Police Under Fire: Race & Politics

By Aubrey A. Baker

This book is about the war on the police that is taking place in America today. It is about the unfair and false narratives being promulgated against the police by black activists, left-wing liberals, and the lamestream media. It is about racial politics and violence in the black community and how it spills over onto the police. It is about controversial uses of force by the police. It is about injustices being perpetrated against the police by neer do wells. It is also about how to improve the situation overall.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524530815

Aubrey A. Baker

Retired police captain Aubrey A. Baker is married with two adult children and four, four legged friends. He lives in Ohio. Mr. Baker has 27 years of police experience along with nine years of corrections experience. He has served as a police officer in three states. Aubrey has three college degrees, all related to the criminal justice field. Mr. Baker is a graduate of several high level police management programs to include the FBI National Academy. He has served as a patrol officer, narcotics officer, patrol sergeant, detective sergeant, lieutenant, captain, acting chief, task force commander, corrections officer, parole officer, and prison case manager. Captain Baker has an extensive training background, having served as his departments training coordinator, firearms range officer, and driver’s training officer.

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Copyright © 2016 by Aubrey A. Baker.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2016912796

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5245-3082-2

      Softcover      978-1-5245-3084-6

      eBook      978-1-5245-3081-5

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Rev. date: 08/05/2016

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1:   Introduction

Chapter 2:   Background and Qualifications

Chapter 3:   Deadly Force Considerations

Chapter 4:   Controversial Police Use of Force

Chapter 5:   Ferguson

Chapter 6:   The Bruising of the Police

Chapter 7:   Politics and the PO PO

Chapter 8:   Technology and Tactics

Chapter 9:   Training, Training, and Still More Training

Chapter 10:   Improving the Police

Chapter 11:   Improving the Criminal Justice System

Chapter 12:   Getting Serious about Deadly Force Investigation

Chapter 13:   Summary

This book is

dedicated to my wife, Mary Elizabeth, who has been my staunch supporter all my adult life. It is also dedicated to the heroic men and women of law enforcement. I wish to also acknowledge Officer Stout with the Kettering, Ohio, Police Department for the kindness and competence that he displayed while greatly assisting my family.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

In the movie Pulp Fiction, Jules was fond of quoting Ezekiel 25:17: The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. I thought about that quote as I watched coverage of the terrorist attack on San Bernardino in December of 2015. I thought about how dangerous the world has become and what the police now have to face. The police handled that incident in a heroic manner, killing both terrorists. I also could not help but wonder how so many people could be heaping so much criticism on what I know to be a gallant profession. First things first.

When I mentioned to my wife that I was thinking about writing a book about what I considered to be a war being waged against the police, she asked me why I loved the police so much. I had never really thought much about that, at least not in those terms. I am not even sure that I realized the depth of feeling that I have on this subject. I think I could write a book about why I love the police and the profession of policing (maybe this is it). There are so many reasons, but I think it fundamentally gets down to this: the police are the good guys. What they do every day, day in and day out, is so important. The police do the right thing. The police help people. The police save lives. And the police often give their lives in the process. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington DC contains 20,267 names (they will be adding dozens more this year as they do every year). No other profession does more or sacrifices more.

It is for this reason that I think the treatment of the police is so unjust. I guess you could say that this book is a love letter from me to my beloved profession of policing. Likewise, it is also a good-bye letter. I hope to put policing behind me and move on to other things. I doubt that many people will understand why I feel as strongly as I do. I am not sure that most cops will understand. I am not even sure that I understand.

These feelings do not go away just because one retires. Remember Lonesome Dove? Even though Captains Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call had been retired from the Texas Rangers for many years, they still maintained a great deal of pride regarding their past service. I feel the same, and I am sure that many other cops do as well.

In 2015 the Veterans of Foreign Wars had this to say: Our country should celebrate the fact that highly trained and motivated veterans are choosing to continue serving their nation and communities as police officers—a profession, just like the military, that most Americans would fail even the most basic entrance requirements. Journalistic standards should demand better than accusatory statements made without any facts or reality. Unfortunately, the police side is not being told by the media. I intend to tell it.

