I haven't seen pictures like this since the era of Martin Luther King's assassination. And just think, only last year the Supreme Court said crucial provisions of the Voting Rights act were no longer needed. Apparently they were needed all over the country and not just in the South. If this tragedy doesn't end with a massacre of civilians we'll all be very lucky indeed.
Lawyers, Guns and Money has some excellent pieces up on Ferguson. It links to this, from which I obtained the photo:
http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/america-is-not-for-black-people-1620169913
It's not just in Ferguson either. Police shot and killed a young black man holding a b-b gun he was intending to buy in Walmart, in Ohio, just days before. Days before that a black man was choked to death in New York City by police because he didn't jump quick enough, the apparent offense of the teenager murdered by the unidentified policeman in Ferguson.
The Right Wing and the NRA have been selling fear for decades now. All those policemen, only one black man amongst them, with all that gear and firepower, scared to death of one kid with dreadlocks and no weapon, his hands raised. Obviously what we need is more guns.
Update: If you have time for a longer read, here's the piece:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/aiyana-stanley-jones-detroit
______________________________
Events unfold nightly and daily, and I'm way too far away, except in the sense that I can certainly discern like anyone else. The local D.A. McCullough has chosen to toss gasoline on the embers quenched to some extent by the Highway Patrol's Commander Johnson the night before, and last (Friday) night there was apparently more tear gas thrown. The underlying racism of the right-wing pundits and media will continue to toss accelerants where possible. The red-herring of the Brown video, sandwiched with the name of the officer who shot him and two or three different accounts of what the officer knew and didn't know, is yet another bizarre and inept twist. Chris Hayes' interviews and reports, on the scene, have been incredibly solid; it's a shame he's now off until Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment