#Ferguson Redux

If Bill Cosby were in Ferguson, the first thing he would do is rape someone.... Then the second thing he would do is criticize blacks.

I was a young child during the LA Riots back in '92, and though I didn't participate in those riots, I can tell these present riots are for rank amateurs. Like the rioters out here, they're not demonstrating outrage so much as damaging other people's property. The rioters aren't violent enough to be revolutionaries and are not peaceful enough to be protestors. They are posers--pseudo-revolutionaries--and most hate the cops more than they have been victimized by the police. They hide amongst the legitimate protestors, so really, I would just stay home. The rioters are ruining the legitimate points that you might be making about racial profiling and police brutality. And here's what's going to happen: Business people will not want to build in Ferguson--not for a decade--and the land will become blighted. And this wouldn't be the cops' fault. Because one black guy was killed in self-defense, this place is going to get worse, not better. There is no dialogue--and any dialogue that might occur would lead to shouting and mutual recriminations. Cops come and go, but these riots will last long in Missourians' (Missourites'?) minds. Long after Wilson is dead, the history books will speak of those assholes who burned down a piece of Missouri.

Of course, this really isn't about the one black guy. The media--especially the rightwing media--are attempting to condense this into a Mike Brown/Ferguson PD issue. We are supposedly recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression--a recovery that has largely benefited the wealthy/middle-class more than the poor. In 2014, some people still cannot believe a brown guy named "Hussein" could have been born in America. Voter ID laws (that prevent blacks from voting) are good but gun control laws (that might protect blacks' right to stay alive) are evil. Screwdrivers and hoodies are burglar tools. Don't film cops because they're shy.

These systemic issues do not change certain problems with the DA's case: Scanning the grand jury transcript, the pro-Brown witnesses did not understand that their recollections were wrong. They didn't see lies as lies, and they repeated what they thought members of THEIR community wanted to hear: Brown had his hands up, and he wasn't fighting back. Some of the prosecution's witnesses didn't see what happened but were repeating hearsay. And the forensic evidence supported the defense. The video of Brown assaulting another man supported the defense. A grand jury could indict a ham sandwich, and thus the case for self-defense was so strong that Wilson does not have the culpability of a ham sandwich. (What does need to be explained was the apparent shift in the police's story that Brown was stopped for the violent robbery that he'd just committed, not walking in the street.)

Meanwhile Wilson does himself no favors by speaking. His conscious is clear, which are HIS exact words. (He said this--Google it!) Really? No regrets? I know almost nothing about Darren Wilson, but I can think up at least one thing that he did wrong in his life. I can think up one thing he did wrong. When you kill someone, you should show remorse for your actions--even if it was just in self-defense, not murder. Nope. He has no regrets. I like Darren Wilson a whole lot less now. He was once a good cop, but he'll never be a cop again.

The protestors are legitimate in putting forth the issue of police corruption. I have the creeping suspicion that whites would care a lot more about what's happening in Ferguson if a Chipolte were burning. The immaturity of the rioters has been used as an example of the animalistic behavior of blacks. Plus they probably voted for Obama, including the ones under 19.

The thug Mayor Rudy Giuliani exemplifies the problems with so many of the rioters' critics by pointing out this: Well, black people are always killing each other too--so why not agents of the government? He is a LAWYER! He should know that's not how the law works, damnit! Just because black guys are shooting each other doesn't give cops permission to shoot them too--y'know, get in on the action. Soon all Americans will run out of black guys to shoot. Then white people will have to start importing them--from somewhere.

Giuliani's points are based on the neo-racist notion that most black people agree with conservatives and that racism no longer exists. In antebellum America, slaveholders believed that blacks revolted not because they were legitimately outraged but because outside agitators (white liberals) were turning them against their benevolent masters. The police are totally honest and not racist at all. The "race hustlers" ( re Al Sharpton--always with Sharpton) and the media are tricking black people into believing the status quo is racist. Now there are rumblings that Brown's stepfather should be prosecuted for "inciting" these riots. (In his anger that the government just killed his son, he expressed support for tearing down the government.) Shockingly, in this story, only the black guy might end up being sent to prison.

Ferguson PD, demonstrating how big their balls are, have demanded the NFL should apologize to them for inflaming racial tensions after several Rams performed the "hands up" protest gesture. (Oh, and to the people of American, putting your hands up is a good call when confronted by the police--this movement is more sarcastic than I would like to see.) Of all the evils of the NFL, they are not causing riots. They are in the unenviable positions of having to choose between showing support for law enforcement and abiding by the cops' sheer stupidity.

Rudy Giuliani, however, is a certified asshole. Unlike Mitt Romney, it feels like Giuliani is an asshole to his own family, which makes him a very special asshole. He should go back to New York and try to exploit 9/11 some more.