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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe are all wrong on Ferguson
>Written by my ol' copywriting compadre at the ad agency. Good stuff. <We are all wrong on Ferguson
December 4, 2014 at 1:21pm
The shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer makes quite a first impression, and people all over the country reacted to the story emotionally at first. I did, too.
For members and neighbors of African-American communities all over this country who have been given generations of justifiable reasons not to trust the powers policing them, the death of another unarmed teenager at the hands of a policeman triggers real questions of justice, and they understandably empathized with Brown and his family. For police officers across the country and their families it triggers the very real fair that on any given day they could be pressed into a situation where taking a life or losing ones own are the only options. I imagine no cop wants that, and those who understand the fine line an officer must walk and the tragic consequence of even the right choice undoubtedly felt for Wilsons predicament.
Both reactions are fair and based on a substantial bit of truth. In an ideal world we would seek to have our collective response informed by both of them, but very quickly it became clear that our world is still far from ideal.
The 24-hour news cycle and the cable networks that traffic in it have taken a good deal of the blame for keeping the coverage superficial and sensationalistic, and for good reason, but blaming them for feeding us news in Vine-sized bites is kind of like dragging your kids to Black Friday and then blaming Walmart and television ads for obscuring the true meaning of Christmas.Theyre just giving us what we are asking for, with our dollars and viewing hours, if not with our hearts. The real failure that these outlets committed happened long before the unrest in Ferguson, when they abandoned journalistic integrity and began pandering to their own respective bases. And both bases ateit up. You can argue amongst yourselves who started it; that doesnt really interest me anymore.
Everyone can now retreat to like-minded cable networks and news feeds, and the producers and memes strive to reassure all of us that we were right all along. Each truth became proprietary, and admitting the other one could be true an act of surrender.
Progressive websites and media outlets are hungry for stories that highlight what theyand Isee as real systemic problems that are often ignored in the national dialogue. They hoped this was it, and they worked to present the victim in the best light possible while willingly conflating Officer Wilson with racial inequality in law enforcement as a whole. On the other side, cable news, web sites and talk radio countered by framing Brown as a monstrous thug and immediate danger to anyone who might break down in front of him. Both sides were exploiting real fears, and in so doing both were perpetuating those fears while making it harder for two people with opposite emotional responses initially to ever find common ground.
And both sides are wrong; both are hyperbolic caricatures of themselves by now. Michael Brown was not Rosa Parks, nor was he a boogeyman just waiting for a chance to lash out at white suburbanites. And Darren Wilson was not a monster, suiting up for work, hoping each day is the day he gets to shoot an unarmed black teen.
Its impossible to imagine that both parties didnt fear for their lives during that confrontation. Michael Browns fear of Darren Wilson ran deeper than not wanting to be caught breaking the law. As stated at the outset, the belief that young black men are not going to be treated the same by police as their white counterparts is firmly grounded in reality. They arent.The statistics are overwhelmingly clear, and Id wager that most of us have experiences that support those statisticscertainly those of us who have lived in cities have seen it firsthand.
When I was a college student the Boston PD went out of their way to keep peace with the neighbors while not getting any of us into serious trouble, even ignoring some things in plain sight; teenagers in Roxbury got so such leniency. A few years earlier, in a mostly white small town, one of the police officers was the offensive coordinator on our high school football team. When he caught us trespassing,drinking underage and causing other various kinds of trouble he simply followed us all home to make sure we were safe and then ran us until we threw up at practice the next Monday.
In short, Ive broken the law, and I never had to fear getting shot for it. And Im about the size Michael Brown was.
Thats how we hope police interact with their communities, but its an experience that must seem so foreign to a young black man in St. Louis. How can that disparity of experience not engender distrust? Even if Michael Brown had been an angelic citizen, he had no reason to believe the police would have treated him as anything other than a criminal.He had no reason to believe Darren Wilson would ever react as if he wasnt afraid for his life. The unacceptable truth weve come to accept is that Wilson was afraid because Brown was a large black man, or at least looked like one,and I dont believe we can personally indict Wilson for this. He, too, is a victim of the systemic racism that perpetuates that fear. Fox News and its aligned outlets are trying to reassure their customers that this fear is reasonablethat Michel Brown is, in fact, more proof of it.
