without kissing up.
I wrote this letter to a County Supervisor in the days before a vote with national consequences — to discontinue the Urban Shield police militarization program in 2019.
I don't have to tell you, dear reader, all the reasons that police militarization must end. Buddhist Peace Fellowship has been involved in the Stop Urban Shield coalition for years (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), and it's gratifying to finally see some major progress!!! (Thanks to STELLAR organizing by a whole grip of activists, led by younger people of color.)
So, despite not knowing whether or not my letter to the Supervisor made a difference, I'm glad to be a tiny wavelet in the ocean of change. And honestly, I'd love to read more of YOUR Buddhist-activist letters to elected officials, asking them to do the right thing.
Do you write spiritually grounded letters to politicians? Are they explicitly Buddhist, or not really? Why or why not?
much love and solidarity,
Katie
March 22, 2018
Dear Supervisor [Redacted],
May this note find you well. My name is Katie Loncke, and I am a Co-Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship: an organization founded 40 years ago to mobilize Buddhists of all lineages supporting an end to the war in Vietnam, and peace in all spheres of life. Forty years later, we are awakening a new generation of Buddhist activists committed to peace and justice. And I am writing to you because of both of your connections — to the Vietnam War as a veteran, and to Buddhism as a practice and a path for peace.
In the name of both streams, and in light of recent tragic events, I ask and urge you to take compassionate, courageous leadership in ending the Urban Shield program in Alameda County.
To which tragic events am I referring? Sadly, there are many these days. But it is this week's police killing of the young, unarmed Stephon Clark — in his own backyard — in my hometown of Sacramento — that has finally inspired me to write you this personal message.
As a Buddhist, you might be familiar with the ancient sutra of the man walking home at night, frightened by a snake along the path. He sees the snake, and he leaps and shouts and shudders. But finally, he looks closer — and sees that it is only a rope, which his mind had transformed into a deadly creature in the darkness.
Or you might know the teaching of the man who paints a tiger on the inner wall of a cave. He paints and paints and paints, and when the painting is complete, his eyes widen, he screams, "TIGER!!!" and sprints out of the cave, mortally terrified by his own creation.
I thought of these teachings this morning as I watched the body cam footage of two Sacramento officers gunning down 22-year-old Stephon.
At minute 7:50, when they fire 20 shots, and he goes down, unmoving, I noticed two things.
One, these men are terrified. They keep asking each other, in shaking voices, "Are you ok, man? Are you hit?" — thinking that Stephon had fired back. (Of course, he hadn't. He was unarmed.) Then, one by one, each officer reloads his weapon. They are seeing snakes, while a young man is bleeding to death on the grass.
Two, these men have been trained to see civilians, especially Black civilians, as enemy combatants. Sacramento's policing culture has been steeped for years in games like Urban Shield, which I had the opportunity to witness firsthand last year, along with other observers invited by the Alameda County Task Force. As you may know, the Sacramento SWAT team actually won the entire Urban Shield war games competition last year — and 2017 is not the first time.
My hometown has come in first place, achieving this dubious distinction, and today, my heart is broken.
Police are being trained by Urban Shield to see snakes and tigers even where there are none. And people of color, Black men like my own father (still living in Sacramento), are paying a disproportionate price.
The Metta Sutta tells us:
"Even as a mother at the risk of her life
watches over and protects her only child,
so with a boundless mind shall I cherish all beings."
In the name of precious life, I implore you, Supervisor Valle, to take wholesome action and put an end to Urban Shield.
May all beings be free from suffering.
With metta, in dharma,
Katie Loncke