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I am a guest here in beautiful santa barbara, but maybe the reality is that our world is imperfect and there are problems everywhere. There were two recent events here at the [REDACTED], none of which involved me, and which I did not know about until they were over. Things are calm now. Both of these involved the police. In one case, a police officer told our landlady that if so and so had been black she would have been on the ground with his knee on her neck. I guess they are very proud of the recent murder involving a black man and that maneuver. Our landlady was shocked by this overt racism in someone who is expected to respect and abide by the law. In another case, one of our nicest people here was thrown in a retaining cell (on Figueroa) for a day with a broken arm. The cell was filthy, with bugs (bed bugs?) and she was denied medical attention (her arm was obviously broken) and was told to shut up and stop asking for it. I did not witness any of this. I am not completely shocked but yes I am disturbed and disappointed. I know from recent discussions with my elected county supervisor that they could not care less what I think. What, if anything, would you like me to do with this information. I make it my policy to avoid the police as much as possible. Shall I forget about this? Would it be so (deleted) hard to keep the holding cell minimally clean and avoid making racist comments in public and maybe if someone has a broken hand to get her a nurse and some Tylenol? Maybe Santa Barbara is a poor inner city slum and cant afford such things? I am here as your guest and I feel I should ask you. My policy in general is fight or flight (protest injustice or put a bag over my head).
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