Sometimes, the hinges of history swing as quietly as the turning of a page. The fate of a nation may turn on the clamour of battle, or it may turn on a thousand things more subtle, more hidden. In the story of the demise of American slave power, we all know the names...
Race
Forgiving Judas
Denise Uwimana
“Gravel in your shoe will hinder you as much as boulders in your path. Besides the man who shot my father, I have to forgive the guy who shoves in front of me to take the last seat on the bus. Forgiving is a way of life.” That’s how I first heard Dr. Antoine...
Taking It Outside
John Clair
Suddenly it seems everyone would rather simply “take it outside.” We saw these images in almost every city and town in America. Images of violence in exchange or action, splattered across the national news in waves not seen in decades. A key job of the police, and one that other citizens are less well-equipped to do, is to do what people don’t have the time or temperament or training to do when they are in a mood to take it outside. That is to find out what actually happened: to investigate.
Pressing Pause
Susannah Black
Dear Friends, Yesterday, we screened The Reunited States, a new film that engages many of the questions that we’ve been wrestling with here at Breaking Ground: Does a common life require a suppression of debate and difference, or can we find a way to join in some kind...
Is Unity Possible?
What makes political authority legitimate? How is it perceived as legitimate? These two questions are at the center of what we’ve been considering at Breaking Ground for the past few weeks, because they’re at the center of what it means to have a transition of power,...
Robert Peel’s Policing Principles
Sir Robert Peel
These principles, attributed to the founder of London’s first modern police, were sent out in the “General Instructions” issued to every new member of the Metropolitan Police Force from its formation in 1829 onward.
Forerunners: Sojourner Truth
Susannah Black, Jason Landsel
In 1844, in a field outside the town of Northampton, Massachusetts, a gang of young men showed up at a revival meeting, making trouble. The meeting’s organizers grew angry; the men – more than a hundred – redoubled their uproar. One of the meeting attendees, a...
What Is Policing For, and How Do We Reform It?
Anthony Barr
To rebuild the public realm, we must reform the police; to do that, we should turn to the policing principles first set out in 1829 by Robert Peel: the “police” are just members of the public “who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
What Is Political Authority?
Susannah Black
You think that a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a thread, a sheet of glass. A touch here, a push there, and you bring back the reign of Saturn. John Buchan, The Power-House What is government for? What is...
Go Into Your Room, Close the Door, and Engage the World
Kristen Deede Johnson
Last Friday night, my seven-year-old son and I were on our way to say his bedtime prayers when we heard loud voices and saw police lights outside his bedroom. I looked out the window, and immediately an image was seared on my brain. An image of a person I will likely...