plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose [View all]

[hedgehog]

I'm reading Nixon by Rick Perlstein (2008). He discusses the riots that took place back when I was a little kid in the 60's. In every case, the riot was precipitated by an act of police violence. It also seems that in every case, the people killed were people living in the neighborhood shot by criminally careless police officers. It's notable that Mr. Perlstein documents many (most?) whites as complaining that black people had been given Civil Rights, what more did they want?

Sound familiar?

I don't know if police racism is inherent to the institution or merely reflects attitudes in wider white society. All I know is that it's been 50 years and things don't seem to be getting better. I'm sick and tired of this, and I speak from a position of white privilege.