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Monday, August 25, 2014

Ferguson is just a Reminder

            When I  heard about about the events in Ferguson Missouri regarding the shooting of an unarmed (Black)  teenager by a cop I don't even think I blinked twice. I know for a fact I didn't stop what I was doing and take a knee (ala Tebow). I didn't change any of my plans for the day and saw no changes for the near future. With all the guns, mass murders and school shootings I'm a bit jaded, desensitized to the daily ins and outs of  'American Murder Stories'.
But I am Human.
I feel a perpetual dread regarding our current justice system and its scripted role in Urban America. The past few years I have documented a growing disregard for personal freedom and a willingness on our part to accept these intrusions as normal. I see victims lying in the street, or military Police as the final result of these sinister preparations.
So yeah , my initial reaction was barely palpable but as the story developed a theme began to develop.
My Facebook timeline started updating me on the latest events. The Police decided to up the ante on this downtrodden, grieving community, show the uppity ones who's boss.
Visible signs of power. Armored troop carriers on an overpass.The provocative behavior of The Ferguson  Police Department became the subject ; it wasn't enough to kill an unarmed kid. They also withheld some positive information and leaked other negative tidbits as they saw fit, painting a sinister picture of, up until the afternoon of August 9th, an average eighteen yr old. Sorry, pot smoking fits in with the description of average.
Raise your hand if this reminds you of another unarmed kid who was killed. A kid that slipped under the radar avoiding the attention of law enforcement until finally, in a hail of bullets he was shot, in the head...and the back. This is important...in front of multiple witnesses, but hey, they are black.
The thing is , those tactics would have worked if it wasn't for the provocateurs in the crowd. To me, A "Radical", they deserved to be attacked for coming to a peaceful march , mourning a death, with tanks. It was a litmus, a way to measure the resolve of a community.
How much they'll put up with. 
A, boots on the ground model for response in many different scenarios. It seemed each tactical unit approached Ferguson as an opportunity to use all this brand spanking new equipment they received from the feds.
It started to look like a Federal disaster training exercise.
All this for Michael Brown? No , this was to protect a system, a growing industry of oppression. A fight we will all, Black and White, lose as long as the 'wealthy media elite' keep the argument limited to race.
It became a Race Riot, the fight for justice loss. The Fight for a kid killed lost its resonance with MSNBC, playing clips of dudes fighting in the parking lot and other outlets quoting provocative racists like Kevin Szorbo. 
We all forget.
THIS IS NOT A RACIAL ISSUE.
For a second it seemed all eyes in the world were on Ferguson. The place where an unarmed teenage boy was killed by a well armed police officer. A place where there are no 'alternatives' beyond the gun. Its like a lot of places in America. 
Does anyone even remember Walt Washington?