Sunday, April 15, 2012
How about some compassion for those abused by Honolulu police?
by Larry Geller
At the same time as the Dalai Lama was preparing for his Saturday talk to students on compassion, the City and County of Honolulu was demonstrating, through its unrelenting mercilessness, the absence of any capacity for the compassion that the Dalai Lama was about to advocate. I doubt the HPD or the city know the meaning of the word.
Once again, technology brings us to the scene. Check out (for example) this streaming video of Saturday evictions of the encampment in Makaha, made from an iPhone: The Pineapple Glitch recorded live on 4/14/12 at 10:38 a.m. on RebelutionNova’s Ustream channel.
Our own compassion is on the line as well. The numerous police actions, many in clear violation of the City Council’s new law, are now documented for all to see. So who is working on the compassion part?
The same would apply to YouTube videos of police mercilessly beating peaceful Occupy protestors in cities across the country. The police are not enforcing laws, they are breaking laws. Later, the attorneys will settle on damages which the taxpayers, not the police officers, will pay. And so they will do it again. And all we do is watch from the comfort of our homes.
Not everyone has a home, and we do nothing as the city takes away what little the homeless do have. Abercrombie’s admonition to stop feeding the homeless was perfectly in line with this lack of compassion. How can he then greet the Dalai Lama and look him in the eye?
Soon the Dalai Lama will be headed for his next appointment in California. Will Hawaii be changed at all by his visit? It was a great thing that Pierre Omidyar brought him here. Now, Pierre, there is more you might do if you’ve been listening to his message. There’s more we all could do, within our own capabilities.
Time for Civil Beat to ask the tough questions..as well as the rest of us who care.
: April 16, 2012 at 9:21:00 AM HST I think of the new owners of resorts in the neighborhood, and I cannot help but feel that there is a component in this action that holds their voice.....and their power to initiate removal action. The homeless sweep of Ala Moana Beach Park during Mufi Hannemann, coincidently occurred before a rather substantial Ala Moana Beach fronting condominium was showcased for buyers.
: April 17, 2012 at 8:46:00 AM HST << Home
Post a Comment
Requiring those Captcha codes at least temporarily, in the hopes that it quells the flood of comment spam I've been receiving.