After staying up until abut 3 a.m. watching live feeds from Ferguson, I woke up today with this song firmly stuck in my head.
To all of the white folks saying that they, "... Understand the concerns/frustrations of the black community": You can't. There's a difference between sympathy and empathy.
To all of the pundits that are conflating "black-on-black", "white-on-black", "black-on-white" or any permutation thereof with "cop-on-civilian" crime: The (supposed) primary function of police is to prevent shootings, and the chance that an officer will use deadly force against a suspect goes up exponentially if the suspect is of a non-white persuasion.
In the coming days, you will hear the words "Post-Ferguson America," as if somehow the conflagration of a U.S. city is a sort of purge of systemic discrimination and the last 400 years of American history will go up in smoke. The racial divide in America will not be closed until our economic, social, and criminal oppression of minorities is actually, y'know, addressed in a real and meaningful way. We will never get to the "good new days" until we admit that the "good old days" weren't that good.
To all of the pundits that are conflating "black-on-black", "white-on-black", "black-on-white" or any permutation thereof with "cop-on-civilian" crime: The (supposed) primary function of police is to prevent shootings, and the chance that an officer will use deadly force against a suspect goes up exponentially if the suspect is of a non-white persuasion.
In the coming days, you will hear the words "Post-Ferguson America," as if somehow the conflagration of a U.S. city is a sort of purge of systemic discrimination and the last 400 years of American history will go up in smoke. The racial divide in America will not be closed until our economic, social, and criminal oppression of minorities is actually, y'know, addressed in a real and meaningful way. We will never get to the "good new days" until we admit that the "good old days" weren't that good.
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