I have no interest in calling Fox News or its viewers racist, any more than the rest of us. Racism is the United States of Americas original sinmanifest most starkly in our participation in the African Slave Trade but present from the first moment the pilgrims met the Wampanoag. As Americans we are all racists (in the manner that all Christians are sinnersAdam and Eves disobedience doesnt diminish the beauty of the Christian faith any more than acknowledging our countrys imperfections detracts from its greatness) and that shouldnt be heard as an insult but as a call to action. We all have the civic duty to fight racism, and when it is suggested that something weve done might be racist we shouldnt view it as an accusation but as a reminder that we might not have been consciously fighting it at that moment. And we all need those reminders sometimes.
The police do, too, but we also need to do better by our police. We need to make sure they have the tools to be better police (more body cameras and fewer tanks is a good start) but we also need to work so that our officers (as well as our neighbors, families and colleagues) dont fear black men simply because they are black. Firstly, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (if were treating people like criminals whether they commit a crime or not we are removing a big disincentive to crime). Secondly, it foments more distrust, and that makes the job of the policeand the lives of the policedmore difficult. Thirdly, kids wind up dead when theres no reason for it.
Sadly, with Ferguson we took a step back, not a step forward. The news mongers ran to their reactionary bunkers instead of analyzing and discussing the issues. The prosecutor, though I allege no malice, did a grave disservice to the citizens of St. Louis and to race relations across the country, and should surely step down so the community can heal. He opted for a secret forum and acted as arbitrator rather than prosecutor,meaning that the case was never truly subjected to an adversarial system. There were so many questions to which he simply denied the community answers, and it makes the recent rants by Charles Barkley and Joe Scarborough (relying on the evidence he presented as if it had been vetted by an open court, when in fact nothing could be farther from the truth) look silly. The polices initial response,leaving the body in the street for hours, was shameful and certainly stoked the backlash.
The riots, too, were shameful, of course, and I am glad they have been nearly universally condemned. It does,however, seem odd that some news outlets have covered them more than the shooting or the evidence. Its difficult to watch without suspecting that the yare being used as a distraction, to prove once again that fear is justified.Lets remember that it doesnt take a large percentage of a community to cause that kind of trouble, that weve seen crowds of all races riot and loot for far less cause (a team winning or losing a big game is a perennial favorite), and that waiting to release the decision until 8oclock at night, which this prosecutor did and which gave everyone plenty of time to get downtown and riled up, surely helped create the combustible situation. Again, I dont allege malice, but in its absence the judgment he showed was almost unfathomably poor.
I do believe that given the evidence, and the deference we rightly show police officers given the danger into which they routinely place themselves, Officer Wilson would have been acquitted at trial. But it should have gone to trial. An unarmed teenager was killed and shouldnt have been, and the community was denied a fair airing of the facts. I dont expect Ferguson to heal any time soon. For the rest of us,though, healing requires abandoning the knee jerk reactions that see any acknowledgement of fault as an indictment against an entire community or an entire profession.
Every time we retreat to our separate corners we fight to a draw. Nothing changes and the next time a similar tragedy occurs we fight about the particulars of that incident again.Lets see the forest through trees, and when five athletes raise their hands (a protest which damaged no property and caused no injury or inconvenience) lets not get indignant because we think it is only about Ferguson. Its not; its about all of us, and its about fulfilling the promise that, in America, we are all equal under the law. Its a call to action, and allowing ourselves to be distracted from it endangers both our cops and our kids.
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)Atman
(31,464 posts)You can't tell his race by his writing? Does it make a difference? Do you agree or disagree with what he wrote? That's really all that matters.
