I Wear a Number of Different Hats

p emDecember 1, 2011/em/p p img alt="" src="http://i2.listal.com/image/1334697/600full-paper-moon-screenshot.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 375px;" //p p br / I am Karl Start. I reach out and I speak out.br / I do these these things because I want to make a contributionhellip;br / I was eleven the first time a cop pointed a gun at me.br / An L.A. County Sheriffs Deputy held a 12 span data-scayt_word="ga" data-scaytid="2"ga/span. shotgun aimed at mebr / while he crouched behind the open door of the squad car.br / His partner covered my father with a .45 automatic.br / I remember wondering, who the heck they had mistaken us for.br / What I didnrsquo;t understand then was that Chavez Ravinebr / was a barrio or low-income neighborhood andbr / that was just the way it was.br / I do these things because they let me use the telephonehellip;br / While I was still young I was regarded as a precocious ladbr / and my parents had high hopes for me.br / I, on the other hand, had gotten it into my head that the secure,br / middle class lifestyle was going to be boring. I had little enthusiasmbr / for tasks which seemed to lead in that direction.br / I do these things because the way the Government treats folks is deplorablehellip;br / In my youth I enjoyed movies such as ldquo;The Stingrdquo; and ldquo;Paper moonrdquo;.br / With heroes like Butch Sundance, Moses Pray and Charlie span data-scayt_word="Varic" data-scaytid="4"Varic/spanbr / my work ethic was severely challenged. Even if it hadnrsquo;t been,br / it only seemed to lead to places where I was not interested in going.br / I knew I wanted some sort of alternative experience,br / and I knew that following the instructions on the side of the boxbr / wasnrsquo;t going to make that happen. So, I stopped following instructions.br / I did not lead a carefully planned life.br / I did not pursue a career.br / I got a job.br / I did what I would and hurt no other.br / I do these things because I want to influence policyhellip;br / I have one ldquo;job titlerdquo; that I built myself, largely out of the hierarchy of organizations for which I volunteer.br / For just over three years I have been the ldquo;Lead post-court documentation data entry clerk forbr / the Citation Defense Program of the Civil Rights Project ofbr / the Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco.rdquo;br / I wear a number of different hats and I change them as needed.br / I am also a ldquo;Civil Rights Advocaterdquo; and an ldquo;Outreach Workerrdquo;br / I do these things because I want those cops who victimize those who are indigent and therefore vulnerablebr / barred from ever practicing law enforcement anywhere ever againhellip;br / And one thing I really want is to document the Human and Civil Rights violationsbr / that are perpetrated on a continuous basis by those who havebr / taken an oath and been entrusted with the duty to Protect and Servebr / so incontrovertibly that a cop gets fired, their ldquo;enforcement firstrdquo; policy gets changed andbr / the abuse is abated, even if only for a moment in a place.br / I do these things because I want to see an end to cutthroat global corporate capitalism profiteeringbr / at the expense of human sufferinghellip;br / We are not televised,br / We are the Revolution.br / I do these things because if we wonrsquo;t at least start speaking out for some situations safe frombr / these changes that have been taking place for years, then y#39;all may as well justhellip;br / However, I havenrsquo;t been able to quit my day job yet.br / I am an amateur race car driver and span data-scayt_word="wanna" data-scaytid="15"wanna/span be spice smuggler,br / on a night shift. I donrsquo;t pack a .44 or trip on ldquo;are you span data-scayt_word="talkin’" data-scaytid="16"talkinrsquo;/span to me?rdquo;br / Just get lsquo;em in, start the meter and put the pedal down, becausebr / ldquo;Time is money and I am not here to waste yoursrdquo;/p p nbsp;/p p emThis is an Empathy Exercise for Poverty Journalism 101 @ span data-scayt_word="PeopleSkooL" data-scaytid="23"PeopleSkooL/span/em/p