THIS STUFF IS NOT HARD: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IS EASY AND GOOD POLITICS

One of the lessons I’ve learned working in public service [1] since 2004 is that people want to be listened to, understood and given their credit when credit is deserved. I’ve also learned that, for elected officials,  it’s easy to give credit, even if, in their mind, several factors led to an ultimate policy decision. 

For example, say an advocacy group wants something done — let’s say Crisis Intervention Training for all police officers in the City of Richmond following a police-involved shooting of an unarmed black man, who just happened to be wearing no clothes and acting completely out of character [2]. 

If one of the demands from the family and advocacy group is that all Richmond police should have crisis intervention training [3], everyone agrees, and the police start the process to get the training done by a set date, say two years. 

Politics 101 is that acknowledgment is given to everyone involved, including (especially) the advocacy group and/or citizens that made that request, even if the internal agency believes it would have been done anyway. Even if the Police Chief has a 50-year-old book of policy priorities that marks the training in yellow highlighter. It’s just good leadership to let the community know that their voices are being heard. Failure to do so tone-deaf, at best [3]. Also, and maybe people don’t want to hear this part of it, it’s actually good politics. It lets people know that even if everything a particular person or group wants to be done may not get done, somethings, that we all agree on, can get done.    

I’d go as far to say, public officials can, and should, highlight their own internal agencies when it’s deserved, too. Therefore, in this Law and Order (Ripped from the headlines) example, gratitude can go all the way around:  thank the police for getting the training in motion, and also thank any advocacy groups that brought this idea to the administration’s attention.

Have you ever been to any announcement for any public official? They all spend 20 minutes thanking everyone ever involved in anything. It’s done for a reason. It’s good leadership. And, it’s good politics. 

1. Yes, I do have a job. I can’t write local hip-hop reviews for a living. Can I?   
2. You may have heard of the Marcus-David Peters case. 
3. This was a demand from the family and the group Justice and Reformation for MDP  @JusticeforMDP
4. Damn-right problematic, if intentional 

Post photo by Risa Gomez, taken at a rally for Marcus-David Peters in 2018.