Waiting for the grand jury decision out of Ferguson,
Missouri. Listening to KPFK radio, a good leftist station.
The question at hand is whether or not the grand jury will
indict Darren Wilson for shooting and killing an unarmed black teenager named
Michael Brown.
The Governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, says the authorities
are on hand to protect property, people and speech.
Interesting, but hardly surprising, that the governor didn’t
mention justice. Justice is rarely at issue when a white police officer kills a
black man.
Justice wasn’t an issue in the days of slavery, or in the
era of Jim Crow, and it sure as hell isn’t an issue in the age of Rodney King, Sean
Bell, Oscar Grant, Treyvon Martin and Michael Brown.
If recent history is a guide, the smart money says Darren
Wilson will not be indicted.
The grand jury will spout the standard excuses for why a
white policeman should be exonerated: the white officer feared for his life,
the black kid was dangerous even if unarmed, the facts are murky and defy
consensus.
The major American news media is fixated on the expected
protests that will follow the announcement; will those protests turn violent? A
mob of angry black people is every white person’s nightmare. Detroit. Newark.
Watts. Remember those long hot summers in the 1960’s, when the veneer of racial
progress and harmony exploded and the authorities deployed the National Guard
to restore order?
Justice may wither and die, but property must be protected.
The militarized Ferguson police force is at the ready, on
high alert, surplus Pentagon weaponry locked and loaded.
As the daylight fades here on the west coast, I’m thinking
of James Baldwin, of Amiri Baraka, of Langston Hughes, of Angela Davis and
wondering how much longer American racism will endure.
Or to pose the question another way: when will black lives be
worth the same as white lives?
Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown six times. How will the
chief of police and the prosecutor justify this fact? Is any level of force
excessive when it is directed against black people?
Switching now to a live feed on the New York Times website. No action yet, just people standing around,
fiddling with cameras or iPhones.
The prosecutor reads a long statement, detailing how the
grand jury went about its monumental task of separating fact from fiction, of
real evidence from speculation. The credibility of many witnesses or alleged
witnesses -- black folk from the neighborhood presumably -- was deemed to be questionable
or contradictory.
Michael Brown was shot and killed for the petty theft of a
package or two of cigars.
No indictment, no surprise. This is America and we’ve seen
this film many times before.
Justice will have to wait for another day.
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