It is disheartening to see the phenomenon of hate embraced by so many people who don't understand the origin, meaning, or impact. To grasp the significance, you must first understand what it means. It is an intense, deep-seated emotional response of strong dislike,...
MAJOR BEN’S ARTICLES
Below is a list of articles by Major Ben Brooks that have appeared in the Times Herald.
Daddy, What Time Will You Be Home Tonight?
Every family member asks this question daily. I wonder how many leaders realize the gravity of that question for their officers. When they get up in the morning, they have quiet time with their family before embarking on, hopefully, another routine day at the office....
Leaks
A leak is an unintended hole, crack, or fault that allows a substance- such as a liquid, gas, or light- to escape or enter a container or system. As a child growing up in the rural South, I watched my father build his own home. At that time, he installed a tin roof....
Masks and Officer Safety
As a career law enforcement officer, I am perplexed by the recent debate over officers wearing masks. Everything I learned about law enforcement involved honesty, integrity, and, most of all, transparency. The federal government has a duty to present law enforcement...
Bias Understood
As an international speaker, trainer, and consultant, I have been intrigued by the lack of understanding of various terms, with people using them without knowing their meanings or applications. At one of my National Speakers Association conferences, a presenter shared...
Fear and Bias as a Law Enforcement Blind Spot
Fear – an unpleasant feeling triggered by the perception of danger real or imagined. Origin - past experiences (0-6) History - nomadic days (fight or flight) Survival function - to protect us, triggered by a significant event, i.e., hot, cold, wet, trauma Source: New...
DEI America’s Biggest Blind Spot
In 2016, I took a course with AARP in defensive driving. Having been driving since I was sixteen, I was curious about what the instructor could teach me. I signed up for the course to get a discount on my car insurance. As the instructor went through his orientation,...
DEI, The Latest Bogeyman
DEI is the latest catchphrase that is the catalyst for the present state of the divided states of America. We raise and salute the flag as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America. As patriotic as that sounds, it is far from our day-to-day...
The Reality of Community Policing
Many police executives approached community-oriented policing with a great deal of skepticism because they didn’t realize the critical role that the community plays in their success. Many felt they could do it on their own. Dr. Lee Brown, a former police commissioner...
A Practical Approach to Addressing School Shootings
After Columbine, over four hundred school shootings were reported in America. Every citizen should be outraged that our society has allowed that to happen. Schools should be the safest place in our community for our students, staff, and teachers. It is challenging to...
Black Jobs
By Major Ben Brooks
Listening to the debate I cringed when I heard the phrase immigrants are coming to the United States to take black jobs. I don’t know how many people took note of the disingenuous scapegoating when it comes to the lives of people of color. The fear-mongering in that statement is the height of racial ingratiation to score political points.
I grew up in the segregated South when everyone knew the definition of black jobs. These were the only jobs available to people of color, ironically the lowest paying. Additionally, there was a concerted effort by governmental officials to ensure people of color would stay trapped in the lowest-paying jobs for which there was little chance of advancement to a higher plane. I remember working in the tobacco, peanuts, and corn fields making five dollars a day in the scorching hot sun. When there was work in the cotton fields, the pay was based on the weight of the cotton picked during the day. There were women, who traditionally were paid one dollar less than men for the same jobs, who picked three or 400 pounds of cotton per day.
Looking back on that time, it was evident that no one clambered for those jobs. To suggest that someone is coming in to take the undesirable jobs that are low-paying and surely to keep you below the poverty level is disingenuous at best.
Ironically, the conversation is focused on someone taking black jobs while railing against raising the minimum wage where many of the so-called black jobs are available. The tactic is one of the oldest tricks in the book of divide and conquer creating fear and rancor among people of color is one of the highest forms of exploitation for short-term political gain.
When my mother worked as a domestic for three dollars a day, she knew the meaning of a black job. America has been conditioned to accept an inferior assignment of the least desirable jobs available. Oftentimes, there are concerted efforts to remind people of color of this notion. My dear friend, the late Lieutenant Richard McDowell, as a trooper was assigned as the driver for the Atty. Gen. of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. There was a constant reminder, that he occupied a white man’s job.
It is important to remember that the twenty-first century has created an environment where jobs are awarded based on skill and education, as opposed to a characteristic such as the color of your skin. To advance the notion that there are black jobs is to expose ignorance or naïveté about America in the twenty-first century.