Among other things, there was an army discharge stating he’d been an MP. He’d found and downloaded a copy of the military police handbook, and crammed it to prepare himself for possible quizzing. Now he drove to Seafirst Stadium, home of the AAA Spokane Indians.
He’d been right. The season may have been only six home games old, but as scarce as jobs were, there’d already been no-shows and alcohol-related discharges among the employees. Thirty minutes after arriving at the stadium office, “Martin Luther Karlson” was hired as game security. After the game, he’d work as a swamper, cleaning up the stadium. It wasn’t full time—the team was on the road half the time—but there could be other events, and if an opening developed, he’d be considered for full-time security.
He wasn’t surprised at how nicely things had come together. He was used to that. The failed Colorado and Boston missions were aberrations.
51
CNN Malik Morris Takes Calls
From the transcript of
“Rappin’ with the Dove”
Caller: Dove, how come you ain’t gone to Africa?
Dove: I did go to Africa, twenty months ago. To Kenya, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa. But language problems, and in many places, primitive transportation and communication, limit the effectiveness of personal tours there. Too few people heard me, and still fewer understood me. So we made free videos tailored for Africa—shot them in Kenya—with written translations and subtitles in all the major African languages.
Caller: My question’s for Dove too. Dove, what you got to say about government and taxes?
Dove: Taxes are the way the broad public buys certain things you can’t buy in stores. Things considered necessities: streets, police protection, schools, public assistance—things like that. Government’s job is to arrange supply and delivery.
In the process, government operates about as well, overall, as most big business does. Given the missions assigned them, they’re about as efficient or inefficient. And generally as honest; often more. And like businesses, some governments are better than others.
Without government, the more aggressive, ruthless, and power-hungry among us would fight to rule. The disorder, destruction and suffering would make today seem like paradise. If we were very lucky, the warlord that won would try to rule well. But the problems of keeping power in a world like that would still result in oppression way beyond anything this country knows.
I realize that sometimes minorities find the police disinterested in their protection—and may find it hard to accept the fact that oppression could be much worse than what they’re already familiar with. But imperfect as it is, our democratic system—democratic with a small d—our democratic system and its notably imperfect laws give us substantial protection. They also limit and channel the energies and efforts of those aggressive people who make up so many of our businessfolk and politicians. The ballot lets us vote on who governs, and helps channel some public energies and resources to aid the poor, the oppressed, and the disabled.
Our government is flawed—because we the people are flawed. The real way to improve government is to improve ourselves.
Malik: You talk about police protection. A lot of people our color need protection from the police.
Dove: A hundred years ago, industrialists hired private police, called goons, and arranged with public police forces, to put down labor strikes, and prevent workers from organizing. Their brutality was far worse than that of modern police forces, and often with less provocation. Read the history of the labor movement. Your local librarian can help you get started.
The Japanese cherry trees had bloomed and blown before the “marchers” began arriving, marching almost entirely on wheels. In a single day, West Potomac Park, the Mall—almost all the grassy areas between Constitution and Independence Avenues—had filled with tents, tepees, and pickups with camper shells. The pickups had driven over curbs and across lawns, but security had orders to overlook that. Latecomers squatted on the Polo Grounds, Capitol Plaza, Franklin Square . . . More than a few were strolling near the White House and the Capitol Building, or snacking and smoking in the sun on the broad steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Marines had kept them away from the fences around Lafayette Park and the Ellipse, and out of government office buildings.