I once worked with a young police officer named Jim Royse who told me that I have a habit of making Aubservations, about policing. My first name is Aubrey, and being the witty guy that he was, he just naturally combined Aub with observation. He was right; I did make a lot of observations, looking back on it. Now that the police seem to be coming under attack from many sides, I have decided to share some of my Aubservations with anyone who might want to take a look.

I know there are other books written by police officers, but most of them seem to be fictional novels. I am sure there are some books by cops about real policing or the controversies therein, but I am not aware of any about the current controversy. Even if there are, there should be room for one more. This book is nonfiction. There is nothing made up in this account. I will be discussing things that I have experienced; and I will be clarifying and explaining things that have happened to other officers based on my experience, training, and education. Before I accept what someone else has to say on a given subject, I like to know the extent of their personal knowledge and professional experience in a given area. How much of their awareness is theoretical, and how much is real world? I assume you do too.

Having spent twenty-seven years as a police officer, supervisor, and leader, and nine years afterward as a corrections officer, parole officer, and case manager, I feel that I have some useful perspectives regarding the criminal justice system. I do not claim to be a law enforcement expert—more like a knowledgeable practitioner. I was a competent police officer and supervisor and nothing more. Why am I qualified to write this book? I think partly because I am an odd combination of doer and thinker (maybe I am just odd). I think I am a mixture of the practical and the what might be. During the hiring process for Miamisburg, my psychological profile stated that I was not the typical police officer. Not better, not worse—just different.

What is the primary purpose of this book? I believe policing is a noble profession and that the people who do it are noble. I think that the profession and its members are being unfairly maligned, and I intend to address many of the unfair criticisms leveled at the police and most especially those involving controversial uses of force. I also intend to rebut what I believe to be false narratives against the police being perpetuated by people with vested interests. Many people who read this book are in for a rude awakening.

If they are fair-minded, they will be annoyed at the level of injustice being heaped on the police (as Mr. Trump has indicated on many occasions). They will be equally annoyed by the temerity of thugs and criminals and their supporters who insist that they are the victims. These thugs and their supporters play the race card and the victim card at every opportunity. They are the perpetrators, and the police are the real victims. The basic theme of this book is that the police are the aggrieved party and the thug and his supporters are the culprits. A secondary theme is that the police can do better. The big lie is that the police are the bad guys. This book is about justice for everyone, to include the police officer and the thug. Even thugs deserve justice (it is often harsh justice).

Some of the things I have to say are unpleasant and may seem downright mean to some. I do not mean to be mean. I do not enjoy having to say these things or point out failings of other people, but the nature of the beast requires it. To do less would be disingenuous. Attempting to sugarcoat issues would be obvious and do no good, and good is what I hope to accomplish (for both sides). A career in law enforcement and corrections requires integrity. Speaking about these important issues requires forthrightness.

To the extent that the police are wrong in some of these situations (as they must be), it is due to stress, lack of adequate training, lack of resources, the complicated nature of policing a multicultural society, and mostly the conduct of the other people involved. The police are not a racist profession, and their actions are not the result of racism. This is a blatantly false narrative. And the people who say so are bald-faced liars. Many people deliberately avoid inconvenient truths such as the ones I intend to tell. When you attack the boys and girls in blue, you are attacking me, and I do take it personally.

Nonetheless, I believe one of the markers of maturity is being able to accept legitimate criticism in a constructive manner. This can be difficult when the target of the criticism is something you love and respect. Of course, I am referring to policing. If improvement is to be had, criticism must be at least evaluated and enhancements made where needed. I believe there is some room to criticize both sides of the argument: the police and the violent subculture to be found in the black community.

I am an honest man who is not easily intimidated. I believe I am fair-minded. I am also retired. This means that my employment status cannot be used against me to keep me silenced. Many people know the truth about what I am saying, but they are afraid to speak out for fear of intimidation. They fear that the ever-present specter of political correctness will be used to muzzle them. They also fear that their livelihood will be put at risk if they do not toe the line. I have no such fear.

White people, in general, fear nothing as much as the specter of being labeled a racist. The leftists, the black agitators, and the race baiters know this; and they use it. Boy, do they ever. These folks don’t seem to understand that it is legitimate to criticize certain behaviors of any group, and that includes the black community, and to do so is not to criticize the entire race. It is individual conduct that is to be examined. Who among us is above criticism?

