Let’s Talk About Ferguson

Unless you’ve been living in the wilderness for the last six months or REALLY don’t follow the news, you know about Ferguson (and the Eric Garner case in New York) and the protests that have erupted following the lack of an indictment against the cop who killed Michael Brown. Two Fridays ago, I got to witness one.

For all of the hype over the “die-ins”, it really wasn’t anything special. 50-75 people chanted things like, “We can’t breathe,” “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and dropped to the floor. At one point, the protesters reformed and circled the mall with signs chanting, “Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.” It was mostly black, but had a few white teenagers and one or two women pushing strollers. It was all nice and well, but I couldn’t stop wondering why they were protesting.

It may seem like a silly question. A unarmed black man was killed by a white police officer who was not indicted. The protestors said that they were protesting police brutality and racial profiling. The protests have been compared to the Freedom Riders and Selma and the rest of the Civil Rights movement. It’s black and white, right?

I talked to one of the women who was in the protest. She said that she was so glad it remained peaceful and that the cops were really cool here. She said the last part like it was a surprise. Remember, they’re protesting police brutality. It’s a systemic problem. And that’s where the movement has a an issue.

In the last year, five cases have made the news of black men dying at the hands of a white police officer. There are more murder cases in Chicago alone every day. Think of how many cops there are in the entire United States. Five cops made very publicized decisions that took away a life. Of all of the police in the entire country, five have been singled out. The movement suggests that they are representative of the entire police population. I have a hard time believing that. If we really had such a hard time with police brutality, do you think the protestors would be allowed to march peacefully? Look at the Civil Rights movement. There are pictures. There were dogs and they were set on people who were marching in the streets. That’s brutality.

Look at Syria, where civil war erupted when the government used the police and military to try to squash the rebellion. They fired into crowds of protestors and killed countless people. That’s brutality.

Look at Romania in 1989. When the dictator ordered the crushing of pro-democracy/Western protests, the police obeyed. That’s brutality. The country’s communist dictatorship fell when the military refused to obey and civil war erupted.

Tiananmen Square, 1989. Police and security forces destroyed the pro-democracy demonstrations. The exact number who died is still uncertain. That’s brutality.

There is a difference between murder and brutality. We see murder every day in the news, but brutality is something entirely different. Brutality is violence to the excess. Brutal describes incredibly savage murders. Whether or not Michael Brown’s death was murder or self defense, we will never know for sure, but was it brutality? Eric Garner died being wrestled to the ground, but was it brutality? Perhaps an overreaction, but savage?

People are upset, I understand. But in order for there to be a movement, there has to be a system that needs to change. The Civil Rights movement fought a system that was clearly broken. Yes, five lives are five too many. No one should ever die at someone else’s hand. But do we have a problem with police brutality or do we have five decisions, good or bad, right or wrong, racist or defensive, that cost five lives?

 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.