A Common Man’s Guide To Prop A
Opinion Editorial by Jason Turner
If you’re like me, you’d like to know that you won’t be choked out by a cop during a traffic stop. As much as we’d like to think we have a good grasp on our kids, none of us truly knows what the lil shits are up to when they’re not in our presence. It would be nice to know that if they get caught with a lil bud (less than 4 ounces) they’d get a ticket and sent home to deal with the recklessness of getting caught later in court rather than having their futures tarnished with a drug arrest over a dime of weed. Maybe it’s me but is it too much to ask,
“Hey Mr. Police Officer, if you’re looking for my neighbor because he’s wanted, do you mind knocking on his door to let him know you’re there instead of kicking his shit off the hinges and shooting up the place like it’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare? That way none of the rest in the neighborhood are in danger from your business”.
Remember Breonna Taylor? We live in a diverse world these days and here in San Antonio is no different when it comes to diversity. What happens when young Becky from Providence Hall, who has plans on being a lawyer, comes home and tells her parents Dan and Karen that she’s pregnant and the father is Da’Quan from that school in the hood. We all know that Dan and Karen are going to want to explore some… eh eh “options”. What about that weird uncle in the family, you know the one that you were never allowed to be alone with for some reason. What happens when he goes too far and now his niece is pregnant. Yep, the family reunion next year should be really interesting. Let’s get even more real than that. You’re married to your sweetie for 2 years and have been together since high school and now she’s pregnant with y’all’s first (Awwwwww). You’re super excited and can’t wait to build your lil family. Halfway through the pregnancy there’s trouble, and there’s a chance she’s going to die if she continues with the pregnancy. Sure would be nice to know the doctor, without hesitation, will save the life of the love of your life without having to worry about going to prison for doing the right thing.
If you can relate to any of the things mentioned above then you should be voting YES for PROPOSITION A on May 6.
Again I’m not a politician or a lawyer, I’m just a guy that lives in San Antonio. One of the things I’ve always liked about the city is the small town feel of it. Sometimes that cozy hometown feeling gives us a false sense of reality. The reality is we live in the seventh largest city in this country and with that reality comes real shit. We don’t live in Iowa. Let me tell you what I’m talking about when I say real shit. Last month I was driving down one of the local streets and ran into a police barricade in which about 3 blocks were blocked off. There were cops EVERYWHERE!!! Myself, I’m agitated because now I have to find another route to take but obviously I’m wondering what happened. I later found out that about 20 minutes before I ran into the incident, a car with 2 individuals had pulled up to a local store and jumped out with 2 assault rifles and gunned down 2 other individuals who were standing outside of the store. More than 50 shots were fired. There were 2 schools within 1 mile of this shooting in both directions. Oh and it was 12 o’clock in the fucking afternoon.
Me personally, I think the resources of our police officers should be dedicated to keeping our streets safe from savages who don’t mind waging war in the middle of the street, in the middle of the afternoon, than on some shmuck who stole $750 worth of bullshit from someone’s porch or wrote “fuck you” on someone’s fence. I could be wrong but I highly doubt that Joe or Jane Average is going to turn to shoplifting or become a graffiti artist all of a sudden because they only get a ticket. Let’s remember they still have to go to court and there will still be punishment. What if every time you ran a stop sign you went to jail instead of just getting a ticket and going to court? What the hell is the difference, you were a beneficiary of cite and release. That ticket will be enough to keep you from running another stop sign.
If you’re for the police prioritizing bullshit over real shit then vote NO for PROPOSITION A. If you think you live in Iowa and not San Antonio then vote NO for proposition A. If you’re one of those who lives in a bubble and thinks real shit won’t happen to you, remember that the next time you call the cops and they can’t get there because they’re too busy arresting someone around the corner at Walmart for stealing a fucking Snickers.
There is no such thing as a perfect bill, proposition or resolution. They all have flaws. In all of them there is something good, if the good in the bill or prop outweighs the bad why wouldn’t we support that?
When we the people have the opportunity to take control of what we have envisioned as a ‘progressive city’ we take a backseat and defer over 750 dollars. Although I respect Mayor Ron Nirenberg and I will vote for him, I would respectfully disagree with his position being these things need to be attacked from the state level. This may or not be true, but at the very least San Antonio has the opportunity to send a message- that in this community, we stand for certain things and won’t accept others.
What is your opinion on Prop A? Please submit your voice to be heard in next week’s issue (we will keep all opinions anonymous) by email to: contact@saobserver.com. We value all opinions and believe they should all be heard.
