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KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 12:41 AM Nov 2014

A sober warning (and one of the best essays I have read thus far about Ferguson):

Mr. McCulloch's America Can't Stand

~snip~

It's a dire evil to have any cultural, political, or institutional tolerance for lynching by badge. But you don't get to the point where you have a national crisis from that without some pretty highly placed enablers and gatekeepers in elite places. Malignant tumors benefit from a well-suppressed immune system, and a nation that has a nagging sickness in its body is no different. I find it a breathtaking compounding of injustice to have a man like Bob McCulloch at the wheel at the exact time that you fundamentally needed his opposite. At a point when our nation needed to cement the vitally important message to everyone in the land that, yes, you can have full faith in the rule of law. What this nation needed was clear. Here. Look. Justice is possible. The system works. But that is not the message that was sent out in this dark time.

On some deep and fundamental level a disaster like MucCulloch will always fail to grasp how institutionally and systemically malignant his pathetic performance has been for our nation. People are going to die because of this man. People are going to be hurt as a direct result of his willful and ignorant negligence and neglect. Because he had priorities other than justice. Worst of all? He's not alone. America's interests are truly threatened by "public servants" who serve a thin and very narrow slice of the public's good, and who do so in so smugly and so overtly a fashion. This was a dark day in this nation's history, mistaken by a fool for a triumph. His rambling, self-congratulatory babbling brings my blood to a boil whenever I think of it. He tried harder to put Twitter on trial than a murderer who gunned down an unarmed man.

No enemy of this nation has the ability to lay America low this way. From the inside. Hacking and chopping away at the foundation like it's repairing a crumbling road or bridge to do structural damage to it. Here. This. This is what you get. This is how things are versus how you might imagine or with things could or should be. Stop complaining. This is the deal. Suck it up. It is very possible that, someday, a cop is going to be shot and bleeding, and somebody who could help him, who once might have helped him, is just going to mind his or her own business and walk away. "Live by the sword, die by the sword". Like the cop and the drug dealer are just mirror sides of the same coin. That's what a performance like McCulloch's gets you as a nation over time. A nation where people who have to buy in, don't bother. They don't believe.

This is a force multiplier for really bad outcomes. This compounding of evil just cannot stand. Recently, an impatient driver plowed into a large crowd of protesters in Minnesota. Nothing came of it. Now, if you are a person who is already out in the streets over the free-pass murder of Michael Brown, do you have any good will towards the authorities to give out any benefit of the doubt here? Or. Does this compound what is already in your heart and mind and take you to an even darker place? Everything in context. Everything in the context of the moment. Certain people can kill a person of color whenever they claimed to feel threatened. Now? Some can even mow down a crowd of protesters for the sin of being inconvenienced. Everything just feeding negative energy into the great puke funnel that is drowning a dream.

~snip~

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/27/1347424/-Mr-McCulloch-s-America-Can-t-Stand


