I have officially unpublished my second novel Blue Sweep. Written in 2017/2018, Blue Sweep was my answer to the constant police brutality and police murders. A young black woman is killed by the police and her father's revenge sparks a nationwide event where people band together and fight back against the police. It's brutal and violent and takes on the country's racial tension. Blue Sweep was meant as a warning: that if the police keep it up (killing innocent people) eventually it would be open season on cops.
When the violent protests broke out after the killing of George Floyd, my wife showed me the articles and asked if it sounded familiar. I wrote this uprising. However, nobody's read Blue Sweep. I'm pulling it to give it an edit and a new cover (it's cover was the barest of bones). Blue Sweep will return later this year and hopefully someone will pick it up.
One of the main changes will be the dropping of the first chapter, the introduction. The story begins in chapter two and I want to start right with the story. So, here is the original chapter one/introduction for all to read.
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Police Exonerated
in the Death of Young Man
Family Searches for Answers in the Death of their Son
Police Department
Investigated Over Death of Twelve Year Old
Riots Break Out Over Police Shootings
Police Related
Death Count Rises
Police Departments Claim Race Not a Factor in
Accidental Shootings
“I Feared for My
Life” The Police’s New Excuse
Black Lives Matter Countered by Blue Lives Matter
Movement
Man Killed by
Police Unarmed
Shooting of Fifteen Year Old Raises Awareness
Stray Bullets Kill
Young Girl
Questions Unanswered in Recent Wave of Shootings
Riots Erupt as
Officer Not Indicted
Unidentified Man Shot Down by Police
Officers Involved
in Shooting Acquitted
Wrong Man Killed by Police in Robbery
Protesters Hosed
at Rally
Man Shot Seven Times Unarmed
Police Officer
Suspended After the Killing of a Mother and Her Two Children
Three Killed in Protest for Equal Rights
Groom Killed at
Wedding
An
epidemic was growing. Festering for years. A plague resulting in a deadly
combination of hatred, power, and a total disregard for human life. Us and them, while one realized their place
on the food chain and acted, the other forgot their place and became complacent
in the national fear.
1,113 were reported killed by the police
in 2014.
1,216 in 2015.
1,162 in 2016.
New Year’s Day of 2017 was met with five
killings alone. By July, the number of people killed by police for the year had
risen to over six hundred. Of course, all of these are just the cases reported;
just as not every death is reported, not every killer is found. While some of the
victims’ families were given various sums of money for their anguish, others
weren’t granted anything but loss. Regardless, the officers involved were
rarely reprimanded beyond a suspension. It appeared to be the running routine:
murder, slap on the wrist, payout, and sweep under the rug, repeat.
The rift was often seen as overanalyzed
and over-speculated with points of view from two biased parties. In the early
days of the reports, when the numbers began stacking up, they were seen by many
as purely coincidental and those who identify as patriots strongly voiced the
reports as a smear campaign against the police force. But, as time went on, the
body count rose and it was becoming harder to chock up to accidents or
coincidence. The bias on both sides of the line remained, only stronger in
their opinions.
The argument for most citizens was that of
Murder vs Police Action. It was a fine line that was being blurred by the
minute. A line that had been seen before. Though the Vietnam War was called
such, many still refer to it as a police action and not actually a sanctioned
war. But much like the question ‘At what point does a police action become a
war?’ people asked ‘At what point does it go from a matter of law enforcement
to murder?’ Some people spoke up saying that “We need to call the killers what
they are regardless of their vocation.” Others disregarded it in support of the
police saying, “They’re just doing their jobs.” Much like the Vietnam War, the
rising death rate was met with people arguing the morals of the actions and
others standing by the side of the law, claiming their importance to liberty.
At first, most deaths were regarded by
officials as accidents while their more recent excuses such as the popular “I
feared for my life” and “I felt threatened” were used, regardless if the person
in question was armed. When the first steady wave of deaths were reported,
departments acted shocked and talked eagerly of investigating the matters. Most
of which were thrown out with various excuses, if one was given in the first
place. Police departments issued statements that their officers would undergo
new firearm safety training and reassess the excessive use of weapons but,
after more killings, mentions of such changes had ceased. The chaos from one
death was quickly overshadowed by the next and so forth.
Despite the departments’ claims that race
wasn’t a factor, the casualties of unarmed people of color continued to rise
from the few years prior. Though the black community weren’t the only ones
affected by it, they continued to be profiled and stalked by the boys
in blue. Departments denied having any racist officers in their employ.
Some went as far as pointing out Hispanic and African-American officers on the
force, fighting alongside their white brethren. It appeased some people, while
others saw it as the old cliché heard from racists: “I’m not racist. Some of my
best friends are black.”
Officers went through the academy and took
the vow to uphold the law and to serve and protect, but how would these department
heads know the moral codes and beliefs of each individual officer? This was a
question on a lot of American minds.
Protest rallies were held regularly,
demanding justice for the fallen members of the community. Money wasn’t nearly
enough for the families of the dead. They wanted justice. They wanted the
guilty to be tried as such. The people of America wanted their loved ones'
killers to be tried as any other killer would be, citing an obvious 'special
treatment' when it came to the law. People demanded answers. Why was my son killed? Why was my baby taken
away from me? Why are they not here anymore? When will it stop? What do the
police want? When will they be held accountable for their actions? How could
you feel threatened by an unarmed person? Why are all the children dying?