Here is the most important point in this book: police deadly force usage is based on the conduct of the aggressor. It is based on nothing else. Overall, the police shoot more white men than any other demographic. The police kill about two white men for every black man they kill. Percentage wise, they shoot more black men, but that is because blacks are disproportionately involved in crime and violence. That is not opinion. It is a statistical fact. Conduct, not color, is the key. We cannot shoot more white people just to even out the percentages. If whites begin to commit more crime, we will shoot more of them if that is the appropriate, necessary, and legal thing to do. The fact that the police do arrest and kill more whites than blacks is de facto proof that race is immaterial. The only color the police care about is blue. People who say otherwise are either mistaken or are insincere or have an agenda.

I do not say these things lightly. I say them because they need to be said and few others are willing to do so. We cannot fix a problem that we refuse to acknowledge. Black criminality is definitely a problem. The killing of a young black man/men (YBM) by police is just the tip of the iceberg (I use the abbreviation YBM because the term young black man or men will be oft repeated). The real toll in human life becomes obvious when you look at black-on-black crime. It is devastating, and it puts the future of the black community in jeopardy. It also demonstrates the degree of violence in this community and how it can spill over onto the police.

People will say, who are you to criticize the black culture? I will say, who are black people to criticize the police and their culture? I will also say I have thirty-six years of experience from which to critique these matters. I have lived it. I have been in the thick of it. How much real experience do the liberal journalists, left-wing loons, white guilt crowd, and even members of the violent black subculture have? I have worked in the CJS longer than most of the YBM in question have been alive or likely ever will be. In any event, I am not criticizing the black community. I am criticizing the violent subculture within the black community.

Don’t confuse me with the politically correct set who are reluctant to criticize any aspect of any culture. Wrong is wrong. Evil is evil. Illegal is illegal. In fact, I am criticizing the black subculture only to the extent that it negatively impacts the police and the black community. It is high time that conservatives and the police begin to push back on these inappropriate and false narratives being perpetrated against the police.

Race relations are obviously a problem in this country. It will not get better until we recognize that it is okay to talk about it frankly. We cannot fix a problem that we are afraid to even discuss publicly. Like the police, the black community must learn to accept and deal with legitimate criticism if they are to correct the serious problems that pervade their community. This includes interactions with the police. Black folks have more at stake in these issues than anyone else. It is their members who are dying routinely.

Make no mistake: this book is largely about the negative aspects of racial politics. To claim otherwise would be hypocritical. I know this is a startling statement. I will give you a minute to compose yourself. There, we will continue. This book is also largely about the justifiable killing of young black men by the police along with the occasional unjustified killing of a YBM by the police. The law of averages says that those who have more negative contacts with the police will also have more negative outcomes. This same law of averages will dictate that the police will make the occasional mistake. Any endeavor involving human beings will result in some mistakes. It has ever been thus, and it will continue to be. This book is also about the unjustified killing of police officers by YBM. The police do not claim to be perfect, but neither are their critics or the YBM who cause almost all these confrontations and subsequent deaths.

I am an experienced, educated, and well-trained police officer first and foremost; and this is the perspective that I represent and wish to impart. Although I am admittedly pro police (and the other side is obviously antipolice), I am also logical and fair-minded. I will say nothing unless I believe it is true. I will not give the police a pass. Where I think improvement is needed, I will say so. In fact, I believe there are many areas that need improving in the way that police officers do their jobs and in the way they are selected and, most especially, trained. I will dwell on that issue in depth at the appropriate time. Nevertheless, I do mean this book to be a spirited defense of my favorite group of people-the men and women in blue.

As I analyze controversial uses of police force, I will point out what I view to be errors on the part of the police and what I think would be viable alternatives. I will also point it out when they did right and why their detractors are wrong. This book is written from the perspective of a practitioner. I am not an academician or a researcher. This is not a scholarly tome. My experience comes firsthand from doing and from being in the arena, as Teddy Roosevelt might say, and from studying, analyzing, and ruminating about police things that matter. Make no mistake: this book is not a collection of police war stories. If there is a next one, it might be.

