By Larry Craig

We have seen and heard the anger and frustration of so many people. Fine. Now what?

I really don’t expect to see much happen as a result of all this, because there is no focus on what exactly we are to do now. Legislative sessions will open, and lawmakers won’t know what to do.

The men involved in George Floyd’s death have been charged with crimes. The courts will have to figure out their level of culpability and the appropriate punishment. The public, not being privy to all the information, likely will not be satisfied with all the outcomes, and maybe there will be another wave of protests. The irony is that street justice is one of the very things they’ve been complaining about, and it will be the very thing they will then be demanding.

So what do we do now?

Without people making specific reform proposals, nothing is going to change.

So I offer my proposals:

1) My first thought is that we should have thousands upon thousands of people wanting to become police officers. Somebody has to do it right, and when nobody is, the right response is for people to step up and show everybody how it’s done.

As much as possible, I would only employ minority officers to work in minority neighborhoods. I see that as a step backward as a nation, but I see as much animosity from the public toward the police as the police are accused of having toward the public. Maybe someday in the future we can stop seeing people by their race, something Martin Luther King Jr. talked about.

That’s going to require hiring by race, which will need to be cleared by the courts, but it seems that the conditions here mandate race as a requirement of employment in many cases.

2) I would change the method for funding schools. We have relied on the property tax, and it’s not working.  Poor areas are not able to generate enough money for public education. The state should determine a basic level of spending per student and raise that through the income tax. Public-education money must then be kept separate from general funds. Otherwise, it will be spent on other things.

3) The gangs must be shut down. This decision must be broad-based in that you don’t want any one individual publicly responsible for making that decision. The drug cartels won’t like it, so you can’t give them any particular individuals to target in retaliation. It could lead to a real war of sorts, with casualties. Wars cost a price, but sometimes they are necessary, and this is a necessary one.

4) We need investment in the black community, but people are not going to want to invest unless they can be sure their investment is safe from non-business risks. Those who destroy or vandalize property must be punished. There are no excuses. They are hurting their entire community by their acts, not just the property owners.

I think this is a good start.

Please visit my blog at poligion1.blogspot.com for articles I have written on politics, culture, and public life.