Ira David Socol’s Post

I did go from being an architecture student at Pratt - alongside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's father - to the NYPD. Pratt taught me to see my city in very deep ways... I took what I saw and followed a different path to try to help.

This day will always carry too much weight in my soul. I lost five friends that day, people I'd served with, learned with, people committed to their jobs and society. Being a cop rarely feels heroic. It more often feels boring, or repetitive, or sometimes pointless. It can feel scary. It can feel mundane. It can feel absurdly hot on a summer day when your chest is wrapped in kevlar. The NYPD police officers that I was lucky enough to work alongside were not brutal people, not inherently racist, nor violent or so egotistical that they'd use deadly physical force in response to being insulted. I know that none of that means anything to those who've run into bad (or badly trained) cops, or know people who have, but I believed in these people - who often held my life in their hands. It's a rough time to be even an ex-cop. A major party presidential candidate who believes that January 6th cop-killers are political prisoners has been endorsed by the nation's largest police officer organization. The NYPD commissioner is clearly a corrupt man who runs cover-ups for bad cops, people (quite rationally) see police as a threat. But on this September 11th, I'd like you to think about the cops, firefighters, and paramedics who run toward the events everyone else runs away from. I hate the word "fearless." "Fearless" to me suggests either stupidity or an extreme lack of observational skills. What is heroic is having a clear understanding of the dangers to self, and yet the willingness - in a split second - to act. Please thank a hero today. https://lnkd.in/eq6acrwV Reflecting on Police Memorial Week https://lnkd.in/ec4Ww4FF Cowardice Under Fire https://lnkd.in/eCrwSeUB Will we forget 9/11? Have we already?

we don't need to keep abusing kids with horrible systemic environments. we can do much better... even in the most difficult places

“'School is not a place but an activity, a process,” says John Bremer..". whenever horrors occur around kids, I hope people understand what it is that we're teaching every day. "Here’s what I learned in Middle (“Junior High”) School: I learned how to smoke, how to drink alcohol, and how to consume other substances not considered great for a growing boy. I learned a whole range of new provocations that would get me thrown out of a classroom. I learned that adults never listen to kids, especially about anything important to a kid. I learned about girls (so to speak). Despite my attempts to understand this wasn’t true, I learned that violence was how people settled things." https://lnkd.in/ez49sj24