A632.6.3.RB - The High Cost of Conflict

A632.6.3.RB - The High Cost of Conflict

This module Collaborative Decision Making and title reflection blog “The High Cost of Conflict” comes at a strange time. In the news this week there were the deaths (homicides) of two civilians of different communities, but felt so close to home. This week blog assignment ask for a personal or business situation. I try not to share to much personal experience, because simply I don’t think others outside my community quite frankly would not understand. But I am going to use a personal conflict story.

            The story starts off in North Charleston, SC, yes the same city where Walter Scott was shoot in the back 3 times while trying to flee the police. My encounter with the NCPD happen 5 years earlier. I was on a lunch break riding back to work on my bright yellow Suzuki 100RR motorcycle wearing all blue khaki uniform. The colors of the bike and my dress are important.

            I had come to a stop sign at an intersection, stopping and looking to my right I suddenly felted the weight of my motorcycle falling hard to the right. I looked to the left and instantly get upset after seeing that I had been hit by a Crown Vic. I didn’t realize this was a unmarked police car, I only knew that it just hit me. And just as fast as I was hit a police officer jumps out with his weapon draw and point at me. My temper boil I stand my bike up and began curse at the (nice wording) person. With his gun draw and being on a back road he could have easily killed me, if not for the line of cars behind me. He and continued to wolf back and forth at each other till 9 cars of police arrive. I realize I was in a losing situation and give in. This made me fell weak and small the way I was treat and talked to. I was called several different things, none of which was my name. Nine cars of police and no one that looked like me. They didn’t care I was in work clothing, educated, worked as a engineer for the leading aviation company in the world. They saw a big black man on a side of town that they thought he didn't’ belong.

            So after about 15-20 minutes of me handed cuff in the street laying on my chest and 4 different police taking turns putting their knee and weight on my back a older white pulls up. A couple officers talk to her and she says plainly that's not him. To this day I still haven’t been told what “him” did. But even with the lady saying over again that's not him and giving a description of a completely different color and style of bike, different color clothing, and different complexation (I’m of black, Spanish, and white descent but still “a big black THUG”) the officers try to convince her it had to be me.

(Levine, 2009) offers Ten Principles of New Thinking that if used would be very useful even revolutionary if it was thought and used by today’s society. There is an abundance of the old ways of thinking being used, but it’s (Levine, 2009) new ways that need to be taught. If the was a fostering of sustainable and forming of long-term collaboration, becoming open, and creative partnership my conflict and encounter and that like the ones in Baton Rouge, La and Minneapolis, MN would have better outcomes. The cost of conflict with the police in my community is to high. And only the unarm black male is paying the High Cost.

The lessons that I learn and continue you to learn is that the methods that Dr. King used and lived by in the 1960 are very similar to the of Mr. Levine. And those methods give the allusion that they work. But in the 2000’s the High Cost of Conflict maybe what is needed to spark a resolution.

Works Cited

Levine, S. (2009). Getting to resolution. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler.