Jim Wright
. . . The events of Ferguson, Missouri over the last week are the norm in America.
And there is nothing particularly new about any of it. From the Whiskey Rebellion to Ferguson, this is how we so often do business in America. Shoot first, ask questions later, let God sort it out.
The violence in Ferguson is the natural consequence of short sighted policies enacted out of fear, out of reflex and political laziness and a lack of national will. It exists because we are too damned lazy to do anything about it except wring our hands and blame somebody else.
The violence in Ferguson is a direct result of our exceptional inability to face the real problems and deal with them as a mature nation, as a civilized society, and as a reasonable people.
Both the initial confrontation and the resulting violence, those things really aren’t surprising in America at all. They happen all of the time. The media is daily full of similar events. We’ve watched this same scene play out over and over. Dead kids. Riots. Looting. Burning buildings. Clouds of gas. Police intimidating and almost machinelike in military gear. Enraged citizens. Bloviating politicians. Posturing pundits. A media more interested in manufacturing news than in reporting it. And, of course, as always, a dimwitted easily led American population dutifully lining up on either side each according to political affiliation like good little clockwork automatons, short on facts, long a rumor and rhetoric, shrieking and manically shaking their fists at each other.
Here’s what will happen in Ferguson: Eventually a handful of rioters will be prosecuted and found guilty of property damage or public disorder or some other equally convenient charge. Soon thereafter the police will be exonerated of any wrong doing, though the chief will talk about how they could maybe do things better and how they’re gonna hire themselves more police of color, because, heh heh, you know. Violence will erupt again, briefly, when it becomes apparent, again, that there really is no justice to be had despite all the promises. But this time the police will be ready and it’ll all peter out into sullen rage and renewed cynical resentment.
The lessons will be reinforced: Black and white, Right and Left, Rich and Poor, and Fuck the Police.
By then, of course, America will have long forgotten about Ferguson, Missouri.
And we will go on as before.
And the problems that cause this will remain. Unaddressed. Unsolved.
My cynicism and the violence in Ferguson, they’re both symptoms of a much larger problem. A problem that’s been simmering and bubbling for decades – hell, centuries – and every once in a while it boils over. We get scalded, sure, and it’s terrible,and we all scream, why? Why doesn’t somebody do something? Why can’t we all just get along?
But we never turn down the heat. We never fix the real problem.
We just put the lid back on and hope it’ll be different next time.
Then we forget about it.
Until the pressure cooker explodes in our face yet again.
Last Saturday, a unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, was shot dead by a white police officer. The shooting occurred around noon in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, as Brown and a friend walked down a street.
That part is not in dispute.
But nearly every other detail of the event is.
Police say that Brown was shot during a struggle with the arresting officer when he tried to grab the cop’s gun.
Other reports say Brown was killed while kneeling in the street with his hands up.
Of course there’s no video of the event. We’ve got a billion gigabytes of cats and boobs and rednecks doing stupid shit with guns, but somehow the important stuff never gets recorded, does it? All we have is the cop’s word. And the conflicting words of supposed witnesses. Brown, conveniently, isn’t around to defend himself.
Barring the ability to travel through time, we’ll never really know what happened. Not really. Not indisputably. We’ll each believe what we want to believe, whatever best suits our own viewpoint and perception.
But, ultimately, what it comes down to is that an unarmed black teenager was shot dead by a white cop. Again.
As I said up above, there’s nothing exceptional about this scenario. In America, it happens all too often.
At its core, this is about racism – both the individual and the institutionalized kind.
Yes, it's about race. Yes it is. That is the very crux of the matter.
And don’t try to pretend that it’s not. Race and how we view race in America from our various perspectives always shapes how we perceive incidents like this. Everything, the inevitable violence, the mollifying empty promises, the gravid media analysis, the openly racist comments, the subtly racist comments, the contemptuous dismissal of the race issue, everything that always follows this kind of event depends from this basic fact: In America it’s always about race.
Ignoring that fact or pretending that it’s not so in order to avoid dealing with it is precisely why it continues day in and day out.
