people of color – Page 2

John Ball and his dog Darcy from the UK's International Search and Rescue team go to work in Chautara, Sindhupalchok District – north east of Kathmandu, Nepal. — John Ball and his dog Darcy from the UK’s International Search and Rescue team go to work in Chautara, Sindhupalchok District – north east of Kathmandu, Nepal.
Image by Jessica Lea/DFID

Most people in the U.S. have seen the spine-chilling stories on their TVS and have read about the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, killing more than 5000 people, and injuring thousands more.

It is a tragic story, like the recent tsunamis that also destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The only bright spot in these tales of overwhelming natural disaster is the magnitude of the international relief effort.

While my heart and often my money go out to efforts to help survivors and rebuild areas hit by these unaccountable natural disasters, what keeps me awake at night is the deadliness of racism in my own country.

Protest at the Baltimore Police Department Western District building at N. Mount St. and Riggs Ave.<br>Photo by Veggies and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. — Protest at the Baltimore Police Department Western District building at N. Mount St. and Riggs Ave.
Image by Veggies and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

I believe there are people who would rather watch TV news stories about earthquakes and tsunamis than learn all they can about the over-incarceration, and human-rights defying use of prolonged solitary confinement of young black men in this country and the ferocious murdering of young black men and women, many of whom are mentally ill, by police. They would rather watch coverage of tsunamis and earthquakes than delve into the reports on police in their country murdering and torturing people because of the color of their skin.

If anyone out there needs a powerful reminder of this nation’s relentless and often deadly racism, a powerful novel on the issue is Richard Power’s unrelenting novel, “The Time of our Singing” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23007.The_Time_of_Our_Singing.

And in case you want to read about a few recent examples of police brutality and wonder why we don’t fight back against them with the same effort being expended in Nepal, read

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/27/1380630/-SC-police-officers-to-mentally-ill-woman-I-ll-let-you-go-if-you-let-me-Taser-you-in-the-forehead

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/24/1379943/-Arrested-for-sagging-pants-Ervin-Edwards-tasered-to-death-in-custody-Police-lie-in-report?detail=email

and the more familiar case of Freddie Gray: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/25/freddie-gray-death-triggers-frustration-baltimore-police

20140821060210!Lt_Ray_Albers_points_rifle_in_Ferguson — St. Ann Police Lieutenant points rifle at civilians in Ferguson, MO. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Work by Darmokand.

So what’s the big deal about Ferguson police shooting an unarmed black man?

Aren’t people getting shot by the police in this country all the time without even a ripple of attention in the mainstream media? Aren’t they disproportionately black? Aren’t they often unarmed?

It’s really difficult to get solid answers to these questions but there is good evidence that the answer to all of them is “Yes!” Still, the attention to Ferguson is important for a number of reasons: The shootings and subsequent police response to protesters are symptoms of much larger problems, and like most symptoms (e.g., chills, fevers), violent behaviors can be signs of more than one illness.

For example, the lethal police actions in Ferguson are symptomatic of several pathologies that ought not to be ignored:

*rampant racism, which disproportionately kills people of color and is life-threatening in many ways less obvious than the firing of guns.

*erosion of gains made during the Civil Rights Movement, as described here by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

*this country’s glorification of violence

*the turning of civilian police forces into swat teams and other sorts of military units

So, there’s a lot that’s bad about Ferguson and all it represents.

Most of you know that ignoring symptoms (e.g., the cough that accompanies smoking, the weight gain that accompanies poor eating habits, the mindless behavior that can follow excessive drinking) can lead to worsening problems. What kinds of problems can you foresee from ignoring the symptoms that Ferguson exposed?

What torments my soul

What’s so bad about the Ferguson, MO, shooting, anyway?