I wasn’t going to intervene in my queue.  But, I’ve been reading notes (complaints) by many an acquaintance, who quote folks who routinely spew words of hate in seemingly socially acceptable ways.  Or, by Black folks whose “public benefit” groups are sponsored by the Koch Brothers.

Which echoed the words I read from Cynthia Ozick (who writes about Anti-Semitism).  We generally think of [prejudice] “…as brutish, the mentality of mobs, the work of the ignorant, the poorly schooled, the gutter roughnecks, the torch carriers. But these are only the servants,  not the savants… Mobs execute, intellectuals promulgate.  Thugs have furies, intellectuals have causes.”

So, let’s get real.  Those George Floyd protests aren’t solely about murder by cop.  No one is really protesting vigilantism against Ahmaud Arbery.  The reactions to the Rayshard Brooks murder is not solely about murder by cop.

These are about the structural racism that exudes from almost every pore in American culture; they’re about the prevailing belief in White Supremacy.  The structural impediments we have built into our society is one of the big reasons why COVID-19 affects Blacks way more than it does Whites  and why the quarantine meant the unemployment rate for Blacks quadrupled, while it barely doubled for Whites.

George Floyd MIGHT have passed a counterfeit $ 20 bill.  But, even if he did, it’s just as likely he got that from a store vendor who provided him the fake as part of his change.  How many of us really know that every bill in our wallet is genuine.  (I don’t have any- so I’m pretty sure…) But, more importantly, if George Floyd were White, he might have been served a summons, forced to pay back the vendor- but certainly NOT handcuffed, and NEVER choked for 8.75 minutes until he died.

This murder took place right after we found out about a few vigilantes in Georgia stalking a Black man and then shooting him to death.  Had there not been any smartphones around, we’d never know the story of Ahmaud  Arbery.

And, sure- Rayshard Brooks was drunk.  Absolutely.  But, he was sleeping in his car.  He might even have been blocking the drive-in window.  (The police roused him and asked him to move the car.  He did park it properly, which is how cars in the drive-in lane peeled away when the deranged cops began shooting.)  But, even so, he wasn’t driving.  Had Rayshard been White, the cops would have asked to have someone pick him up, leaving his car, or maybe forcing him to take a taxi home.  They wouldn’t have waited minutes (after Rayshard had already asked to walk to his sister’s house which was nearby to the Wendy’s where the incident occurred) and then attempt to handcuff him, and wrestle him to the ground.  Not to mention they already had his address, so they could simply have not reacted violently and just arranged to pick him up anytime in the future.

As you can see, police violence is just the proximate cause.  Using the concept of correlation and causation, murder by cop is the correlation.  The causation is the way cops- and almost every one else- refuses to acknowledge minority rights.  Where the heretofore majority (Whites are often the plurality, but never the majority any longer) devalues, degrades, and marginalizes Blacks.

Just like the March from Selma to Montgomery wasn’t about the right to march or the right to freely assemble.  It was a negation of Southern ‘justice’, which mean persecution for the Blacks and freedom for the Whites.

I’ve seen this first hand.  I’ve felt it first hand.  Trying to obtain voting cards for Blacks.  Trying to live freely in a majority (to use the Ivory Snow analogy, 99.44%) White Catholic community, who much preferred to beat my brother and I up, break our windows, and generally exude Anti-Semitic slurs).  Trying to stop the war in VietNam.  Responding to the Kent State Massacre by the Ohio National Guard.

It’s certainly not the early 60s. It’s not even 1964.  Nor is it the late 60’s.  Same for 1970.  Folks, it’s 2020.

When Martin Luther King was murdered in 1968, there were riots in Detroit, DC, and elsewhere.  (Notably NOT in Indianapolis, where Bobby Kennedy demonstrated what great leaders are supposed to provide. Back in 1968, he was singular.  In 2020, we have no such political leaders.)  And, the National Guard was called in across America- leading to 43 deaths, thousands injured, and some than 20,000 arrests.

The largest radical organization of the 1960s, The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), expelled terrorists from among their group.  And, with many unsung leaders, managed to create “The Moratorium”, a peaceful negation to the VietNam War (1969-1970)  and the draft. 2 million folks – at least- across the US- in cities and towns, large and small, from high schoolers to senior citizens, from clergy members and PhDs and MDs to those who never dreamed of pursuing higher education.

The Second Moratorium ( a few months later) involved about half as many non-violent demonstrators, except in DC where the cops decided to corral the folks, use tear gas and the like.  Just like the US Army, the National Guard, and the Park Police decided to do at Lafayette Square a fortnight ago against the peaceful demonstrators.  To let TheDonald show the world how one holds a bible upside down, to have his own photo op.

Which brings up the current “Black Lives Matter” protest.  Or, maybe the “I can’t breathe” response.  3000 demonstrations across the US- in cities and towns, large and small.

We are at another inflection point in history.  Not about police violence per se.  But, to force the cessation of White Supremacy.  To afford – finally- the same rights Whites arrogate to themselves, to make them available to everyone.

TheDonald thinks he can use a page that the criminal TrickyDick employed.  Applying the mantle of law and order, as if that explains a thing.

Is it not law and order that any person has the right to NOT be killed for POSSIBLE passing a bad $20 bill, to not being murdered for being drunk and attempting to be socially responsible by staying off the roads, or to be shot to death for being curious about construction sites.  (How many White folks do you know that have been guilty of the same infractions without losing their lives?)

Here’s the other problem for TheDonald.  Back when TrickyDick was breaking the law, spying on his opponents, using bribes to change votes, most of America was not behind SDS.  (Even two years later, it was simply a strong minority of 40%.)  But, now?  The majority of Americans realize the insidious manifestations of White Supremacy that permeate American Society.

It’s too bad for TheDonald that even the Republican apologist, Frank Luntz, is not on his side.  So, he won’t be coining any new buzzwords with which White Supremacists can hide their appalling beliefs.

No, now America’s job is to effect the change that Lincoln promised in his 1863 speech.

 

 

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