CHAPTER TWO

Background and Qualifications

I believe the reader has a right and a need to know the author’s qualifications for discussing important issues at hand. Otherwise, how will the reader assess the credibility of the author’s opinions? I would suggest that I am perhaps one of the best-trained police officers around. Let me tell you why I think so. The average police officer completes one police academy in a career. They are arduous, lengthy, and physically challenging; so one is enough for most people as you can imagine (they are somewhat akin to military basic training). I, however, am a glutton for punishment. I have completed four basic police academies and three related academies in addition to basic training in the army. I suspect this may be a record. If anyone has completed more, I would like to hear about it.

While at Fort Ord in 1973, I completed the ten-week California Police Officers Standards and Training Academy in Monterey. In 1974 I finished the eight-week Basic Military Police Academy at Fort Gordon, Georgia. In 1975 I completed the six-week Military Police Investigations Academy at Fort McClelland, Alabama. In 1977 I finished the sixteen-week Raleigh, North Carolina, Police Academy. In 1979 I completed the ten-week Ohio Highway Patrol Academy for Basic Police Recruits in Columbus. In 2003 I finished the five-week Ohio Corrections Academy. In 2005 I completed the four-week Ohio Adult Parole Authority Academy.

In addition to these academies, I have participated in thousands of hours of informal roll call training. Most of this training was actually presented by me to my patrol team and, later, detective section. They say the best way to learn is to teach. As the detective sergeant and, later, assistant chief, I was responsible for developing general orders and policies for my department; and this was an incredible learning experience. When you write a policy, it must be well thought out, well researched, and well written.

Policing is a complex business. Leadership and supervision are involved enterprises. As a result, I have always attempted to avail myself of any and all training opportunities so that I might thrive in the job and the career. For that reason, I sought out advanced training and was able to complete several advanced leadership and management programs. These programs did a lot for me. They made me a better officer, supervisor, and leader.

In 1992 I attended the eleven-week FBI National Academy. This is an advanced program for local police leaders. It is held at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. It is said that only about 1 percent of police leaders ever have the opportunity to attend this program. It is by invitation only. It is widely considered as the most prestigious of all police management programs. My class included 250 command officers, chiefs of police, and police leaders from many different countries.

I completed the PELC program conducted by the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police in conjunction with the Law Enforcement Foundation in 1995. PELC is the Police Executive Leadership College, a three-week program for command-level supervisors and chiefs. It was a wonderful venue, and it changed my view of the world and started me down the road to advanced learning. PELC deals with key leadership issues for policing. I must confess that prior to PELC, I had never thought seriously about many of these concepts. I can honestly say that this program gave me a new perspective on policing and leadership. It was, hands down, the most influential three weeks to my police career.

I also attended the CLEE program. The Certified Law Enforcement Executive Program is a professional certification process to ensure law enforcement competency. It is a series of eight modules presented over the course of thirteen months by national experts from the private sector as well as from academia. It was a rigorous process, and some did not complete it. I also completed recertification for this worthwhile program, an equally arduous process.

I also attended the School of Police Staff and Command presented by Northwestern University. This ten-week program specialized in hands-on management and leadership techniques such as budgeting, staffing, and project management. This program gives you the tools to run a police department effectively.

I attended the four-week Executive Management Program presented by Northwestern University. Like PELC, this program concentrated on far-reaching and important topics that are not considered in day-to-day law enforcement. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. This program was created for the Chicago Police Department in 1994. It soon spread to all of Illinois. I attended the first program to be presented in Ohio.

In addition to these advanced programs, I have attended hundreds of hours of training on basic police matters, management and leadership issues, and many other topics. I have attended numerous one-, two-, and three-day seminars as well as one- and two-week classes. I have the certificates to prove it. In addition to having been responsible for coordinating my department’s training program, I was also the firearms instructor (four weeks training: three weeks at OPOTA and one week with the NRA).

I conducted firearms training for many years and have the hearing loss to prove it. I probably have lead poisoning as well. In the early years, we didn’t pay much attention to minor issues like ventilation, and most of our in-service firearms training was conducted indoors. I was also the department’s driver’s training instructor for many years (two weeks of training). I completed three weeks of training with the LAPD SWAT team, which included Australian rappelling (yikes, this is where you go down face first). Additionally, I have Ohio Police Officer Basic Training Program Instructor status beginning in 1996, certificate #BT10387.

