By: evan

evan
Tue, 09 Dec 2014 19:39:58 +0000

Look, here are the facts; Caucasian police are statistically far more likely to shoot Black and Brown suspects than they are to shoot White suspects. Lately, and for the past several decades, there have been numerous instances of unwarranted police shootings, not all of whose victims have been Black, but Black folks make up the majority of the victims. The cases of Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, are pretty clear. The case of Michael Brown is a little less clear, but it took place in a community where there has been a longstanding pattern of police harassment and abuse, as well as a high degree of economic and racial disparity. We don't know what actually happened there, as all we have are CONFLICTING eyewitness testimonies, and inconclusive forensic evidence, but we DO know that the killing of Brown was avoidable, so we should have no hesitation about assigning culpability to Wilson on that point. The National Bar Association has condemned the grand jury process and the actions of the prosecutor as deeply flawed, and has endorsed the Justice Department's investigation. Meanwhile, Wilson walks free with over $1 Million in private contributions, the police department in Ferguson remains 94% White, and includes officers who are members of the KKK, and there have been at least two more fatal shootings of un-armed individuals by police there SINCE the killing of Michael Brown. Many White people have been quick to judge Michael Brown's character, accusing him of robbing the store even though neither the store clerk or the manager have said there was a robbery at all, and claiming Brown was a lawless thug, even though there is no evidence to support that claim - AS IF ANY OF THAT WAS RELEVANT! These same White people have complained about the arson and looting in Ferguson, implying that all of the protesters were responsible, and painting them all with a dismissive brush, yet these complainers have nothing to say about the on-going conditions or the pattern of police abuse nationally. These complainers aren't even aware of the protesters actual demands, which are perfectly rational and sensible and worthy of support. If you have a general distrust of law enforcement, caused, at least, by an occasional instance of police misconduct (or a consistent pattern of it in a place like Ferguson or Cleveland) then innocent folks will be less likely to call the police when they are truly needed. That, in turn, will lead to increased crime levels in the affected neighborhoods, which, in turn, will lead to more arrogant small-minded white people stereotyping the people in those communities as being morally deficient and criminally inclined. That, in turn, will lead not only to more police abuses, but also to more abusive police going unpunished, which, thereby leads to more distrust. White privilege, not Black rage is the real root of the problem here, and there is no reason to pay any attention to the cynical snarking of those who are steeped in the former. What is sad, though, and cause for real concern, is that there are so damned many of them commenting and getting it all so very wrong.