It’s amazing to see how willfully deaf media commentators are when they incessantly question the justification for the riots in Ferguson, and ask, like this BBC host does, whether the “black leadership should be calling for restraint.” Over and over again, black voices have made it clear that the riots wouldn’t have erupted and sustained themselves if authorities had addressed the community’s grievances with even a minimal respect for the law and a shred of fairness. West points out, “If in fact there was even a semblance of a just process, a semblance of transparency, you wouldn’t have the young brothers and sisters out there throwing the Molotov cocktails.” On Democracy Now yesterday, Rev. Clinton Stancil similarly explained how “there seems to be a reversal” when it comes to the application of law for black people. “When there’s probable cause and it involves us as the criminal element, when there’s probable cause, there is arrest, then investigation. When it involves them [the police], there is investigation before the arrest, even when there’s probable cause. We’re simply wanting justice. We want the legal process to take place. But the officer, based on eyewitness statements, should be arrested. Now, after investigation, we will see how that investigation turns out. He may be innocent, he may be guilty—we don’t know yet. But based on the evidence and the eyewitness reports that we’ve heard so far, there is no doubt in my mind that this officer should be arrested. And that’s why we’ve been calling on the county prosecutor to do simply do your job, stop being afraid to do your job.” j.mp/1tjgl0I
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 21:09:44 +0000
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