...because if I were, there's no doubt that I’d have been killed at the hands of the police thugs long ago. Just a statistic. One of those 1,000+ souls they murder every year. Think about that. 1000 murders a year, every single year, and that’s 75,000 thousand folk since I was born. What's your tally? In Japan, it's zero.
Why am I thinking this? NYT article on the Chicago “riots” yesterday,"Chicago Staggers Anew in a Torrent of Looting."
That's Mayor Lightfoot in the image, condemning the violence as "criminal behavior, pure and simple." She has to say that, but Is it that pure and simple?
"These last few months have been tremendously difficult for a lot of people,” the Rev. Corey Brooks, a pastor on Chicago’s South Side [populace almost totally black (or, as the NYT has started to write, Black,)] said. “People are hurting financially, emotionally and psychologically. There’s a lot of suffering going on. What happened last night sets us back even more.”
Yeah, why? Why is legitimate frustration (by his own words,) at the injustices of the COVID response, leading to “riots,” wrong? If you deprive people of food, livelihood and justice long enough, if you harass and indiscriminately kill them unarmed, if you destroy every public policy designed to reduce suffering (Trump, are you listening?,) why shouldn’t people make a symbolic destruction of the what powers-that-be hold most dear...i.e., property?
“[they took] action in the gleaming heart of the city, converged on the Magnificent Mile, Chicago’s most famous shopping district. They broke windows, looted stores and clashed with the police”…yes; why not attack the “gleaming” symbol of their oppression, of the shops where they would be followed by security or even thrown out if they walked in (Chicago is one of the most segregated, and arguably, racist of large cities.)
“There is no social justice component to the criminal activity that we saw last night,” Mr. Lopez [representing the South side of Chicago,] said. “This is simply about criminal actions by individuals who are hellbent to cause anarchy and chaos in the city of Chicago.”
Technically, right. Morally and Ethically? It's complicated.
"Aislinn Pulley, a founder of Black Lives Matter Chicago, condemned the shooting and pushed Ms. Lightfoot to allow more civilian control of the police department.'We will remain in the streets until our demands are met,' she said in a statement."
Good luck on that. When will complete civilian control of the police (who, let me remind you, are paid by us and report to the city Mayor, also elected by us,) be achieved? Not, I'm afraid, in my shortened lifetime. But Write Your Congressperson Now, demanding immediate:
1- National accountability standards for police behavior.
2- Complete redo of when police can levels of force, from inhumane restraints (never) to lethal force.
3- Eliminate "qualified immunity" so police departments can be sued.
4- Fuck the police unions (well, use a word less incendiary.)
5. Transparency on police usage of force and murders ensuing therefrom (this has long been prevented by...wait for it...the Republicans.)
And read this: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/counted-us-police-killings ... oh, btw, Native Americans killed at 3.5x the rate of whites, Blacks, 2.3x.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/shooting-chicago-looting.html
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