Smart, Humble & Hungry

A bit about my town and how good, bad and beautiful it could me

In light of what seems to keep happening in my town with police shootings and unsolved murders (with hundreds surrounding the shooting) I’d like to shed some light.

My town use to be quite small and then an influx of everyone happened a then some water issues happened and just migration to the small town call Grand Rapids, MI. I recall graduating and knowing almost everyone. Id go in a store and people would say that’s JT little girl, tell your father hi or just random people knowing you from sports or anything. It was fun to know your neighbors and community but now it’s grown a bit and thats not normal. So from 2006-2022 it’s changed drastically. This is the good and beautiful.

Now for the bad growing up I had an illegal job and we all knew our task and got them done. Part of running a smooth operations meant good lawyers, good doctors, good bankers and some compliant law enforcement officers. To achieve all of this you had you a spotter or nerd as I called them. Their job was to dig up the goods aka bad crap on people we needed to run a successful business. Once we had the details we struck a deal sometimes they would say no and we’d clap back until we had a yes. I won’t go into details but I’ll make it neat and tidy. So with the people on payroll they had to do specific things to make the company run. The banker was most important. I know you see in movies a person who cleans money but it you have a banker you don’t need to worry about that. His job is to ensure the money is safe and he had the most to lose but thats the game. Then you had the cops their job was easy ensure all items on the manifest got to their location; it could be drugs, property, women just about anything. In the 90’s you never know what the business needed to acquire for someone. The lawyers kept you out of jail but didn’t need them much as long as the cops did their job. So it was rare you’d see the lawyer. The doc only got seen if someone was hurt; simple. So with those 4 positions filled you needed soldiers. They were expendable and knew nothing; not even who they worked for. A drop point was sent, they’d pick up, distribute and put funds in a place. They would get paid the same. Can’t turn someone in you’ve never seen. The business thrived but sometimes dirty work had to be done and thats the leverage the “owner” needed. It could be simple as to kill someone who stole product, an out of hand soldier and even retirement of one of the 4 jobs.

I have seen police paid off most my life; well not seen physically but you get what I mean. Not all cops are dirty you have to find the right one and keep them away from the clean ones. Cops don’t bother me and I’ve never been scared of one but I respect their pretend power.

In my town now police are being disrespected and they are use to being respected. Unfortunately it is causing them to make decisions that I don’t know if they would have made in my day. We rarely ran from the cops, it made no sense; just another charge to get clear of. They said stop we stopped, hands in air and all was said was, “Call my lawyer.” Simple no one was playing with no rent a cops. We knew if one hit us it was going to be a brawl so why risk getting our face hit; it’s a target. Blend in at all cost is how you stayed alive. I give no excuse for why people act the way they act and no I don’t believe the cops are always in the right. However from my own time on the streets I never got pistol whipped, maced, tased or shot at because I knew what to do to survive daily. It did help that the cops on payroll taught us how not to get shot. Drop to ground, hands up and if the cop made the wrong ID they’d give an apology and move on. It never failed. In today society people wanna talked to an armed cop naw not in my day. Shhhh don’t say nothing till you in the room with a camera on you. Cops can arrest you and a week later your bodies found; disrespect wasn’t taken lightly. No cameras like now.

When it comes to the police they need funds to gain better training. In the Military the harped of rules or engagement(ROE) and escalation of force(EOF) these are what kept you out of Leavenworth Prison. If the police force had this I doubt that would make all the mistakes that they are making. Being scared in normal and fear is what keeps you alive. When having a person on the group cuffs should be added. When someones hands is up you have a cop who points gun and other who cuffs. When you have an overly aggressive person you call for back up and try and calm the person down; not agitate. There are so many ways to get a better result than whats been happening. I understand they are scared but you have to tap into that fear to keep you alive and out of jail. One mistake someone is dead or hurt for no reason. I have no right or wrong answer to what’s happening that’s GODs job but I do pray that my town gets better because this is NOT it.