In addition to my police and management training, I have three related college degrees. I completed an associate’s degree in law enforcement from Sinclair Community College in Dayton in 1988. I then completed a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Capital University in Columbus in 1994. I also finalized a master’s degree in criminal justice from Xavier University in Cincinnati in 2000.

I started a PhD program in psychology at the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati in 2009. I completed seven courses before deciding that the field of psychology was not for me. It was much more technical than I had imagined with a great deal of time spent on testing procedures. The field of psychology was also much more liberal than I had thought and not a particularly good fit for me. I did prove to myself that I was capable of completing graduate-level work as I had four As and three Bs when I stopped.

All my degrees were completed while working full-time as a police officer and raising a family. I have worked almost every schedule imaginable during my career and while some of these degrees were earned. I believe shift work and varying schedules are some of the most trying things about policing. They can wear you down physically and mentally. Dedication, ambition, and accomplishment require some level of personal sacrifice from both the individual and the family. I was very fortunate to have a supportive family through all these endeavors.

In addition to the above training and education, I have the following experience. I have worked for three police agencies: one narcotics task force; one state penal institution, a state parole authority; and a statewide organized crime task force. I have served as a patrol officer, narc, detective, patrol sergeant, detective sergeant, acting lieutenant, captain, acting chief, and task force director (Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission), with special deputation as a US marshal for task force purposes.

I have also served as a corrections officer, adult parole officer, and prison case manager. I consider my police career to have been a great foundation to my corrections time. I have worked the full cycle of the criminal justice system (CJS). I have incarcerated suspects, worked with them in prison, and worked with them on parole (occasionally with the same person in all three roles).

I think this gives me a unique understanding of the CJS. All total, I have thirty-six years invested in the criminal justice system. While policing was and always will be my first love (occupationally speaking), corrections was also a challenging, interesting, and important job; and I am very proud of my time in corrections as well. Make no mistake: corrections is a worthwhile endeavor. As a CO, you are still a cop, only inside a large building. It takes heart to work inside a facility full of reprobates. I suspect that society and my police brethren fail to give these folks the credit they deserve.

Corrections taught me that everything is not black and white. Gray areas, with respect to human behaviors, do exist. Everyone makes mistakes, and that includes otherwise good people. However, there are many intentional occurrences that can never be forgiven (such as the murder of a police officer). Time well spent in both careers in my judgment. I can think of no other combination of occupations that I would have preferred.

I will be speaking a lot about race as it relates to policing in this book. Therefore, I think it necessary to talk about my experience with the black culture over the years. I am certainly not an expert on blackness or the black culture or subculture. However, I have had a great deal of interaction with the black race because of my life experience and especially because of my chosen career. I worked with African Americans in the US Army for five years. In the seventies, the army was about 35 percent black, so there was a lot of interaction between the races. I did not have any issues with blacks during these years although I was a military police officer for three of them.

My best friend at Fort Ord was a black man (Greg). He was a kind, gentle man. Greg was caring and respectful of others. My young daughter adored him. My best friends at Fort Bragg were a black couple (Pete and Emma) and their delightful young daughter, Tekita Renee. They later moved home to Birmingham, Alabama. I hope they are doing well. None of these people were associated with the police. I lived in predominately black neighborhoods in Seaside, California, and Fayetteville, North Carolina. I lived in a mixed area in Raleigh.

As a Raleigh police officer, I worked with many black officers for two years and never had a conflict with any of them. The RPD was well integrated at that time. My first beat in Raleigh was 90 percent black, and this was an exciting beat to work. I only recall being called a white devil once while working that area although I got called that a number of times in the prison system (I think they used it as a term of endearment). Upon returning to Ohio, I lived and worked in the greater Dayton area, which was about 30 percent black overall. Upon joining the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC) in 2003, I found myself immersed in the black subculture. As a CO, PO, and CM, I worked with a staff that was about 30 percent black and a clientele (inmate population) that was about 50 percent black.

I had a black female supervisor for several years without ever having a conflict with her while serving as a case manager. She was both fair and firm. In fact, I worked for many black supervisors while at ODRC (and in the service and in Raleigh). I never had a complaint or a problem with, or about, or from any blacks I worked with, or for, while serving as a soldier, police officer, police supervisor, corrections officer, parole officer, or case manager. That is more than I can say about some of my white male supervisors over the years.

