You can say that this is not about race. But youd be wrong. Oh, its not ONLY about race. Its also about economic class, militarized police forces, the profitability of fear-based mass media, and the pervasive culture of bullying, selfish entitlement that has been sold to us under the guise of American values, especially within the last decade or so. But it IS about race. American cops do not drive up to, attack, assault and then murder white kids in the street, in broad daylight, and believe they can get away with it. Police forces do not close ranks, arrest journalists, shut down air-traffic, and escalate to deadly force when one of their own offs a white kid. Media outlets, politicians, and just plain folks do not wave off the protests of people who are protesting a murderous cop if that cop has killed a white kid, or accuse those protesters of being looters of a single continental origin. One need only compare and contrast the police and public response to Cliven Bundys band of gun-toting white boys with the similar responses to the protesters of Michael Browns murder. Or the way cops and pundits treat the white open carry enthusiasts, in contrast with the killing of John Crawford in Wal-Mart not 10 days ago. When was the last time you heard about cops arresting a white professor in his own living room, the way police treated Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in July of 2009? And when did campaigning politicians, rock stars, media figures, and even members of Congress publicly call for armed revolt and the execution of a white president, even a hated one like Carter or Bill Clinton, over accusations so asinine that they stagger any thinking mind? And if I was to make the same observations without playing the race card, how many of you folks reading this right now would be preparing angry rebuttals or justification-based responses to what I just said? Oh, its also about class warfare, economics, media sideshows, and cops with too many toys for our own good. But it IS about race. And its high time we all stopped deflecting and denying it, and started addressing the goddamned problem. motherjones/politics/2014/08/3-unarmed-black-african-american-men-killed-police
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 01:40:17 +0000
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