When the police refer to the black population as “animals,” on record, to a reporter, it’s about race.
When the population is predominately black and the police force is predominately white, it’s about race.
When the dialog focuses on the dead teenager’s appearance, his clothing, his friends, his school record, his family, his habits and haunts and hangouts, when the media publicly debates whether he was a “good son” or a “thug,” it’s about race.
When the media openly speculates about the victim’s possible drug use or criminal history, it’s about race.
When your perception of the dead teen’s guilt or innocence is determined by which political party you belong to or which political pundit you listen to, it’s about race.
When you attempt to justify the death of a black teenager because other black people smashed windows and lit shit on fire in protest, it’s about race.
When you attempt to dismiss another dead black teenager at the hands of the police by quoting statistics about “black on black” crime, it’s about race.
When you’re more outraged about the unconstitutional arrest and intimidation of white reporters than you are about the unconstitutional shooting of a black teenager, it’s about race.
When you’re more concerned about the militarization of white police than you are about the fact that those same police gunned down a black teenager for no apparent reason other than he happened to be walking down a public street while black, just like any of a hundred other black teenagers gunned down by those in authority, it’s about race.
When you suggest with a knowingly raised eyebrow that a black teenager ought to be smart enough to immediately submit to police authority without any trace of resentment or risk summary execution, but you think a bunch of white ranchers are patriots for defying the government and pointing assault rifles at federal agents, it’s about race.
When those things, all of those things, are what determines in the court of public opinion whether or not the dead kid deserved what he got or whether he was a victim, well, folks, then it’s about race.
When a white cop shoots dead an unarmed black teenager, it’s about race.
In America, it’s always about race.
. . . And until we deal with that, that right there and all the myriad complex problems that depend from it, the centuries of social inequality, the lack of justice, the us and them mentality, the poverty, the drugs, the guns, the politics, the lost potential and opportunity, and especially the rage, until we face that head on and actually do something about it in a fair and reasoned manner, then scenes like Ferguson will continue to play out on the evening news. . . .
. . . The events of Ferguson, Missouri over the last week are the norm in America.
And there is nothing particularly new about any of it. From the Whiskey Rebellion to Ferguson, this is how we so often do business in America. Shoot first, ask questions later, let God sort it out.
The violence in Ferguson is the natural consequence of short sighted policies enacted out of fear, out of reflex and political laziness and a lack of national will. It exists because we are too damned lazy to do anything about it except wring our hands and blame somebody else.
The violence in Ferguson is a direct result of our exceptional inability to face the real problems and deal with them as a mature nation, as a civilized society, and as a reasonable people.
Both the initial confrontation and the resulting violence, those things really aren’t surprising in America at all. They happen all of the time. The media is daily full of similar events. We’ve watched this same scene play out over and over. Dead kids. Riots. Looting. Burning buildings. Clouds of gas. Police intimidating and almost machinelike in military gear. Enraged citizens. Bloviating politicians. Posturing pundits. A media more interested in manufacturing news than in reporting it. And, of course, as always, a dimwitted easily led American population dutifully lining up on either side each according to political affiliation like good little clockwork automatons, short on facts, long a rumor and rhetoric, shrieking and manically shaking their fists at each other.
Here’s what will happen in Ferguson: Eventually a handful of rioters will be prosecuted and found guilty of property damage or public disorder or some other equally convenient charge. Soon thereafter the police will be exonerated of any wrong doing, though the chief will talk about how they could maybe do things better and how they’re gonna hire themselves more police of color, because, heh heh, you know. Violence will erupt again, briefly, when it becomes apparent, again, that there really is no justice to be had despite all the promises. But this time the police will be ready and it’ll all peter out into sullen rage and renewed cynical resentment.
The lessons will be reinforced: Black and white, Right and Left, Rich and Poor, and Fuck the Police.
By then, of course, America will have long forgotten about Ferguson, Missouri.
And we will go on as before.
And the problems that cause this will remain. Unaddressed. Unsolved.
