Unfortunately, she conceded, “there is no question that law-abiding black men in America pay a ‘crime tax’ because the sad reality is that the majority of violent criminals and victims are black.”

Jonathan Blanks, Visiting Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, focused on policing reform and criminal justice.

Jonathan believes “there is a crisis of legitimacy for police departments,” and called for the police to take steps to assuage the fears of the public.

He points to past policies like Stop-and-Frisk, which may have done more to alienate citizens than prevent crimes.

To reduce crime and increase public confidence, Jonathan recommended “putting more cops on street corners as a statistically successful way to deter further crime, but as soon those officers begin needlessly stopping and harassing citizens, the benefit is eliminated.”

Jonathan concluded by echoing Tenean and former guest Detective Michael Barton’s advice: do a ridealong with your local police department to better understand how much is asked of them.

Member Michael McClellan, author of The Sand Sea (link below), dubbed “an astounding epic novel of J.R.R. Tolkien proportions!”

As a successful lawyer by day and fantasy fiction writer by morning, Michael attributes his ability to write what has been called “the next Game of Thrones” to waking every day at 5:00AM to write 500 pages.

Michael spoke of being a mentee to Steven Pressfield — the bestselling author of Gates of Fire and the War of Art — and said of writing a 750-page novel, you have to be consistent: “We underestimate what we can do in five to 10 years.”

The Sand Sea takes place in a world that mirrors the Gilded Age and Clash of Civilizations that encompassed the height of the British Empire and the beginnings of American ascendence.

We’re all looking for dawn to return, and you can rest assured that this book ends with optimism. Michael believes that “fantasy books often mirror the opposing zeitgeist of the time. A pessimistic Game of Thrones originated in the optimism of the 1990s, while the epic, good versus evil struggle of The Lord of the Rings emerged in the shadow of the morally ambiguous and wasteful carnage of World War I.”

The Sand Sea (link below) just launched this week! Treat yourself with a copy.