« One of us: Bless you, Mr. Trump. | Main | John Ralston Pate (1944-2015) »
August 11, 2015
Greenfield on Ferguson.
Two days ago was the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a black suburb of St. Louis. The usual wide if dumb-downed and undiscerning media coverage yesterday and Sunday of protests, looting, one shooting, the beating of a local journalist and arrests gave us all a sense of déjà vu. Featured again were the citizens of Ferguson, local police, the media and the U.S. Justice Department, that new and relatively passive chorus character for race-laced events in America. Whether or not you think that events in Ferguson over the last year have one, two or even several evenhanded explanations for what actually is happening there, do read Simple Justice today. In one of his posts this morning, its founder, New York City trial lawyer Scott Greenfield, writes We've Learned Nothing (A Rant). Besides some things to think hard about, we get a glimpse of Greenfield at his honest and inspired best. Excerpt:
Sweet words were uttered by the Department of Justice, condemning flagrant racism in Ferguson, and then everyone walked away, proud of their fine work, leaving the black people of Ferguson to live the same shitty lives as they had before. Even those sympathetic to the cause of Ferguson prefer official solutions, trusting the peaceful and systemic trick of making the noise of change without actually doing anything. Usually, they give themselves an award afterward for being such good white people to the poor black people. The black people never get invited to the party.
So what have we learned? Not a fucking thing. The cops responded with the same excessive display of force, and use of force, as always, because force is so much easier than thought. And the adoration of calm, peaceful and law-abiding, without regard to the circumstances and motivations giving rise to the protest, plays well to the white public. We hate it when blacks get all angry and disagreeable. Jeez, just because cops keep killing unarmed black people? That’s no reason to upset our happy, peaceful lives. It’s not like they’re doing it to us.
Posted by JD Hull at August 11, 2015 11:22 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)