My cynicism and the violence in Ferguson, they’re both symptoms of a much larger problem. A problem that’s been simmering and bubbling for decades – hell, centuries – and every once in a while it boils over. We get scalded, sure, and it’s terrible,and we all scream, why? Why doesn’t somebody do something? Why can’t we all just get along?
But we never turn down the heat. We never fix the real problem.
We just put the lid back on and hope it’ll be different next time.
Then we forget about it.
Until the pressure cooker explodes in our face yet again.
Last Saturday, a unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, was shot dead by a white police officer. The shooting occurred around noon in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, as Brown and a friend walked down a street.
That part is not in dispute.
But nearly every other detail of the event is.
Police say that Brown was shot during a struggle with the arresting officer when he tried to grab the cop’s gun.
Other reports say Brown was killed while kneeling in the street with his hands up.
Of course there’s no video of the event. We’ve got a billion gigabytes of cats and boobs and rednecks doing stupid shit with guns, but somehow the important stuff never gets recorded, does it? All we have is the cop’s word. And the conflicting words of supposed witnesses. Brown, conveniently, isn’t around to defend himself.
Barring the ability to travel through time, we’ll never really know what happened. Not really. Not indisputably. We’ll each believe what we want to believe, whatever best suits our own viewpoint and perception.
But, ultimately, what it comes down to is that an unarmed black teenager was shot dead by a white cop. Again.
As I said up above, there’s nothing exceptional about this scenario. In America, it happens all too often.
At its core, this is about racism – both the individual and the institutionalized kind.
Yes, it's about race. Yes it is. That is the very crux of the matter.
And don’t try to pretend that it’s not. Race and how we view race in America from our various perspectives always shapes how we perceive incidents like this. Everything, the inevitable violence, the mollifying empty promises, the gravid media analysis, the openly racist comments, the subtly racist comments, the contemptuous dismissal of the race issue, everything that always follows this kind of event depends from this basic fact: In America it’s always about race.
Ignoring that fact or pretending that it’s not so in order to avoid dealing with it is precisely why it continues day in and day out.
When the police refer to the black population as “animals,” on record, to a reporter, it’s about race.
When the population is predominately black and the police force is predominately white, it’s about race.
When the dialog focuses on the dead teenager’s appearance, his clothing, his friends, his school record, his family, his habits and haunts and hangouts, when the media publicly debates whether he was a “good son” or a “thug,” it’s about race.
When the media openly speculates about the victim’s possible drug use or criminal history, it’s about race.
When your perception of the dead teen’s guilt or innocence is determined by which political party you belong to or which political pundit you listen to, it’s about race.
When you attempt to justify the death of a black teenager because other black people smashed windows and lit shit on fire in protest, it’s about race.
When you attempt to dismiss another dead black teenager at the hands of the police by quoting statistics about “black on black” crime, it’s about race.
When you’re more outraged about the unconstitutional arrest and intimidation of white reporters than you are about the unconstitutional shooting of a black teenager, it’s about race.
When you’re more concerned about the militarization of white police than you are about the fact that those same police gunned down a black teenager for no apparent reason other than he happened to be walking down a public street while black, just like any of a hundred other black teenagers gunned down by those in authority, it’s about race.
When you suggest with a knowingly raised eyebrow that a black teenager ought to be smart enough to immediately submit to police authority without any trace of resentment or risk summary execution, but you think a bunch of white ranchers are patriots for defying the government and pointing assault rifles at federal agents, it’s about race.
When those things, all of those things, are what determines in the court of public opinion whether or not the dead kid deserved what he got or whether he was a victim, well, folks, then it’s about race.
When a white cop shoots dead an unarmed black teenager, it’s about race.
In America, it’s always about race.
. . . And until we deal with that, that right there and all the myriad complex problems that depend from it, the centuries of social inequality, the lack of justice, the us and them mentality, the poverty, the drugs, the guns, the politics, the lost potential and opportunity, and especially the rage, until we face that head on and actually do something about it in a fair and reasoned manner, then scenes like Ferguson will continue to play out on the evening news. . . .
