History often unfolds the politics of political injustice
By Derek Joy
Check this out. . .
The aftermath of Michael Brown’s shooting by Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson has ignited a barrage of public sentiment and media attention.
Brown was an unarmed Black American teenager. Wilson is Anglo.
Hence, local attention focused even more when WPLG/Local 10’s This Week in South Florida hosts Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg embraced the topic with guests.
One by one, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley, Major Delrish Moss, public information office commander for the City of Miami Police Dept., community activist Brian Dennis and El Nuevo Herald Executive Editor Myriam Marquez weighed in.
“I wouldn’t say we’re over armed,” replied Adderley, when Marquez pointed out the heavy artillery armored personnel carriers police departments work with. “When you’re the person waiting to be rescued you want them to have every advantage.”
No doubt about that. And absolutely no doubt about Moss’ assessment: “Sensitivity training is key. Being sensitive is an extension of my ability to help. If you can’t respect the people you police, then you can’t police them.”
History shows as much.
Arthur McDuffie, Neville Johnson and a number of other unarmed Black Americans who were killed by police – the very people sworn to protect and serve. Curiously, most of them continued working in law enforcement.
And as if the terrible beating Rodney King suffered at the hands of police officers in California, a California Highway Patrol Officer was videotaped repeatedly punching a homeless Black American female while she lay helpless on the ground.
Add a bit of fuel to the fire with the “GoFundMe” website that is raising money for Wilson’s defense. One donor wrote: “Let this ‘GoFundMe’ serve as an example to all cops in America:
“The general public will support you, especially if you pull the trigger on violent criminals.”
That attitude and economic support on the one hand and the mounting support demonstrated through public protests around America says a lot about the politics of political injustice.
What’s more, is the fact that Black Americans share culpable responsibility by the number of self inflicted murders of unarmed Black Americans? Throw in the devastating rash of Black on Black crimes and you have a haunting epidemic.
Consequently, a comparative look at such shocking reality in the form of domestic terrorism makes the efforts of foreign/Islamic terrorists seem unnecessary. Why should they engage in the same thing that Americans seem to do quite well?
