Here's The Thing...
Saturday, 16 August 2014 00:11![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsOne of the points I tried to make in yesterday's post about Ferguson MO and beyond was about white privilege. My white male privilege.
In the meantime, besides swapping out the local police and having a more rational state highway patrol presence -- including a leader who was from Ferguson -- allowing for peaceful activities, there were national events as well.
And I have been haunted for several days by this image:
These are Howard University students holding up their hands and saying Don't Shoot. It's the new symbol of this protest. Yes, Howard is a fine university and these are university students standing as one, with resolve. So as an academic, you could say these are my people. Yet that would so miss the point. Don't Shoot can be done by anyone -- I've seen all white groups standing in solidarity. But these students are all black. And unlike me, they are in danger of having to assume this stance -- or not -- and being killed. For walking or driving while black. For just being black. Yes, you better believe this is about race.
As usual, Jim Wright has a new piece on Stonekettle Station that doesn't pull punches about how this is about race. Even as it's early days and we don't really know what happened.
This shouldn't be a crap shoot. This isn't some game where you make a saving throw. THIS has been going on for a long time. Ferguson isn't the last straw. Or the last time. It's one in a long string of unacceptable behavior, both on its face AND as shit thrown at the ideals we are supposed to be holding up to the world.
Because, beyond race this isn't about the fake arrest of white journalists so now it's important. It's also about Czechoslovakia, Soweto, Ukraine, Bataan, Iraq, ISIS, Buchenwald and yea, even Selma. It's about the moral high ground.
The answer is... well, shit. The answers are all perfectly obvious. The question is, do we have the will to do it? Or will we just continue to let the racist deeply inbred insurgency amongst to get away with it?
To get away with murder.
Dr. Phil
In the meantime, besides swapping out the local police and having a more rational state highway patrol presence -- including a leader who was from Ferguson -- allowing for peaceful activities, there were national events as well.
And I have been haunted for several days by this image:
These are Howard University students holding up their hands and saying Don't Shoot. It's the new symbol of this protest. Yes, Howard is a fine university and these are university students standing as one, with resolve. So as an academic, you could say these are my people. Yet that would so miss the point. Don't Shoot can be done by anyone -- I've seen all white groups standing in solidarity. But these students are all black. And unlike me, they are in danger of having to assume this stance -- or not -- and being killed. For walking or driving while black. For just being black. Yes, you better believe this is about race.
As usual, Jim Wright has a new piece on Stonekettle Station that doesn't pull punches about how this is about race. Even as it's early days and we don't really know what happened.
This shouldn't be a crap shoot. This isn't some game where you make a saving throw. THIS has been going on for a long time. Ferguson isn't the last straw. Or the last time. It's one in a long string of unacceptable behavior, both on its face AND as shit thrown at the ideals we are supposed to be holding up to the world.
Because, beyond race this isn't about the fake arrest of white journalists so now it's important. It's also about Czechoslovakia, Soweto, Ukraine, Bataan, Iraq, ISIS, Buchenwald and yea, even Selma. It's about the moral high ground.
The answer is... well, shit. The answers are all perfectly obvious. The question is, do we have the will to do it? Or will we just continue to let the racist deeply inbred insurgency amongst to get away with it?
To get away with murder.
Dr. Phil
