Paul Blest recognizes that didn’t matter that Michael Brown was a more driven, responsible kid than he was at his age. The only thing that mattered to that officer, and society at large, was his skin color.
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When I was 18, I had no direction in my life. I was wrapping up an unimpressive high school career in which my overall GPA was a paltry 1.9, watched my friends around me experiment with drugs (and the beginnings of what is now known as a heroin “epidemic” in suburban America), and constantly struggled with the next step I should take. I finally decided on a college, to which I was accepted even with bad grades, but still bounced around deciding what I wanted to do with my life for four or five years before settling on a major and later a career.
If I had been born about five miles south, in inner city Wilmington, Delaware, and had a different shade of skin, none of these opportunities would have been available for me. None. That’s because black people in America are expected to beat the system. Me? I just had to put it to good use. I am the face of white privilege, and if Michael Brown had been afforded the same opportunities as me just by virtue of his skin color, I find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t be on his way to a more focused and successful life than mine at the same age.
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Instead, Michael Brown has now been dead since Sunday, and as his community has rightfully been angered by his tragic death, caused by a police officer on a power trip who ordered him and a friend to “get the fuck on the sidewalk” for the unforgiveable offense of walking on the street and then murdered him while his hands were raised, screaming “Don’t shoot”, we’re now turning our attention to hot issues that always seem to come up in the aftermath of events like this – police brutality, the relationship between cops and people of color, and “looting” (which always seems to be the main focus of conservative talking heads). But at the core of this tragedy is a simple fact: white people and black people do not play by the same rules in this country. In fact, we’re not even playing the same game.
This rule goes to the core of nearly every major domestic political issue this country faces. White professionals are celebrated for not jumping into marriage and having kids too soon; people of color are denounced as being moral-less, even as they hold jobs. The aforementioned heroin epidemic? It’s been going on in inner cities for years, as have problems with other drugs such as crack cocaine, but with no real targeted government response to it until white kids in the suburbs started doing it. Only then did it become an epidemic.
There’s the question of whether the 2nd Amendment even applies to African Americans, considering a white kid is allowed to walk down the street with a loaded shotgun while a black one is shot and killed by police for picking up a BB gun at a Walmart. And this particular double standard is rooted in history, considering the NRA was formed in direct opposition to the push by Black Panthers to defend themselves by any means necessary.
We expect kids in inner cities to “get an education”, but public schools in predominantly white neighborhoods are generally better funded by their counties and states than in those neighborhoods that are majority black. In 2012, Philadelphia dissolved its school district. That’s an actual thing that happened. If that happened in wealthy counties like Hunterdon County, New Jersey, or in the DC suburb of Loudon County, Virginia, we’d have emergency federal funds dispatched to save our dying public schools. When it happens in black areas, it’s a “waste of taxpayer dollars”.
When the media talks about black on black crime, the evidence that white on white crime is actually just as prevalent. When they talk about white criminals, they treat them with more respect than they do black victims.
And when an injustice occurs, perpetrated by the police and targeting the black community, they don’t want to discuss the victim, or the injustice itself, or how to work towards a day when harassment isn’t an everyday reality for people of color. They want to discuss looting. They want to discuss black on black crime, they want to talk about rap music, and they want to talk about single mothers. And they want to discuss the legacy of Martin Luther King and “peaceful protest”, whitewashing a history where protesters in Selma and Montgomery were beaten by cops for being peaceful, just as they are in Ferguson fifty years later.
Because anything else would require a good look in the mirror, and the realization that maybe, just maybe, the odds are stacked in favor of white people. As for Michael Brown, it didn’t matter that he was a more driven, responsible kid than I was at his age. The only aspect of his personality that mattered to that officer, and society at large, was his skin color.
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Photo courtesy of author
Seems to me it would be best to wait until ALL the facts or the case are revealed/discovered before making statements like: …”caused by a police officer on a power trip who ordered him and a friend to “get the fuck on the sidewalk” for the unforgiveable offense of walking on the street and then murdered him while his hands were raised, screaming “Don’t shoot” This is hardly fact, and has come under intense scrutiny as being even remotely close to what actually happened during the confrontation between the two men. I’m in no way saying Brown’s death isn’t tragic… Read more »
Interesting new developments today .. with the autopsy and all, don’t ya think?
With respect to school expenditures by student … I checked Naperville’s (DuPage Counrty Illinois) and they are at $13K per student as is Chicago’s.
Paul, you said “But I didn’t bring them up, you did. Nor have I ever brought them up in a conversation about race, because singling out two individuals distracts from the actual conversation.” But didn’t you respond to KR with “Guess we should stop painting those troublemaking civil rights leaders and founding fathers in a good light” ?