I worked directly with inmates at ODRC for nine years without ever having a fight with an inmate or ever having a sustained complaint filed against me by an inmate of any color. In fact, in thirty-six years of service with the CJS, I had exactly two complaints filed against me by African-Americans in the prison system (none in the police system). In one instance, I closed a cell door quickly, and it struck the foot of the inmate who was trying to get out of the cell at lockdown time. He was not injured, and the complaint was not sustained as the inmate was doing something he should not have been doing.

In the second complaint, I physically forced (pushed) an inmate out of my office after he refused to leave after I denied his request and ordered him to leave three times (three requests are my limit). This complaint was not sustained. The inmate was not injured in any way. This is a remarkable record for one working in such a violent environment filled with very dangerous people (half of whom were black). For many of the years I worked there, it was deemed the most dangerous prison in Ohio. Assaults on staff were common. Fights among inmates were even more commonplace. Some of the occupants had life sentences; and all were there for serious crimes such as robbery, rape, and murder. I had even arrested some of them, and all of them knew that I was a retired police officer. I was not a pushover. I held all inmates accountable to the rules. I wrote many conduct reports. Still, most of them treated me with respect, and I returned it.

Of course, I had conflicts with some of them, but it never got out of hand. It was always handled professionally. My last year as a corrections officer was spent as an assigned block officer in K Block at the Lebanon Correctional Institution. This was a challenging and trying job. Two officers trying to control two-hundred-plus convicted felons. Half of them black men young enough to be my sons. In fact, I often felt like many of the young men of all colors in my block looked at me as a father figure and acted accordingly. Many of these people actually treated me with kindness in addition to respect. Some nights I would go home and think what a great block officer I was. Some nights I would go home and think what the hell just happened.

In my last day in K Block, a young black man approached me and asked me to speak to a young man on the third range. This young man (about nineteen), for whatever reason, had taken a liking to me and was taking it badly that I was leaving the institution. I did speak to him, and we shared a poignant moment. Every night on second shift, when it became time to lock everyone down, that inmate would come out onto the range and tell me that he wasn’t going into his cell and that I could not make him. I would then grab him physically and muscle him into the cell. I was about fifty-one at the time, but I was bigger, so I always managed to get him in. I think we both enjoyed this game. The prison would not have understood this camaraderie, and both of us would have gotten into trouble if they found out. This was prior to cameras being installed in the cell blocks.

When I left K Block, I received a card from the porters in the block. Almost all of them were black. It was a card that expressed warm sentiments regarding my leaving and wishing me good luck for the future. I was very touched by this gesture. So much so that I had it framed and hung in my family room where I see it daily. This is not the norm, and I would be soundly criticized by the staff of the institution for doing so and for having any feelings for these inmates.

The attitude that they seemed to want and expect was more confrontational. This was their way of seeing that employees did not step over the line and become compromised. This may have been necessary with young inexperienced staff, but I was an old salt by this time, and I knew where to draw the line. I was always amazed that these mostly young black men wished me, their jailor and perceived oppressor, good luck and best wishes for the future. I will never forget this act of kindness. I have fond memories of these people.

I say all that to say this: I am not a racist. It is not possible for a public servant to spend thirty-six years in the CJS with only two complaints from the minority community and no findings of fault, if one were to be a racist. My record speaks for itself. My record is clean, and my intentions are sincere. I merely wish to state the facts as I believe them to be and let the truth come out. Unfortunately, the nature of the subject matter requires that some unpleasant truths be told. My intention is to help both the police and the black community by telling these truths.

I have nothing but the best of wishes for all people, and that includes the black race. I have tremendous affection for many of the black people I have known and worked with and supervised and been supervised by. My criticisms of the black race are limited to the criminal element and their supporters. I criticize them at all only because they are the group that has chosen to go to war against the police and have been the most vocal in that regard.

I am an old-fashioned guy in many respects. My favorite play is Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie. Both were written before I was born. Both are about small-town American life, and both teach timeless American values. They teach the values that I grew up being exposed to in rural Kentucky, and I took these values to heart and made them my own. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways. How can you improve on family values? How can you improve on things