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Tradition!

Steve Russell
3 min readAug 25, 2020

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Tactic by Fr. James Groppi in Milwaukee, WI. Graphic by Pixabay.

Not All Traditions are Worth Keeping

Failure to cease perambulation upon the order of a white man has been a capital offense in some part of North America for over 300 years. In the unlikely event Jacob Blake did not know that rule, he will be ready to state his objections to it by the time he gets out of the hospital — assuming his mind and body are still properly connected after the pistol shots that tore into his back.

The Black Lives Matter movement represents the third major attempt since the Civil War to clean up the legal mess still getting all over the boots of any picker who steps out into the field when for so long the relationship between black people and white was between the formerly owned and the former owners.

It’s hard to picture the Constitution getting ratified without the deal with the Devil, the compromise with slavery that allowed the plantation economy and King Cotton.

It’s hard to picture the young republic getting past the election of 1800, a rowdy affair that involved some states mobilizing militias but ended up with a peaceful transition of power that has eluded most revolutions before and since.

The justice system has to dump some traditions to serve women equally as well. If you are a police officer and wish to differ with this statement, I’d love to read your opinion in…

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Steve Russell
Steve Russell

Written by Steve Russell

Enrolled Cherokee, 9th grade dropout, retired judge, associate professor emeritus, and (so far) cancer survivor. Memoir: Lighting the Fire (Miniver Press 2020)

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