Weighing in: Our take on use of force, the lunar eclipse, and feeding the hungry

Thumbs up: Reconciliation and reform of police use of force

When the national news might make you think that democracy has become utterly dysfunctional, it’s refreshing to see an example of it succeeding — even on a gut-wrenching, divisive issue — in Washington state.

For many years, Washington made it virtually impossible to hold police officers accountable for wrongfully shooting people because our state law required evidence that they acted with “malicious intent.”

In the wake of several tragic, controversial shootings of people of color, a reform movement gathered steam, and mounted a successful initiative campaign. Initiative 940, which passed handily in the fall, deleting the “malice” standard, and requiring more training for officers in de-escalation of conflict and awareness of mental illness.

Most police organizations opposed the initiative, but recognized that the “malice” standard was unreasonable.

We will spare you a complete recap of all the ins and outs of this controversy and cut to the good news: Advocates for victims of police shootings and the law enforcement community – two groups who once seemed hopelessly opposed to one another – came to an agreement that both can support.

The legislature is poised to pass an amendment to the initiative that preserves its intent, but sets out a clearer, more objective standard based on whether “a similarly situated reasonable officer would have believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent death or serious physical harm to the officer or another individual.”

It retains the directive for more training for officers in de-escalation techniques and understanding of mental illness.

These are vitally important reforms. But what is most remarkable is that relatives of people shot and killed by police and police organizations overcame overwhelming grief, fear, and mutual mistrust to find common ground. We thank them all for showing us that reconciliation and progress are possible. And we wish them continuing success as they work together to implement these changes.

Thumbs up: A chance to howl

Tonight, we may witness a “super blood wolf moon” lunar eclipse starting at about 7:30 and culminating just after 8:30. If it’s too cloudy to see, we can watch a livestream of the event at https://www.timeanddate.com/live/. This means we can either howl at the moon itself, or at our computers.

Thumbs down: Fear at the Food Bank

At last Tuesday’s Olympia City Council meeting, Thurston County Food Bank director Robert Coit reported that some people are too fearful to come to its downtown location because it is in the immediate vicinity of unmanaged homeless camps.

Many people make the argument that those fears are simply the result of unfounded stereotypes about homeless people. We think that might be about 80 percent true. But the other 20 percent of fear comes from specific, frightening and sometimes traumatic experiences that people share with their friends. Regardless of whether the fear is justified, when low-income elderly women are afraid to access the food they need, that is a crisis.

The city is working overtime to respond. It has already opened one city-managed camp known as a“mitigation site”nearby, and is planning a second one that will not be downtown. Once the second site is up and running, the city will be able to offer that alternative to the remaining downtown campers – and to evict them from downtown if they decline the offer. Obviously, that means they will still be homeless somewhere else, but it may make downtown feel safer.

We wish the city godspeed in getting that second mitigation site open.

Thumbs up: Vegans who pay it forward

The Wayside Café and Deli at 609 Capitol Way serves “vegan comfort food”and encourages customers to donate to a fund that allows the café to offer a free meal to anyone who is hungry and broke. And you might be surprised by how good those spicy cauliflower wings are.