The Defense of the Deadly is a Lose-Lose for All
MLK Jr’s daughter:
That last one rings very true. In Atlanta, the effort to destroy an urban forest to build a massive police training center ultimately led to violence after a year of protests. Allegedly, one environmental protester shot a cop who’s gonna recover, but the protester was killed. The state police say they have no body cams of that confrontation. Why not?
That sparked attacks on property, including a police car set afire and the breaking of windows in three buildings.
But the governor - saying that most of the protesters were from out-of-state - calls them domestic terrorists and has ordered 1000 National Guard troops to be on standby for the area. Assuming the training center gets built, about 40% of the cops trained there will also be from out of state. So which outsider is terrorizing who?
They’ll be trained in advanced weaponry, how to react to everything from hostage situations and armed standoffs to crowd control of peaceful protesters. After hundreds of years of abuse and lynchings, after SWAT teams became a nationwide phenomenon in the wake of one black group’s kidnapping of Patty Hearst, after police departments became heavenly weaponized with leftover vehicles and arms designed for war zones two decades ago, where is there any concerted effort to limit police violence and their use of excessive force?
Will the planned cop training center train them to de-escalate tense situations? Or will they be trained to go after the next Tyre Nichols (who simply ran, unarmed, from a police beatdown) and club him to death?
In the wake of the slow strangling of George Floyd 2-1/2 years ago, millions of Americans took to the streets. In a few cities, like the one George Floyd lived in, a number of people exploited the situation. Some looted, some lit fires, but most of the perpetrators didn’t come from the ranks of the marchers. In at least one instance, the instigator of some overt property destruction was trying to provoke violence toward the peaceful marchers.
Some young marchers started demanding that police be defunded, which was immediately mocked by some politicians, claiming leftists or liberals or Democrats were planning to shut down police departments, another fear provocation of something that didn’t happen. Funding for police has steadily been increased. So what will come next for Atlanta? Or for Memphis?
Earlier today, police in San Francisco released footage of the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, also shockingly brutal. That attack last Fall also drew political mockery as several prominent Republicans claimed he was the victim of a gay lover’s quarrel. I can’t recall a single apology since for that homophobic and baseless charge.
Here’s why Bernice King’s words ring true.
Memphis is 24% non-Hispanic White and 64% Black. Do you think that 64% majority feels safer because of the killing of a traffic violator?
There were 1,761 minority business owners in Memphis in 2017. But it had 6,532 white business owners, almost 4 times as many, controlling most of the capital. With a 24% poverty rate in Memphis, most of those struggling to get by aren’t white. Its not about education as 87% of the city has at least a high school diploma and 27% of those 25 and older have Bachelor degrees or more.
Atlanta is 39% non-Hispanic White and 48% Black. Does the majority there have confidence that the proposed ‘public safety training center’ will deliver them more safety?
There it was 9,199 white business owners compared to 2,655 minority owned firms (about 3-1/2 times more white owners) in 2017. The education stats are even better there as 92% have at least a high school diploma and an impressive 56% have a Bachelor degree or more. Its poverty rate is still quite high, at 18%, yet again, most of that poor group is Black.
(All city stats come from US Census numbers)
Listen to people close to Tyre describe him. Keep watching as the next video clicks in. He’s pulled from the car, beaten, he gets up and runs, they chase him and beat him for several minutes more.
As Ms. King said, ”police brutality is an urgent, devastating issue” and her call for more “elected officials, civic leaders, corporations and faith leaders” to put more effort into fixing that is critical.
But that’s not likely to occur when so many elected officials promote and encourage bigotry, against Black people, against gay people, against 82 year old victims of crime for any given reason at all. It’s not a game. The violence that occurs to people enmeshed in poverty requires remedy, too, and it’s long past time for the significant minority of politicians defending and promoting hatred and violence of any kind to shut the fuck up or get thrown out of office.
The public demands and needs safety, not another round of excuses and a fresh round of hate. Government of and by the hateful must be shut down because it is not ‘for’ anyone but the deadly because that path only and always leads to war.
There’ll be protests all weekend all over the country about Tyre’s murder. Per USA Today:
”The family has asked supporters to protest in peace. During a press conference on Friday, Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, said, "More than anything we want peace. We do not want any type of uproar, we do not want any type of disturbance." “
I know it’s not so easy to watch videos on a smartphone, so check them on a desktop or a laptop. They’re chosen to enhance and illuminate the words in the newsletter, to engage the mind and heart.