65 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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A sober warning (and one of the best essays I have read thus far about Ferguson): (Original Post) KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 OP
Well said. K&R. Overseas Nov 2014 #1
KnR sheshe2 Nov 2014 #2
I was trying to explain to my wife why I can't simply paraphrase the tour-de-force KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #3
Yes~ sheshe2 Nov 2014 #6
Powerful, extremely powerful. Thanks for posting. nm rhett o rick Nov 2014 #61
Like a snowball RobertEarl Nov 2014 #4
McCulloch is the elected DA of St. Louis County. He was most recently re-elected for KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #5
He makes a fine target RobertEarl Nov 2014 #8
It's also spread to London (U.K.) LiberalElite Nov 2014 #40
Holy Shit! The photos are mind-blowing. Thanks for posting! - nt KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #44
People need to wake up. bvf Nov 2014 #7
Bob Dylan said it best: "A hard rain's gonna fall." It will not be pretty and KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #9
Once upon a time I would have said bvf Nov 2014 #16
The last round of municipal elections in Ferguson had something like a KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #17
I don't doubt it. bvf Nov 2014 #20
I've heard tell that there are competing factions within the bourgeoisie (those who KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #23
Wouldn't be surprised at that either. bvf Nov 2014 #26
K&R Excellent piece. nt Live and Learn Nov 2014 #10
HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!! WillyT Nov 2014 #11
".....yes, you can have full faith in the rule of law." Not since at least December 2000. WinkyDink Nov 2014 #12
I actually trace the beginning of the rot back to Iran-Contra. I'm sure others (like Octafish) KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #13
I'm just talking about the court system. For SURE "America" has been a fraud for decades! WinkyDink Nov 2014 #31
K&R. Excellent. Excellent. JDPriestly Nov 2014 #14
"It's a dire evil to have any cultural, political, or institutional tolerance for lynching by Cha Nov 2014 #15
On Monday night, as my wife and I stood vigil with about 30 other fellow KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #18
"I find it a breathtaking compounding of injustice to have a man like Bob McCulloch at the wheel at Cha Nov 2014 #19
A sense of entitlement and a lack of empathy are terrible, destructive partners democrank Nov 2014 #21
It's getting late out here in LA and I'm a little punch-drunk from all the KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #27
What just happened to me chervilant Nov 2014 #63
Wow, I'm very sorry to hear about your losing your job. This is a rough time KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #64
Thank you, chervilant Nov 2014 #65
K&R ReRe Nov 2014 #22
I felt I should honor the spirit of the stylebook for Late Breaking News, which says KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #24
Those 4 paragraphs... ReRe Nov 2014 #25
I think the 4 para rule is universal on this board, not specific to LBN. You dun rite. Jackpine Radical Nov 2014 #48
Yeah, I figured as much, given the 'Fair Use Doctrine' and what-not. Glad to see KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #51
I believe it goes farther up the chain than McCulloch Lars39 Nov 2014 #28
MO Governor Jay Nixon's lackluster response is certainly implicated in this, as is the KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #34
this is it in a nutshell Locrian Nov 2014 #29
RE the "hit a cop" trope, if one reads Mr. Dorian Johnson's testimony KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #36
They are comfortable, why should they azmom Nov 2014 #45
Excellent essay! It's heartbreaking, isn't it?... truth2power Nov 2014 #30
I use Firefox (with AdBlock), so I think I am spared a lot of the annoying pop-ups and KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #33
Excellent read blackspade Nov 2014 #32
They really fucked up this time. azmom Nov 2014 #35
Some say there was nothing 'accidental' about it and that it was just the brutal KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #37
Why this one? Why this time? What was azmom Nov 2014 #38
Those are damned good questions. One could have asked the KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #39
Maybe it's not something that can be predicted. azmom Nov 2014 #41
Personally, what lit my fuse is azmom Nov 2014 #43
With all due respect and out of a persnickety desire to make sure we get the details KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #49
I missed hearing about or seeing the store video. truedelphi Nov 2014 #57
I am going to have to punt on the issue(s) around the Ferguson Market video, at least KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #58
I did find this report cetnered around Johnson's recollection of truedelphi Nov 2014 #59
Oh and coincidentally to our discussing the store's video truedelphi Nov 2014 #60
me too Locrian Nov 2014 #47
These are excellent observations. Methinks I feel an OP forming by you around this KingCharlemagne Nov 2014 #50
thanks - I'll try Locrian Nov 2014 #54
Kickin' Faux pas Nov 2014 #42
Excellent, excellent commentary.... Spazito Nov 2014 #46
KnR!-nt Anansi1171 Nov 2014 #52
k and r niyad Nov 2014 #53
K and R DocMac Nov 2014 #55
K & R Ineeda Nov 2014 #56
What is the future? people Nov 2014 #62
 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
3. I was trying to explain to my wife why I can't simply paraphrase the tour-de-force
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:14 AM
Nov 2014

that is this piece nor why I can't simply distill from it one or two lines of its essence. But then I read this line and I think it captures the essay's essence:

"No terrorist group could do to America what gross injury is done by establishing in millions of people's minds that harsh standards and applications of the law are really for the little people."
 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
4. Like a snowball
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:29 AM
Nov 2014

An avalanche.

It starts small, one man, with power over others lives, and that power goes to his head and he begins to use it for his own means.

We term limit presidents to keep that from happening in that office.

We fire bad cops - usually, we can vote out of office many others who misuse the system. How is this McCullough fellow appointed? How can he be removed? I think we need to make an example out of him. He obviously is not for the people.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
5. McCulloch is the elected DA of St. Louis County. He was most recently re-elected for
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:35 AM
Nov 2014

another 4-year term in November and will next be up in 2018.

The author of the essay ("LeftHandedMan&quot makes this observation in one of the comments that follow the essay:

You put a McCulloch at the top, in the 'buck stops here' position, and he undermines so much so lastingly because he is the one, and people like him, who make a Wilson unaccountable.


I like your metaphor of a snowball rolling downhill even better, though. I don't think it's any coincidence that rebellion over McCulloch's disgraceful performance has now spread nationwide (and even gone international, at least to Toronto and Vancouver).
 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
8. He makes a fine target
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:04 AM
Nov 2014

And can made an example of someone who pisses on the justice system.

The protests around the country -- who ever saw such a commotion?

The people are primed to turn this around. After all, any one of us could be the next victim.

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts)
40. It's also spread to London (U.K.)
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 11:42 AM
Nov 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2851264/More-1-000-people-protest-outside-U-S-embassy-London-holding-placards-reading-jail-racist-cops-following-decision-not-prosecute-police-officer-death-black-teenager.html

-snip-
More than 1,000 people protested outside the U.S. embassy in London last night, with some holding 'jail racist cops' placards, following the decision not to prosecute the American officer who shot dead black teenager Michael Brown.

