More than 140 Characters: On Ferguson
Wow, it's been over two years since I've been here. During that time, I went back once to rant about this or that, but LJ was down! It's up now, and I'm going to go on a soapbox-styled rant. I'm typically preoccupied with some anime or game I'm obsessed with, personal garbage, and then a political issue eating me up inside. For a while it was the whole Israel/Gaza thing, but now it is the aftermath of the shooting of Mike Brown. A picture is worth a thousand words, and I've seen some really incredible, powerful ones in the past week.
Damn, especially this one... (If anyone knows the photographer's name, let me know, so I can credit him or her.)
I felt particularly inclined to say something after someone I know who is closely related to a first responder appears to be taking personal offense to the wrath being received by the Ferguson Police Department, and the police in general. This is going to seem pretty obvious, but sometimes people need to read obvious shit. Not all police officers are bad. In fact, the ones I know are pretty cool people. However, the bad will always overshadow the good. When the bad are tear gassing, assaulting, and arresting innocent people, most people are going to be upset. When a few police officers are refusing to give their badge numbers, who are you even supposed to know who to be specifically upset with?
I could have been born in a place where the first lady owned a thousand pairs of shoes while children starve and my heirloom necklace gets stolen straight off my neck. I'm glad to be here in the United States. I'm lucky to be in my lawn mower noise-cursed neighbourhood with my bachelor's degree and Starbucks within walking distance. I'm lucky.... http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2014/8/around-the-worldinteargasprotestsof2014.html Okay, that's fucked up. We look like some kind of third-country war zone. Even after what appeared to be a good move on the governor's part didn't really stick. It's chaos. People feel helpless and angry, and the police department and local government seem clueless. Honestly, I wouldn't really know how to handle a mob of angry people either.
This is not about you or whatever cop you're close to. This isn't even completely about Mike Brown. This is about government incompetence, excessive force, those who are avoiding accountability for their actions, the militarization of law enforcement, and deeply rooted racism. It's not just about one person or thing. It goes way beyond that.