Police supporters called the protesters
“Un-American” and claimed they should be “arrested for obstruction of justice”
as they soon formed counter protests. They argued that being a police officer
is a hard job and they’re just trying to help. Supporters were as passionate as
the opposition and fights broke out from arguments in the comment sections
online to fist fights in the street at otherwise peaceful protests. Many
protesters compared every police related death without thinking about how casualties
are expected in such a dangerous job. One thing the supporters of law
enforcement failed to really understand, however, was how each death had
destroyed a family. With the death rate growing, thousands of families were
affected every year. The fighting between citizens would give the police a
break…until the next person was killed.
While the deaths rocked communities, many
didn’t believe the media hype. Whether they ignored it or chose not to believe
it, looking the other way mimicked the reaction to reports of the use of
concentration camps in Germany in the thirties and forties. To some civilians,
it was mere hearsay while, to others, it was just another sad news story on top
of the nightly broadcast. There were no camps or numbering, however, in the
modern day American holocaust; civilians of color as well as civilians of lower
classes were killed on site. Coincidentally, cops began stopping people at
random, asking for their identification without reason beyond personal interest
not unlike what was happening in Germany at that time. The division between
police and civilian had grown wider into the ‘us and them’ mentality. When it
was said that they were abusing the power they held, your average neighbor
would claim that the reports themselves gave the police too much credit, and
thus, too much power. The culprits in question, users of unwarranted deadly
force, were more often than not white male police officers.
Though some not directly affected joined
in the fight for justice, most wouldn’t act or even acknowledge the problem
until it was at their doorstep.
Many black officers wanted to speak up
about the injustices they’d seen on the force but feared for their lives over
breaking the Blue Wall Code of Silence. Some were reportedly harassed
for attempting to speak out. The safety of them and their families' lives were
threatened. Supporters blew them off, claiming them to be nothing more than
opportunists attempting to kick white police while they’re down and appealing
to the African-American community. Like civilians, the voices of those officers
were silenced.
The social climate had become tense.
People called police to help while simultaneously questioning their presence
and actions. A new fear was instilled on the youth, almost more prevalent to
the black youth. It became apparent that just walking down the street was as
dangerous as being caught in a traffic stop. Wrong place, any time. Parents feared for their children’s lives, not taking
into account that those of age and older were also being killed. Drivers tensed
as police cruisers drove behind them, sometimes for uncomfortably long
distances. It became common practice to throw your hands up in a ‘don’t shoot’
fashion when an officer became even slightly agitated. Of course, it didn’t
help allegations when police would keep a hand on their gun during even the
most benign calls.
The total of casualties from those few
years almost rival the amount of American soldiers killed in Iraq (4,486).
Fallen soldiers were given monuments while victims of police received a
paycheck. Those dying in-country weren’t trained soldiers fighting for freedom,
they were civilians trying to live. Modern Day America was reinforcing itself
with some of the worst traits of past wars.
The fabric of society is much like a
broken windshield: it starts with a chip, then it cracks, then the crack
spreads until finally it bottoms out. The abuse of power has always been the
chip and the families destroyed as a result are the crack that spider-webs
outward. It’s only a matter of time before society bottoms out.
A portion of Americans stopped calling the
police altogether for fear of what would happen to them when they’d
arrive. Blue Fear had infected America. Newspapers, internet news
sites, TV, and radio stations all distributed the reports laced with such a
fear. Few would fight back and were labeled criminals and terrorists as the
average citizen doesn’t know the difference between action and reaction,
especially since the media often tells one side of the story. Reports on cases
showed one of two sides: One vilifying the police and one showing support for a
policeman being caught up in such a no-win situation.
Those oppressed became enraged and fought
back in their own way while still trying to stay in the confines of the law.
Action vs Reaction, the difference between an outstretched palm holding people
down and a tightly-balled fist fighting back against it.
Police supporters and self-proclaimed
patriots argued the innocence of those killed by law enforcers but the question
of the matter wasn’t about innocence – something often subjective in the eyes
of the court – but was about whether or not such forces were needed for unarmed
individuals. Whether or not those killed were guilty of breaking the law at any
time had nothing to do with law enforcement making the decision to be
executioners. Guilty or innocent, sadly, the killings that continued to take
place held no actual merit. Not all police officers took part in the executions
but those that did had tainted the valiant image of justice for a large portion
of the country. Much like the good cops that were lumped in with bad cops,
everyday citizens were lumped in with criminals which often resulted in
untimely deaths.
Victims’ loved ones have had to carry
their tragedy with them everywhere they go. It’s tattooed on them: the loss,
the anguish, the questions, the anger. Citizens across the country now have
large, deep holes in their lives – empty voids where someone close used to
reside. In all the unnecessary deaths over the years, the police still remain
unremorseful. Some families carried their tragedy with them while others were
unknowingly waiting for theirs, not knowing how they would react if what
happened to the poor devastated people on the news happened to them. No one is
immune.
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Blue Sweep will return either fall or winter of 2020.
