NaBloPoMo post 21: Black and White and Red All Over
This morning's post was scheduled to be more about kink, or a few other topics, but there's so much pain all over my FaceBook and Twitter feeds. I'm not brave like one of the people reading this, I can share a Malcolm X quote ("if you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing") and that's all I can do.
I've learned long ago to suppress my political views as best I can on FaceBook, because I genuinely don't like the consequences: flamewars, vicious comments, losing friends that don't share my opinions. An old college buddy and I got into a flamewar with another college buddy over Obamacare. He didn't just drop us, he blocked us. My friend walked away with her head held high, but I am sad that the first boy to take me out on a real date isn't my friend anymore. He may be a nutty conservative, but I still like him.
But there's so much pain from my friends who've been watching Ferguson carefully all these long months. Hoping for a glimmer of justice, unsurprised but still wretchedly sad there isn't.
And there's a few snide remarks. A few rolling eyes. A roleplayer I really respect snorted, "Regardless of your views, burning down your neighbors and local businesses typically isn't an efficient way to create a community atmosphere and project a message of peace." Another dear friend liked that.
It takes a lot of self-control to sit on my hands. I want to scream my own pain, my own rage, my own heartache for the majority-black town policed- no, terrified- by a majority-white police force that's racist as fuck. I watched a video of another one of those white cops shooting another black young man, also with no provocation. It happened a few days after Darren Wilson murdered Mike Brown, and was only covered by local news stations if at all.
Twitter is the only reason I know that there wasn't just one or two little protests in Ferguson, but months of nonstop (and 99% peaceful) protesting. Twitter let me know about some of the other shootings that have happened. Twitter prepared me for yet another miscarriage of justice on the same level as sparked riots in LA in 1992.
In 1992, four white LA cops beat Rodney King with their batons. The beating was brutal, but not unusual, especially not in South Central LA in the early 90's. What was unusual, was someone caught the beating on videotape. Said videotape was not only shown at the trial, it was played on the news ad nauseum. When the cops were acquitted, the (mostly non-white) people of South Central LA erupted into the largest riots since the 60's. For six days, LA burned. A white ska band called Sublime wrote a lovely song about proudly participating in it- that song was one of very few tracks off that blockbuster album that was not released as a single.
What goes around, comes around.
On August 9th, 2014, Officer Darren Wilson shot the unarmed Michael Brown at least six times. Eyewitness accounts agree that the young man was gunned down for absolutely no reason. The autopsy report shows Michael Brown in an attitude of surrender- one of the shots was through his skull, at an angle that indicated he was on his knees, his head tilted down.
The shocked witnesses became more and more angry as Michael Brown's body lay out on the sidewalk for hours and hours. Some looting happened that night, but it was stopped far more quickly than reported by the media, who tried to justify the extreme response of the Ferguson police department by depicting a minor riot as a major one that couldn't be calmed.
They wore body armor. They pointed heavy machine guns at innocent people, who held their hands up, trying to surrender just as Michael Brown did. They gassed the crowd with teargas.
Every military person who's seen the pictures or read the descriptions of these acts has been utterly disgusted by the poor discipline of these officers. US citizens are not enemy soldiers, and even then, the vets say again and again, you don't point your weapons right at anyone you're not intending to shoot. You don't use teargas outside of war.
It wasn't merely protesters who were being gassed and threatened and arrested by the dozens. Journalists, many of them, including international journalists covering this warzone for Al-Jazeera and others. The governor of Missouri declared a no-fly zone over Ferguson to keep news helicopters away. They tried like hell to keep it all quiet while they silenced the angry voices of their own citizens.
Yet despite all this, people continued to peacefully protest. Bravely risking their lives to speak for another black teen boy who didn't deserve to die. I don't have any money to give. I don't have any way to get to Missouri to join them. I watched through Twitter, and I prayed.
Like many others, I'm not the least surprised that the Grand Jury decided yesterday not to convict Officer Darren Wilson. I'm not the least surprised that the anger boiled over again into riots.
Like in 1992, what else are the people supposed to do? Where can their rage go?
I hate watching this shit happen, again and again. I hate that I haven't the slightest idea how I can help prevent the next needless death. What the fuck are peoples' problems with young black men, anyway? What's so scary about hoodies and hip-hop?
My heart is with the people of Ferguson. And like Bradley Nowell, I'd be proud to join them in their furious violence and looting right now. What the fuck else can I do?
But if you look at the streets, it wasn't about Rodney King
In this fucked-up situation and these fucked-up police
It's about comin' up and stayin' on top
And screamin' 1-8-7 on a mother fuckin' cop
Let it burn
Wanna let it burn, wanna let it burn
Wanna wanna let it burn
(I feel insanity)
Riots on the streets of Miami
Whoa, riots on the streets of Chicago
On the streets of Long Beach
In San Francisco
Riots on the streets of Kansas City
Tuskaloosa, Alabama
Cleveland, Ohio
Fountain Valley, Paramount, Victorville
Eugene, Oregon
Eureka, California
Hesperia
Santa Barbara
Winnemucca, Nevada
Phoenix, Arizona
San Diego
Lakeland, Florida
And Ferguson, Missouri.
