Some peoples lives are worth more than others.
In the context of American society one of the deciding factors of how much your life is worth is determined by the colour of your skin. Here in Canada a similar skin tone gradient applies as being First Nations in Canada gets you the special police attention you don’t deserve. Bonus features of being in First Nations in Canada include (but are not limited to), poverty, limited access to potable water, and an hostile educational system. Make no mistake, we have much to do in Canada to address the needs of our people. We have a Canadian Highway of Tears that sullies our escutcheon and is indicative of the racism that still permeates our society.
The inherent racism present in Canada pales before the horrendous shitshow that is running south of the border. Racial divisions and discrimination represent a clear and present danger to fabric of the civil society of the United States (necessarily so). The scale of protests against the racial violence of the white establishment is increasing – fuelled by social media that circumvents mainstream media and offers a small gory window into the lives of black people who are being murdered by the security apparatus of the state.
I cannot imagine the horror of witnessing your partner being shot to death in your car, having to be polite to the individual that just inflicted moral wounds on our loved one while having your child witness the entire blood spattered episode from the backseat.
…
Violence breeds violence.
The unidirectional nature of the violence was reversed as an individual who proclaimed his hatred for white police, killed five white police officers in Dallas. The shooter was a reservist and had seen a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Lives are being lost because we have tied how much humanity you’re allotted to the colour of your skin.
Madness. It is sheer madness that we have allowed our societies to be shaped by racism and that the status quo is in fact racist. Is this series of murders in the US the tipping point? It certainly seems like people have had enough and are willing to entertain a large spectrum means to achieve their ends. It should be (like the constant stream of black people being murdered by police hasn’t been) a wake up call to the American congress and its legislative position on systemic racism and gun control. Henry Giroux paints a darker picture when he says:
“In the increasingly violent landscape of anti-politics, mediation disappears, dissent is squelched, repression operates with impunity, the ethical imagination withers, and the power of representation is on the side of spectacularized state violence. Violence both at the level of the state and in the hands of everyday citizens has become a substitute for genuine forms of agency, citizenship, and mutually informed dialogue and community interaction.”
The response of the law makers will tell the tale though, because the disconnect between public opinion and public representatives is being brought into stark relief. Congress has been mostly bought and paid for – but they have to at least look like they are serving the needs of the public on occasion, will the murder of five police officers stir the sycophants into action? I really don’t know, because getting reelected seems to override important qualities of being a decent human being. Qualities like empathy, compassion, and morality seem strangely missing when it comes to societal issues that threaten idea of moving toward a just society.
The cynical side of me contemplates this question: Would the US have gun control if members of Congress were similarly subjected to the murder/assassination program the rest of America is being subject to?
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
10 comments
July 11, 2016 at 10:43 am
VR Kaine
The hyperbole aside in much of the post (“assassination”? Haha – please) I fully agree with your excerpt here:
“Congress has been mostly bought and paid for – but they have to at least look like they are serving the needs of the public on occasion, will the murder of five police officers stir the sycophants into action? I really don’t know, because getting reelected seems to override important qualities of being a decent human being. Qualities like empathy, compassion, and morality seem strangely missing when it comes to societal issues that threaten idea of moving toward a just society.”
The Republicans have been horrendously guilty of putting the gun lobby ahead of citizen safety which, in turn, has continued to feed an extremely dangerous and (so outdated it’s ridiculous) gun culture in the US.
On the one side you have the race hucksters (like Al Sharpton) giving a free pass to an entire “thug culture” where murder, drugs, guns, rape, and violence are glorified (even deified), and on the other you have an NRA/gun lobby saying that one has to arm themselves to the teeth against it (or “them” the mostly black teens who embrace the thug culture).
Add to this a baseline poverty that is worse than third-world in most cases (at least in many third world places you can still farm, fish, and eat) which promotes drug-dealing, violence, stealing, and looting and it just fuels the fire even more – with the guns and ammo companies winning (you think they’d just stick to the wars!)
As for the cops, it’s been known for a long time that cops need a different kind of hiring, and a different kind of training. I know this because I’ve worked specifically in this area with various police departments across the US for decades.
One has to keep in mind, though, that especially in the larger cities, police departments are very bureaucratic and very political, which makes change happen very slowly, and without ANY effort to mitigate either the general gun culture that we have in the US or the “thug culture” that gets glorified alongside it, nothing’s going to change. Worse, police departments and cops are going to see these current “band-aid” efforts as useless and they’re going to be leaving these departments in droves (like you already have had in major cities). Guess what happens then? More crime, and more people who were once saying “f–k the police” now asking for more protection and service from them, and the bullshit cycle continues.
If any REAL change is going to happen – same as with the native population here – it has to start with leadership at EACH level of the community. Cops can’t say “it’s the thugs” and not take an honest look at themselves and their own culture. Likewise thugs can’t say “it’s the cops” and not take an honest look at themselves and their own culture, either.
