By Margaret Kimberley
May 09, 2021 "Information
Clearing House" - - "BAR"
- The changes needed are
fundamental to a country which puts anti-black
racism at the center of politics, law and economics.
“There is little in the way of
justice, and focusing solely on police snuff films
is a poor substitute for meaningful analysis.”
The depth of public connection with George Floyd
was clear on the day the verdict of his police
killer was announced. The moment was awaited with
trepidation and the guilty verdict was met with
enthusiasm and in some cases outright joy. But at
the same time that the world learned the
perpetrator’s fate, a 16-year old named Ma’Khia
Bryant was also killed by the police.
Police in the United States kill more than 1,000
people every year, an average of three every day.
Had young Ms. Bryant been killed on any other date,
it is probable that no one outside of her immediate
circle would know her name either.
But demands for justice must be expanded beyond
the latest police lynching that the media may choose
to expose. Black people rank high on the list of
every negative measure, such as homelessness or
incarceration, and low on that which is positive,
such as good health and living wage incomes. There
is little in the way of justice, and focusing solely
on police snuff films is a poor substitute for
meaningful analysis.
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“Had young Ms. Bryant been killed on
any other date, it is probable that no one outside
of her immediate circle would know her name.”
The focus on modern day lynch law at the expense
of other issues not only hasn’t ended this scourge
but it has given scoundrels an entree to practice
their con games against Black people. After Floyd
was murdered every hustler from Al Sharpton to Nancy
Pelosi jumped on the bandwagon to voice fake outrage. Sharpton
gives cover to the establishment and protects them
like an old school gangster while pretending to
fight for the people. As he famously told Joe Biden
in a leaked
video, “I will never embarrass you.”
Pelosi and Democratic politicians made a mockery
of a serious issue with their kente
cloth, taking a knee stunt. One would think she
couldn’t do any worse but she did. On the day of the
verdict she opined that Floyd, “Sacrificed himself
for justice.” Pelosi gets away with these insults
because Black politics consists of the bottom
feeding misleaders who owe their positions to her
largesse.
The issues are larger than most of us are willing
to admit. The changes needed are fundamental to a
country which puts anti-black racism at the center
of politics, law and economics. The system demands
that Black people be locked up, displaced, red
lined, and prevented from having full citizenship
rights. Police killings are just one manifestation
of a fundamentally unjust nation.
“After Floyd was murdered every
hustler from Al Sharpton to Nancy Pelosi jumped on
the bandwagon to voice fake outrage.”
No one is complaining about the verdict aside
from Floyd’s killer and other hard core racists. But
that doesn’t mean that everyone’s interests are the
same. The sigh of relief also belongs to people and
institutions who are not our friends. It wasn’t just
Pelosi and Congress who took a knee of phony
concern, so did corporate CEOs and even police in
some instances. The movement was a rare moment of
consensus but everyone who took part didn’t do so
for the same reason. While some genuinely sought
redress, others wanted good public relations and
cynical opportunities to raise a public profile. If
the CEO of Chase bank takes a knee, the
revolutionary moment has been lost. Aunt Jemima
disappearing from the pancake box and the invention
of terms like BIPOC are not victories. They are
proof of failure.
If we must talk about former cop Derek Chauvin we
must be honest. After the murder was filmed and made
public the police in Minneapolis acted as they
always do. Chauvin and the other police were fired
and they hoped the people would be mollified. But
they weren’t arrested until someone set fire to a
police precinct. Suddenly nonchalance turned to
urgency and the killer and his accomplices were
arrested and charged.
“If the CEO of Chase bank takes a
knee, the revolutionary moment has been lost.’
That moment was the beginning of a just legal
outcome. It wasn’t just protest, but protest outside
of the bounds that the politicians and CEOS found
acceptable. Chauvin was shoved under the bus, lest
the burgeoning movement be allowed to take hold and
turn into something that couldn’t be controlled.
It is fine to credit prosecutors with the way
they handled their case, but thanks must also go to
the person or persons who set the police station
alight. They are probably more responsible than
anyone else for the legal outcome. What little
justice we get always comes when someone decides to
push the envelope and threaten the system. If we are
going to talk about justice it must be with some
understanding and not wishful thinking. The verdict
was the people’s verdict and that must not be
forgotten.
Margaret
Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in
BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She
maintains a frequently updated blog as well at
http://freedomrider.blogspot.com . Ms. Kimberley
lives in New York City, and can be reached via
e-Mail at
Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.
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