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)Atman
(31,464 posts)Express your opinion about what he wrote. When you tell me what your beef is with the article, I'll reveal his race. As if it matters.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)Igel
(35,320 posts)For judging the writer's character.
In some ways it really is still the early-mid 1960s.
Response to NoJusticeNoPeace (Reply #1)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Kali
(55,014 posts)glad you are here to defend whites against racism. enjoy your stay.
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)for instance
bullshit, some do
and then
I do have an interest in doing that since it is a certainty most of them are racists.
then this
Utter fucking bullshit...It would take me hours to list the reasons why the DA and cops in Ferguson are the epitome of racism and showing favoritism, etc.
Assuming the author is white, this illustrates the epitome of white privilege. If not white, a very very confused person.
Response to NoJusticeNoPeace (Reply #5)
1000words This message was self-deleted by its author.
Atman
(31,464 posts)So make them. Rebut the article in a similarly well-reasoned, thoughtful response instead of lashing out in short snippets of thought. Explain to me where/why the author is mistaken. I'm willing to listen (or read, as the case may be).
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)let alone the hours it would take to illustrate all the reasons why we are NOT all wrong.
I am assuming you didnt write this, I am not in the mood to have to defend myself for attacking you, I assume you are posting something someone else has written and I dont have to worry about that, if not let me know
either way, shame on me for reading as much of this garbage as I did
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Posted in GD by gollygee:
More from Tim Wise - We don't need nice, we need justice
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025910426
LeftOfWest
(482 posts)It is garbage.
Enough of it already.
"nonsensical white privilege bullshit"
Yes. This.
Iris
(15,660 posts)I'm sick of having to give the "other side" the benefit of the doubt when it's clear the other side has not taken any time to really think about the issue at hand and consider they might not have all the information or they might have some assumptions that are wrong.
I am goddamned sick to death of hearing about the "grand jury" and "the evidence" and "the facts" and I guess the Limabugh talking point is anyone who disagrees with the Fergueson decision hasn't read the entire transcript. Never mind the fact that the freaking AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION has called the whole hearing a travesty of justice. They act like that transcript came from God or something.
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)congress i will scream loud enough to wake the dead
Iris
(15,660 posts)Why is it so hard to figure out the "right" way to treat other human beings?
Caretha
(2,737 posts)and I didn't have to read 2 paragraphs to know this was utter bullshit regardless what race the person was who wrote this. Bullshit is bullshit.
LawDeeDah
(1,596 posts)and knows shit or is peddling shit by the looks of it.
Covering for Fox and murderers with some 'let's all get along and walk a mile in the others shoes' crap. Fact is, Mr or Ms. Privilege, if you let some walk a mile in your shoes they are a mile away... and they have your god damn shoes.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)mmonk
(52,589 posts)It's about race and fear, pure and simple.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)Jesus Christ.
He didn't deserve to die. That is the only claim. Not that all African American men getting killed, in incident after incident after incident, are Rosa Parks, or "angels" as I keep reading from racist idiots. "He was no angel." No shit. Who is an angel?
African American men, women, and children are Human Beings, their lives have value, and police are way way too quick to kill them. That is the only thing anyone is saying.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)argument and I told him that as white people who ultimately aren't directly affected by this issue (we aren't in fear of being shot while walking white), we don't have a say when the African-American community decides enough is enough. Michael Brown wasn't the first and he wasn't the last but he was the straw that broke the camel's back and it isn't our place to criticize or judge who he was or how he behaved. It is our place to support (if we're inclined to do so and I hope we all are) but not to comment on Michael Brown's worthiness as the, for lack of better word, martyr, to the community.
If I EVER here someone say he was "disrespectful" in person (vs online trolling), I'll punch them in the face. A government employee should not be killing people for being "disrespectful" whatever the fuck that even means.
JustAnotherGen
(31,828 posts)Wrote some seriously lame assed pollyanna bullshit there.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Hmmm....
...trash the trash. Bye bye.
rbrnmw
(7,160 posts)logosoco
(3,208 posts)He had the same mind set as bush and cheney but without the money.
