Some excepts I wanted to share.....Read the whole thing at the
source. It's pretty good.
Stereotypes are dangerous. And for Michael Brown, they proved to be deadly.
Of all that we heard Monday night about the St. Louis County
grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson, Mo., Police Officer
Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Brown, what kept me awake for
hours after the announcement was made was Wilson’s testimony.
Testimony in which Wilson said that Brown “had the most
intense aggressive face. The only way I can describe it, it looks like a
demon, that’s how angry he looked.”
It was rife with imagery that dates back hundreds of years
as it relates to how white men often perceive black men. His use of
vivid language, describing Brown like “Hulk Hogan” while describing
himself, in comparison, like a small child holding on for dear life, is
troubling. This is the power and danger of racial “stereotypes.”
When we believe that another human being is in fact, not human,
we remove ourselves from how we treat, and entreat, them. We justify
prejudices. We justify disrespect. We justify dehumanization in ways
that can, and often does, lead to tragedy.
.................................
The anger and violence that erupted last night in Ferguson
is so much bigger than Brown’s tragic death though. It’s not really
about whether Wilson was “justified” in taking a life. Or whether Brown
robbed a grocery store for cigars, “charged” Wilson or caused the
officer to fear for his life. It’s about a community that feels
disenfranchised—and assaulted by the very officers sworn to protect
them.
This American tragedy is about a longstanding history of
“fear” between white law-enforcement officers and young black men
(unarmed, in uniform, in suits or driving while black). And until we
address that issue, we will continue to see more teens like Trayvon
Martin stalked and gunned down by unarmed vigilantes like George
Zimmerman. And we will continue to see the use of deadly force to
“subdue” black male suspects who have not been given their fundamental
rights of due process.
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