Yes, I did. I was referring to King, DuBois, Lewis, etc. Unless you believe revisionist history that all African Americans had to do to achieve civil rights was simply ask nicely and walk around a little bit, these men were seen as very real troublemakers and a threat to white supremacy and government control. I was not talking about Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, because in no way are they painted in a good light. But if you want to keep making this about them, sure, go for it. I have my full trust in the idea that a presumably… Read more »
Paul, if they’re not “painted in good light” then tell me why their faces always appear when things like this happen? And their quotes abound in the media throughout situations like this. I’m not making anything about “them” but they are part of the problem so I guess it is partly about “them” because they supposedly represent “leadership.” Knowing the community” and doing something about what’s happening in the community are two different things. And as I mentioned, the views that I referenced were views of people in those communities … although I agree with them, they are not mine.… Read more »
Tom- there is no room for honest debate. The only thing that matters is the “narrative.” Personally, I am sick of the militarization of our police force, the erosion of our rights and the over-reach of our government into our lives. I also think minority communities get the worst of it. However, I’d never hitch my wagon to the same horse as “true believer” progressive dems. For that matter I feel the same way about social conservatives. All of them are wayyyyy too dogmatic for my tastes. The politics of “feel” trump the politics of real.
You opened up this honest debate by calling me schizophrenic and alleging that I hate white suburban middle class people, despite being one of them myself, despite the fact that I made absolutely no mention of such. You’ve also made several other personal attacks on me in the comment of various articles. Finally you, again, completely missed my point several times over, which was that the system treats those groups differently – hence my NRA example. If that isn’t clear enough, here’s another one: if we’re two football teams, and the league gives me extremely nice uniforms, state of the… Read more »
Should all people have 2nd amendment rights regardless of demography? (thats my position)
OR should we simultaneously restrict 2nd amendment rights and complain about the NRA while bemoaning the lack of 2nd amendment rights for minorities? (seems to be your muddled position)
My personal belief is that they should, but that gun laws as they stand are archaic and differ too strongly between cities, counties, and states to make a difference, which is the reason for Chicago having strong gun laws and high murder rates, which enables the black market trade to flourish there due to the legal obtaining of weapons in towns and counties immediately outside of the city’s jurisdiction.
and this article is the ONLY comment section one I’ve referred to you in.
My bad, I recognize you as one of the normal commenters on the political section and got you mixed up with a few others. But you did imply that I was schizophrenic because I wrote an article about responsible gun bills failing because some politicians are gutless, but I support the 2nd Amendment (and all of the Bill of Rights), so I don’t feel too bad about that mistake.
“The politics of “feel” trump the politics of real.” …. I like it
Good men don’t rob convenience stores for a box of cigars. Good men don’t push citizens and threaten hard-working people with their lives. Good men don’t undermine authority. You spoke your mind. I speak mine.
“Good men don’tt undermine authority .” Well, okay then. Guess we should stop painting those troublemaking civil rights leaders and founding fathers in a good light.
We have no civil rights “leaders.” We have politicians and community leaders who are for “show” only. Where have these guys been when 40 people were murdered in Chicago last month? Ya’ll goody two shoes need to get out into these communities and listen to what they’re saying about these so called leaders.
There “were” leaders at one time but the leadership has been hijacked with self serving egotistical jerks who make a ton of money off the backs of the people who live in these communities. Jessie Jackson doesn’t carry a gun but his body guards do.
I was thinking more along the lines of MLK, W.E.B Dubois, John Lewis, etc. – people who regularly undermined authority in order to achieve civil rights – but if you’re eager to make Jesse Jackson (who marched with MLK) and Al Sharpton the issue instead of black people being fundamentally treated different by the various political institutions in this country, then there’s nothing I can do for you.
With respect to Al and Jesse, my views of them are unimportant, but they are the views of many AA’s that I’ve talked to. The only ones that are keeping them in the spot light are white liberals that are on the outside looking in.
But I didn’t bring them up, you did. Nor have I ever brought them up in a conversation about race, because singling out two individuals distracts from the actual conversation.
Then all the Fanatics at Concerts and Sports Events aren’t Good Men either…… Right?
i wamnt to read thosd again and hen i wil post
First- Your black on black crime vs. white on white crime point doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t address what people are referring to when they discuss it. Young black men are far more likely to be victims of violence than any other demographic group. Furthermore, young black men are the most likely demographic group to commit violence against young black men. When you apply proportionality (based on overall population) it becomes even more apparent. Second- Its insane the way the GMP keeps talking about white suburban gun rights activists. You’re doing no good for the group you purportedly care… Read more »
I want you to go back, read the article again, and try to find anywhere where I said that all suburban white people or bad, or that libertarians are horrible people. Or where I made it an explicitly political issue of right vs. left (apart from pointing out what conservative talking heads like Limbaugh and Hannity actually do, and is well documented). I’ll wait.
Must have imagined all those articles written round these parts recently. I also must have imagined all your mentions of white suburbs, the NRA, white professionals etc….
You (and your like) are part of the problem
Thanks for the compliment.
Dude. you misunderstand me. The problem are the hateful people on both sides of the line. The “true believers” who get their meat and mead by dividing.
I don’t know what point you’re arguing or who you’re arguing it with. If the point is that there are hateful, shitty people on any side of any given issue, yes, I completely accept that as obvious truth. If the point is that I’m “dividing” or “creating conflict” where there’s none to be had is – I’m a writer who has a bigger platform than most other “bloggers” because this piece was written for the Good Men Project. Furthermore, the idea that a blogger or any one person created several centuries of division between the way institutions treat minorities and… Read more »
Blacks are 11-14% of the Total U.S. Population, yet we “commit the most crimes” and make up almost 78% of Inmates in Prison/Jail…… But that’s OK to you -_-
Not calling You the name that Rhymes with Bacist, but your Comments, Generalizations and Assumptions are…..