If we want cops to be safer, let's change some of the laws. If there was no drug war, I think the job of the police would change dramatically.
I do not mean to sound unsympathetic, but I am kind of tired of hearing about the families of cops having such worry. Why don't we have that attitude toward electric line workers or tree trimmers? Their jobs are dangerous, and helpful.
We do need a police force, but it seems like we have ended up with one that does not study human psychology or sociology. Too many of them think "force" is power and not actual work.
Iris
(15,660 posts)We're supposed to let them do whatever they want without ever questioning them?
Ykcutnek
(1,305 posts)Are those who still twist themselves into pretzels trying to rationalize murder.
Iris
(15,660 posts)KT2000
(20,584 posts)POWER - the police have it the black kids being killed do not.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)Maedhros
(10,007 posts)in a debate over Brown's character, which is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if he was a saint or a jerk - it's an issue of systemic police brutality disproportionately directed at young black people.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)They manage to not kill people in most other first world nations. They need to do that here. In order to start, they need to stop OVERPOLICING black communities. Stop and frisk is normal in black neighborhoods. It is not in white neighborhoods. Our policing policies are racist. Your friend is able to write such a milquetoast pollyanna article because he can simply put his blinders back on and never have to deal with the day to day bullshit of being black in America.
This was some weak sauce.
mstinamotorcity2
(1,451 posts)And I don't blame them. May as well say it. this is going to get worse before it gets better.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)BootinUp
(47,165 posts)of problems on both sides is just not what people want, and probably because it doesn't really offer any immediate solutions.
olddots
(10,237 posts)TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)And that goes double for their shit for brains, soulless, feckless sell out defenders and excuse makers.
What a fucking piece of shit trying to lamely pretend to be "MiddleMan" when he is clear that Wilson should get a pass and that efforts toward justice should be a reverse kangaroo court with no actual intent to prosecute but act as some lame Festivus exercise in airing of grievances, I reckon so the darky thugs don't boil over.
Give me an honest Archie Bunker over an undercover bigot fake ass, pretend Meathead employing soothing tone to get out the same points as the foaming at the mouth shit stains and if the writer happens to be of color then it goes quintuple for his Uncle Ruckus ass.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)Atman
(31,464 posts)That's all. A discussion.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Response to X_Digger (Reply #45)
1000words This message was self-deleted by its author.
Atman
(31,464 posts)Let me just say that I don't agree with it. I simply thought it was thought provoking and worthy of discussion. This is, after all, a discussion board. And, since a friend of mine wrote it -- a colleague with whom I've collaborated on many award-winning political pieces, always very pro-Democratic/progressive -- I was willing to put it out there. I honestly wasn't sure what the reaction would be, as I don't agree which much of the "just be respectful" aspect of it. I do feel it was a well-written POV, and if never hurts to get various perspectives, even disagreeable ones.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)Now these phrases from your last post, I find quite humorous:
pro-Democratic/progressive,
friend of mine,
a colleague with whom I've collaborated on many award-winning political pieces
Did you forget the sarcasm tag?
Atman
(31,464 posts)Last edited Fri Dec 5, 2014, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)
I don't know where, or even if, it was published. I worked with the writer for five years. Very pro-Union, equal rights, etc. We won national awards for campaign work on everything from marriage equality to Obama to union issues. Yes, he is very white, and pretty "boring," as one poster said. He lives a modest life in small wood-heated home (shack?) in upstate NY. I rarely agree with anybody about everything, him included. But he's a good guy, and I thought it was an interesting read even if I disagree with much if it.
This isn't "Only Stuff I Agree With Underground." I'm happy you had the same opportunity to express your opinion as he did.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)But I am really sick of people making any excuses for professionals with guns and wearing bullet proof vests and helmets using "fear" to justify murdering people when even an unarmed, person like myself doesn't feel in any danger of the person. Perhaps we need to enlist some braver people for law enforcement duty.
