In support of my brothers and sisters of Minority Populations of the United States of America, I will be sharing just one book per month for the remainder of 2020. Each book will relate the subject of Racism in some way, shape, or form.
I understand if this choice causes you to subscribe, or tune out of Floyd’s BookClub. That is certainly your right. However, I hope that we can all learn and learn together.
If you have a book that you think should be included in this series, please let me know! If you want to have a more in-depth discussion on the subject or any of the books that are to come, I am more than happy to!
Thank you for your support and understanding and willingness to grow.
– Jana M. Floyd
“We’re asking cops to do too much in this country. We are. Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it … Here in Dallas we got a loose dog problem; let the cops chase loose dogs. Schools fail, let’s give it to the cops … that’s too much to ask. Policing was never meant to solve all those problems.”
– Former Dallas Police Chief David Brown
Despite The End of Policing being written prior to Activism in 2020, you can almost see the events that lead to it (and even the response from government agencies) being predicted in its pages. As David Brown points out – We (the communities of the United States of America) are asking the police to do far too much. Ultimately, we are endangering their lives as well as our own.
The average time spent in a Police Academy is a little over 5 weeks. Think about that. Research suggests it takes 10 weeks to break a bad habit. It takes 7 weeks to grow a flower from seed and have it bloom. Climbing Mount Everest takes an average of 8 weeks. An armed police officer is sent into our neighborhoods with just 5 weeks of training.
Some of the many jobs we are asking our police communities to handle with their minimal training are school discipline, social work, and mental health interactions. In contrast, people choosing career paths in any of these areas are required to attend years of higher education and internships.
Here’s the thing. We all need to do a better job of educating ourselves on the subjects at hand. ie: Does defunding the police mean no law enforcement what so ever? What has already been tried? Has it worked? Why or why not? How does police training like Killology effect mindset? Would paying officers more squlish the social justice issues? Is the current policing system really the most effective way to protect and serve the citizens of this country? So on and so forth.
The End of Policing has done a really effective job of addressing some of the ‘heavy hitters,” looking at the reforms that have been tried, and offering further alternatives that should be considered.
The best part about this book is that you can fact check every single idea and proposal. The biography is AMAZING.
As tensions between communities and police will only rise in the coming days, I encourage us all to remember that we are all human, see past the fear and anger, and seriously consider the issues at hand.
Love Factor: 5 out of 5 Hearts
Weeping Factor: 1 out of 5 Tears
If you want to read this book and cannot afford to purchase it, please send me an email. I believe that educating oneself on these subjects is crucial and will buy you a copy.
P.S. David Brown has written a book titled, Called to Rise. I have it on hold at my local library.
Jana M Floyd 
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