RIP, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and hundreds of other young black men we've failed to save. Or persecute their killers.
I've learned long ago to suppress my political views as best I can on FaceBook, because I genuinely don't like the consequences: flamewars, vicious comments, losing friends that don't share my opinions. An old college buddy and I got into a flamewar with another college buddy over Obamacare. He didn't just drop us, he blocked us. My friend walked away with her head held high, but I am sad that the first boy to take me out on a real date isn't my friend anymore. He may be a nutty conservative, but I still like him.
But there's so much pain from my friends who've been watching Ferguson carefully all these long months. Hoping for a glimmer of justice, unsurprised but still wretchedly sad there isn't.
And there's a few snide remarks. A few rolling eyes. A roleplayer I really respect snorted, "Regardless of your views, burning down your neighbors and local businesses typically isn't an efficient way to create a community atmosphere and project a message of peace." Another dear friend liked that.
It takes a lot of self-control to sit on my hands. I want to scream my own pain, my own rage, my own heartache for the majority-black town policed- no, terrified- by a majority-white police force that's racist as fuck. I watched a video of another one of those white cops shooting another black young man, also with no provocation. It happened a few days after Darren Wilson murdered Mike Brown, and was only covered by local news stations if at all.
Twitter is the only reason I know that there wasn't just one or two little protests in Ferguson, but months of nonstop (and 99% peaceful) protesting. Twitter let me know about some of the other shootings that have happened. Twitter prepared me for yet another miscarriage of justice on the same level as sparked riots in LA in 1992.
In 1992, four white LA cops beat Rodney King with their batons. The beating was brutal, but not unusual, especially not in South Central LA in the early 90's. What was unusual, was someone caught the beating on videotape. Said videotape was not only shown at the trial, it was played on the news ad nauseum. When the cops were acquitted, the (mostly non-white) people of South Central LA erupted into the largest riots since the 60's. For six days, LA burned. A white ska band called Sublime wrote a lovely song about proudly participating in it- that song was one of very few tracks off that blockbuster album that was not released as a single.
What goes around, comes around.
On August 9th, 2014, Officer Darren Wilson shot the unarmed Michael Brown at least six times. Eyewitness accounts agree that the young man was gunned down for absolutely no reason. The autopsy report shows Michael Brown in an attitude of surrender- one of the shots was through his skull, at an angle that indicated he was on his knees, his head tilted down.
The shocked witnesses became more and more angry as Michael Brown's body lay out on the sidewalk for hours and hours. Some looting happened that night, but it was stopped far more quickly than reported by the media, who tried to justify the extreme response of the Ferguson police department by depicting a minor riot as a major one that couldn't be calmed.
They wore body armor. They pointed heavy machine guns at innocent people, who held their hands up, trying to surrender just as Michael Brown did. They gassed the crowd with teargas.
Every military person who's seen the pictures or read the descriptions of these acts has been utterly disgusted by the poor discipline of these officers. US citizens are not enemy soldiers, and even then, the vets say again and again, you don't point your weapons right at anyone you're not intending to shoot. You don't use teargas outside of war.
It wasn't merely protesters who were being gassed and threatened and arrested by the dozens. Journalists, many of them, including international journalists covering this warzone for Al-Jazeera and others. The governor of Missouri declared a no-fly zone over Ferguson to keep news helicopters away. They tried like hell to keep it all quiet while they silenced the angry voices of their own citizens.
Yet despite all this, people continued to peacefully protest. Bravely risking their lives to speak for another black teen boy who didn't deserve to die. I don't have any money to give. I don't have any way to get to Missouri to join them. I watched through Twitter, and I prayed.
Like many others, I'm not the least surprised that the Grand Jury decided yesterday not to convict Officer Darren Wilson. I'm not the least surprised that the anger boiled over again into riots.
Like in 1992, what else are the people supposed to do? Where can their rage go?
I hate watching this shit happen, again and again. I hate that I haven't the slightest idea how I can help prevent the next needless death. What the fuck are peoples' problems with young black men, anyway? What's so scary about hoodies and hip-hop?
My heart is with the people of Ferguson. And like Bradley Nowell, I'd be proud to join them in their furious violence and looting right now. What the fuck else can I do?
But if you look at the streets, it wasn't about Rodney King
In this fucked-up situation and these fucked-up police
It's about comin' up and stayin' on top
And screamin' 1-8-7 on a mother fuckin' cop
Let it burn
Wanna let it burn, wanna let it burn
Wanna wanna let it burn
(I feel insanity)
Riots on the streets of Miami
Whoa, riots on the streets of Chicago
On the streets of Long Beach
In San Francisco
Riots on the streets of Kansas City
Tuskaloosa, Alabama
Cleveland, Ohio
Fountain Valley, Paramount, Victorville
Eugene, Oregon
Eureka, California
Hesperia
Santa Barbara
Winnemucca, Nevada
Phoenix, Arizona
San Diego
Lakeland, Florida
And Ferguson, Missouri.
RIP, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and hundreds of other young black men we've failed to save. Or persecute their killers.