And maybe, just maybe, teaching them to respect others might result in more respect for themselves. You know, like stop cursing at people and ordering them around like you are dictators. Most public officials can do their jobs without doing so, why can't officers of the law?
If you hate the public (or any subset of it), you should not be in public service. Period!
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)And that every time you kill someone, it should automatically go to trial, even if that trial is going to be a slam dunk acquittal for other reasons.
'Fear' is not a reason, it's an excuse. Saying 'I shot him because he was swinging a machete at my head' is a reason, not 'I shot him because I was in fear of him'.
No more of these BS murders where the executioner says 'I was afraid for my life'. Go to trial, and present the reasonable evidence that shows that you actually were REALLY in danger of losing your life, not just that you used excessive force because you were 'afraid'.
azmom
(5,208 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)I have yet to see any video coverage of any riots. Does one person setting a building on fire make a riot?
One thing is certain, since the protestors have pretty much been covered 24 hrs a day by live streamers it wasn't a group of protestors (or rioters) that caused the fires or so called looting.
In fact, there are videos depicting the tear gas canisters deployed causing fires and police and guardsman nearby doing nothing about them.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)His first few paragraphs weren't too bad, but then he fell into listening to the kind of stupidity Joe Scarborough was blathering.
Nobody was 'making a hero' out of Michael Brown, making him into 'Rosa Parks'. And, in fact, the fact that this author even used the 'Rosa Parks' line shows that he's simply parroting one of the lines used by RWers, after having just started his 'both sides do it' nonsense. It wasn't and still isn't happening - except in the minds of RWers who can't understand that not accepting Brown as a 'demon' (and, in fact, some even claim he was 'possessed by a homicidal demon' at the time) who 'charges' into a flurry of gunfire, doesn't mean that the other person suddenly thinks any black victim of police violence is suddenly 'Rosa Parks'.
"Its impossible to imagine that both parties didnt fear for their lives during that confrontation."
Maybe briefly for Wilson. He was armed, took no real damage at all during the entire episode. A slight reddening along one cheek that was barely visible. Do you 'fear for your life' every time you get in a fight? He possibly was in fear for his life when, after he (according to his own testimony) pulled out his weapon and threatened to shoot Brown if he didn't 'move back', Brown instead tried to prevent him from carrying through on his threat of excessive force. But he ended the part where he had to 'be in fear' when he shot Brown in the hand and Brown ran away from his vehicle. Then he got out and shot something like 9-10 more rounds at Brown, simply because he could. Because he knew that as a policeman, he can shoot a black man and likely never face trial, never be convicted. Hell, he had time to realize that it was better to 'pull a Zimmerman', and give his explanation of a corpse, rather than leave a living victim to tell his own side of the story that put Wilson in a far worse light.
Now you can say that I'm trying to 'read Wilson's mind', and that I can't possibly know 'why' Wilson got out and shot Brown over and over and over. Despite the fact that the vast majority of 'witnesses' relate something radically different than Wilson. But it's no more a show of psychic prowess than your 'copywriting compadre' puts on in 'knowing' how 'fearful' Wilson was.
Your buddy stumbles into a few ok ideas again later on, but then stumbles right on out again into a RW mindset.
Riots aren't 'shameful', unless you mean that we should feel shame that conditions are so bad that people are driven to riot. Riots are the simple manifestation of a release of incredibly strong emotion over a system that isn't a refutation of slavery, but a continuation of it by other means. Votes that don't matter, that don't change anything. Rather than count blacks as '3/5ths' of a human outright, the wealthy use corrupt politicians to gerrymander the districts in which they live to achieve the same ends, assuming they haven't already been disenfranchised in other ways - modern day poll taxes, 'faulty' machines, polling sites that can't handle the traffic, are hard to get to, are barely ever open.
Working conditions that are dangerous, and barely provide enough for families to survive. Sure, you can claim the workers are being paid, but even during outright slavery, they were (not all of them, but many) allowed to keep enough food to keep them alive, poor clothing, shelter, etc, simply to keep them 'alive and functional'. Dead slaves don't work, but dirt poor ones will is a lesson our modern oligarchs know all too well.