Right now it’s fashionable for armchair liberal critics to pretend like they have a clue about law enforcement and to be hating on the police. It’s also fashionable for the right-wing gun advocates to say, “See, this is why we need to (‘have a Constitutional right to’) arm up”.
Both sides are a total crock of shit, and I say to both sides that you really need to take an honest look at what you’re giving a free pass to, because you’re both part of the problem and anything but part of the solution.
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July 11, 2016 at 10:52 am
syrbal-labrys
I’m shamed this week to have seen that in Seattle, clueless whites screamed “All lives matter!” back at Black Lives Matter marchers. As for Congress, Gabby Giffords apparently didn’t count – cause, hey, one less Democrat?
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July 11, 2016 at 12:24 pm
roughseasinthemed
I love that black lives matter, gun deaths matter, and how many womens’ deaths and rapes matter.
Sorry. Off topic. Cos, ya know, women don’t matter and we have to apologise for existing.
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July 11, 2016 at 4:07 pm
bleatmop
Things are coming to a head in the good ‘ol USA and it’s not going to be pretty. Not only is a Republican – Democrat civil war brewing but there are going to be race riots that make Ferguson look like a walk in the park. There are many things rotten in the State of USA.
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July 11, 2016 at 5:01 pm
VR Kaine
Syrbal-Labis: ‘clueless whites screamed “All lives matter!”’
I agree with the “clueless” comment, and I hate how the central premise of the movement is getting thwarted and/or hijacked – from both sides. “Kill Cops!” and “Kill White People!” shouldn’t be let in just as “All Lives Matter!” shouldn’t be let in, either, because there are serious underlying issues and commentary here related to poverty, justice, and the American way of life in general that are going to be drowned out if they do get let in and are allowed to stay.
BLM has to be careful not to turn into another Occupy, which started with something righteous and then turned into a clown show. Like Occupy, BLM risks attracting all the losers, grievance-hustlers, bottom-feeders and criminals to its cause the point where just like Occupy, BLM will become a joke (if it hasn’t already) or worse – something more harmful to the black community (and perceptions about them) than good.
The Dallas protesters showed total class before, during, and after the shooting. Even on FNC, which is not friendly to them and where you have an idiot like Shawn Hannity trying to start a race war, the protesters were still very respectful, honorable, and articulate. And when they spoke of the hardships they had went through as African Americans that motivated them to joint the rally, it made me well up.
This is what they need to do to get the change that they’re looking for (and yes, TIO, I’m actually paid very well to advice both companies and associations re: change :). If they show the real strength, leadership, and morality that some of the Dallas members have shown in their interviews, they’ll have a great shot at succeeding. Otherwise if the thuggery is what continues to get the headlines, BLM will not only be over, it will be crushed.
(And yes, I realize that some of the success of BLM will fall upon the media as well). I know who I’m rooting for. We’ll see…
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July 11, 2016 at 5:19 pm
VR Kaine
@Bleatmop: “Things are coming to a head in the good ‘ol USA and it’s not going to be pretty. Not only is a Republican – Democrat civil war brewing but there are going to be race riots that make Ferguson look like a walk in the park. There are many things rotten in the State of USA.”
I think that if this ratchets up to where the Neo-Nazi shitheads start rolling in to confront the protesters, I agree that we’re going to have riots of epic proportions. I don’t think that’s going to happen though.
I could be wrong, but if they can keep the NN shitheads out and it ends up being just a bunch of thugs rioting in cities like we had in Ferguson (or the clowns with Occupy in Oakland), then I think the cops – now far more armed, armored, and organized since then – will push them back into their neighborhoods and then simply walk away; leaving the thugs to loot, riot, burn down, and shoot all they want to just as they’re doing now in many of the southern Chicago suburbs. If that happens, I think the cops will just pull back and leave the communities to just deal with things themselves.
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July 12, 2016 at 8:19 am
The Arbourist
@RSithM
I’m glad I can take the occasional day off and know the quotient for strident feminism will still be fulfilled. :)
It seems the further feminism moves away from its Second Wave – where radical, organized, and militant action was the norm – the less society seems to care about what women want.
More to the point, much of the current feminist energy is being redirected into areas that do not threaten/actually reinforce the status quo.
Most disheartening. :(
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July 12, 2016 at 8:21 am
The Arbourist
@Syrbal
It is kinda sad to watch isn’t it? Where is the empathy for others and the innate sense of justice we’re supposed to have?
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July 12, 2016 at 8:25 am
The Arbourist
@bleatmop
There is only so many times the political class can successfully tamp down the rage of the underclasses.
The neo-liberal bullshite that has been taken up by the plutocratic class denudes people of their voice in the political process. The poor and disenfranchised have been simmering toward this for a long time.
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July 12, 2016 at 9:40 am
syrbal-labrys
It’s as if the majority “side” has to be too busy feeling feeling sorry for its damn self to empathize!
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