During my lifetime, living in privileged neighborhoods, police conduct has never been an issue. So, I was unprepared to travel to countries, including Mexico and Israel/Palestine, that have militarized police forces.

I felt extreme anxiety in their presence. It was a relief to return home again and breathe free in my comfortable neighborhood, devoid of police in body armor with military-style weapons. I’m embarrassed to confess, it has taken the Black Lives Matter movement and the Poor People’s Campaign to exposed my naivete.

I have felt anger and empathized with Black and brown friends and colleagues who have told me about experiencing unprovoked threats from aggressive police. But I had not felt the daily anxiety and fear my friends suffer. My life as a light-skinned male had sheltered me from the creeping militarization of our police.

Today, 80% of police forces have SWAT teams. Since 9/11, the militarization of U.S. police forces has been spreading. Their mission has expanded to include prevention of terrorism and therefore military-style equipment has been in more demand. The U.S. Department of Defense has been providing military equipment from the Vietnam era to local police departments. Police inflict their power on the Black and brown community and use it against immigrants, refugees, the children of undocumented parents, and to confront peaceful rallies and protests.

However, this transfer of military equipment and its use may be in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, strictly separating domestic law enforcement from military action. Also, this act places constraints on developing military-style police arms by U.S. companies.

The solution has been to allow the “Israeli Weapons Industry” (IWI) to launch a “U.S. Law Enforcement Division” manufacturing plant in Middletown, Pa. Its website boasts it “provides law enforcement departments and agencies with battle-proven firearms that have been adopted by the Israeli Defense Force. . . . IWI US also offers armorer courses, comprehensive training programs . . . for all law enforcement agencies adopting our firearms.” At weapons shows, IWI-US proclaims the Israeli “battle-proven firearms” and policing tactics have been battle tested against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Supported by the Patriot Act, Homeland Security and the Israeli Defense Force are training and enculturating an Israeli-type militarized police force in the United States. Police are learning to use extrajudicial punishment, including deadly force, on people seen as drug criminals, terrorists, aliens, “lowlifes,” and people of color.

The Black Lives Matter and the Poor People’s Campaign call for an end to militarized police, racism, and economic injustice. A significant way to support them is to lobby our government leadership to end the integration of Israeli militarized police tactics with U.S. policing strategies. This could begin by canceling all weapons contracts with “Israeli Weapons Industry, U.S. Law Enforcement Division” and ending police training by the company and IDF.

These actions would be consistent with the U.S. Posse Comitatus Act. They also could be the foundation for a reformed policing culture. Many of our police men and women have the temperament and the will to serve and protect without the need to demonstrate authority by using battle-proven techniques. Officers who thrive on a culture of bravado, flaunt authority, practice intimidation, and use their badges to justify brutalization and warrantless arrests may have to find new work.

Reforming police culture will require recruiting, training, and deploying police with a bias toward a culture to serve. This might include anti-racism training, teaching empathy for people in distress, learning methods to calm crisis situations, and developing skills in crowd control without the need for body armor and military force. Finally, it is important to support these efforts by advocating for systemic and cultural changes in our government and society that reduce fear of the stranger, dependence upon coercive force, and comfort with habitual racism.

Failure to speak out against militarized police, racism, and economic injustice will leave us with only the confession of Martin Niemöller: “First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. (Then they came for people of color and I did not speak out). Then they came for me (in my light skin) and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

(John Buttrick can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.)