One
thing should be made abundantly clear, I don't condone indiscriminate
and wanton looting, violence or property damage which gets cloaked in
a thinly veiled message of civil protest. I am all for raising
awareness and getting column inches in the media to highlight your
cause.
But one of the most effective tools, which no one seems to
want to use in the mid-term election cycle, is voting. This was one of
the worst turn outs in US history. This fact should be on the minds
and agenda's of black community leaders in every nook and cranny of
the US. This doesn't mean to diminish the existence of systemic
racism which has taken many different guises since the passage of the
14th Constitutional Amendment. Racial profiling exists
and it effects all people of color; no matter what their
socio-economic status may be.
Let's
at least look at some of the issues which have surfaced in the wake
of the grand jury's decision not to indict the cop for the shooting
and killing of a young black man.
Firstly,
this was not a typical grand jury hearing. This was a mock trial and
this fact should not be peddled to the American public like snake
oil. I contend, and I am not alone, that there was enough
conflicting/suspect evidence to have warranted an indictment.
Secondly,
it is my understanding that the prosecutor has discretionary mandate
on what to bring to trial and what not and to what degree the state
will press these charges. This was not done and not explained why it
wasn't done. Again, the fact that the prosecutorial discretion is
used disproportionately to the detriment of people of color, is one
of the tangential reasons the folks in Ferguson and the rest of the
US are pissed off. I encourage all of you to read Michelle
Alexander's book “The New Jim Crow”.
Thirdly,
the media has done a sketchy job covering the Ferguson situation. The
old adage, “if it bleeds, it leads”, has proven to be less of a
cliché and more of a mantra. No doubt, the last couple of days in
Ferguson has been violent and unlawful. Through alternative (read:
independently owned) media sources we have been given accounts of
peaceful non-violent protests going on simultaneously. This fact is
neglected by the big media. Moreover, the rest of the US is
protesting peacefully (for the most part) for what they see as
systemic racism in all areas of the US. Remember, the protests speak
to a much broader issue which effects people of color all over the
US; not just Ferguson Missouri.
Lastly,
as more people pour over the vast amount of documents/evidence
released by the prosecutor, the more we will begin to see the holes
and bungles in this case. We should use this tragic event (the horrible loss
of a young life and the trauma/PTSD a cop must feel doing his job)
and learn to build some bridges and garner some deeper understanding
of our American brothers and sisters.