And if they 'step out of line', the enforcers are still around, to make sure that they either die to provide an example to the rest, or are thrown even deeper into bondage, to do dirty, dangerous jobs for the state while incarcerated and not able to provide for their families.
So no, it's not about 'retreating into corners'. It's about realizing the system is rotten to its core, and some people are willing to accept that and fight it, and others just want to 'return to normal' after each new murder.
Atman
(31,464 posts)Thank you for taking the time to read it and present something other than "steaming pile" and a few emogis.
kdmorris
(5,649 posts)when you chased and killed a teenager? Darren Wilson could have stayed in his car. He didn't have to get out and go all Wild West.
Darien Johnson said that Michael Brown said he didn't have a gun. He was running away from the officer (and just because no bullets hit Michael Brown from behind does NOT mean that no bullets were fired while he was running away).
I get so sick of this "he wasn't an angel" crap. It goes right along with the "he was a good kid" crap. It doesn't matter whether he was an angel or had just stolen 6 cigarillos from the store. THE PUNISHMENT IS NOT DEATH FOR THAT CRIME.
Plain and simple, whether he was a good kid or an angel or a thief or a criminal - he didn't deserve to die. That is injustice. And that is the wrong that started this. There are no "both sides" to this... let's focus on the facts.
Now, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice... how can this writer not include those incidents in this as well. Neither of these were quick deaths. In one, they suffocated the man by strangling him and in the other, they pulled up along side a 12 year old and shot him within 2 seconds of encountering him and then did NOTHING to provide medical aid. He died the next day.
This article just shows how the author doesn't get it. My two sons and one of my grandsons are white. The other grandson is of mixed race but to the world, he's black. If the 4 of them did EXACTLY THE SAME THING, my youngest grandson is 20X more likely to be killed for it.
We need to make sure they have the tools to be better police (more body cameras and fewer tanks is a good start) but we also need to work so that our officers (as well as our neighbors, families and colleagues) dont fear black men simply because they are black
I agree with the last part of this sentence. I don't think the first part really does any good. Both the Tamir Rice and Eric Garner incidents were caught on tape but both of them are likely to walk with no repercussions.
It's fairly simple - stop shooting black men for the same thing you'd let a white man walk for. That will make police officers a lot better.
WestIndianArchie
(386 posts)Complete bullshit. This is carefully crafted propaganda...............
Atman
(31,464 posts)I've posted stuff from this guy before and DUers have loved and applauded it. He's as hard-core progressive/Dem as I've ever met. That is why this writing kind of surprised me. But it's hardly "propaganda." For whom? He owns an ad agency which only works with Democratic causes and clients. Not sure who he is "propagandizing" for.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)I realize this guy probably means well.....but, firstly, ALL white Americans are racists? Really? Does he not realize how much worse things would be if this were actually true(two hints: Hitler. Concentration Camps. You figure out the rest.)?
And, frankly, he is WAY too nice to Darren Wilson. I'm sorry, but there is something CLEARLY wrong with the guy. He didn't crack even ONCE when describing Mike Brown's death.....it's as if it was nothing more than a routine traffic stop!
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)on systemic challenges.
I can't believe you think concentration camps happened because every German was racist (when we know it isn't true any more than it was true here during slavery and what I'm sure you'll struggle with is that some of the abolitionist where still racist) , what I believe is it is a lie you tell yourself that allows you to believe we are beyond such when in reality, we are heading in that direction.
Extreme nationalism, authoritarianism, economic depravity that generates desperation, and being easily controlled and driven by propaganda taking advantage of fear are why there were concentration camps not some uniform individualized hatred in one country.
Racism in America is institutional, I'm sorry your world view makes that difficult to account for but that factor has to be processed to get out fairy tale mode and grasp that what goes on has little direct connection to what is or isn't written on every individual heart.
In fact, it is the institutional factor that helps reinforce and perpetuate the individual bigotry.