The demonstration, outside the embassy in Grosvenor Square, central London, saw people condemn the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson for shooting unarmed Mr Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
-snip-


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2851264/More-1-000-people-protest-outside-U-S-embassy-London-holding-placards-reading-jail-racist-cops-following-decision-not-prosecute-police-officer-death-black-teenager.html
 

bvf

(6,604 posts)
7. People need to wake up.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:53 AM
Nov 2014

"He tried harder to put Twitter on trial than a murderer who gunned down an unarmed man."

Because he knew from day zero what the outcome would be. Because the system works.



 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
9. Bob Dylan said it best: "A hard rain's gonna fall." It will not be pretty and
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:15 AM
Nov 2014

it will not be easy. But it is coming. I can feel it coming like I used to feel those big midwestern thunder storms come boiling up out of nothing and nowhere from the northwest across the flat plains of east Kansas in July and August.

 

bvf

(6,604 posts)
16. Once upon a time I would have said
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:33 AM
Nov 2014

turning back voter-ID laws and getting out the vote would be a help. While those are very worthy goals, I no longer see them as much of a potential help. This country's moved back to the 1800s--technology notwithstanding--and it's really worrisome.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
17. The last round of municipal elections in Ferguson had something like a
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:38 AM
Nov 2014

14% turn-out, IIRC. That's a bad omen for democracy when the plebians stop believing that their votes can or will change anything. Because then they may turn to other less pleasant ways to effect change.

 

bvf

(6,604 posts)
20. I don't doubt it.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 03:32 AM
Nov 2014

You would almost think--between the right wing's charge to suppress the vote, and a media in the pocket of the same people who line Congress's pockets--that the complex wanted to see something big come to pass.

Good for the bottom line, right?

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
23. I've heard tell that there are competing factions within the bourgeoisie (those who
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 04:16 AM
Nov 2014

own and control the means of production). One faction seeks order first and foremost as a necessary precondition to make money, its sole raison d'etre, and will make grudging concessions as the price of doing business. Worryingly, though, the other faction seeks riots, civil war and mayhem, with an eye towards further dialing back workers' gains since the New Deal and consolidating their grip on the neo-Feudal landscape.

One imagines at the country club golf courses, around the corporate boardrooms (and at the watercoolers) and in the tonier redoubts of Foggy Bottom and Westchester County, NY that the two factions are engaged in a lively debate with neither side having yet controlled the field decisively.

 

bvf

(6,604 posts)
26. Wouldn't be surprised at that either.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 04:47 AM
Nov 2014

"One imagines...that the two factions are engaged in a lively debate with neither side having yet controlled the field decisively."

In an ongoing argument as to how best (most safely) to fuck over the American citizenry.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
13. I actually trace the beginning of the rot back to Iran-Contra. I'm sure others (like Octafish)
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:23 AM
Nov 2014

will trace it even further back to Nov 22, 1963 or even back to 1947 and the founding of the National Security State.

December 2000 was a watershed though, that's for sure.

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
14. K&R. Excellent. Excellent.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:30 AM
Nov 2014

Sometimes you have to be smart enough to see that you do the right thing not just because it is the right thing, but because a system that works is insurance against chaos and rioting in the streets.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/27/1347424/-Mr-McCulloch-s-America-Can-t-Stand

Cha

(295,903 posts)
15. "It's a dire evil to have any cultural, political, or institutional tolerance for lynching by
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:33 AM
Nov 2014
badge."

LeftHandedMan gets it with brilliant eloquence.. Mahalo, KingCharlemagne~

"On some deep and fundamental level a disaster like MucCulloch will always fail to grasp how institutionally and systemically malignant his pathetic performance has been for our nation. People are going to die because of this man. People are going to be hurt as a direct result of his willful and ignorant negligence and neglect. Because he had priorities other than justice. Worst of all? He's not alone. America's interests are truly threatened by "public servants" who serve a thin and very narrow slice of the public's good, and who do so in so smugly and so overtly a fashion. This was a dark day in this nation's history, mistaken by a fool for a triumph. His rambling, self-congratulatory babbling brings my blood to a boil whenever I think of it. He tried harder to put Twitter on trial than a murderer who gunned down an unarmed man."

From your link..

"What happened in Ferguson could happen to a person of color anywhere in America. It's a fact. You can legally murder a young black man if you also wear a badge and a gun and you can gin-up a bad movie plot of a backstory. Just babble your illogical gibberish after the victim can no longer speak in his or her or their own defense anymore. What could possibly be worse? That being followed by a meandering tortured begging line for justice where the victim is on trial, and then a prolonged and self-congratulatory backslap from the miserable mite of a man who actively insured that the worst outcome was the only possible outcome. Rubbing and grinding salt in an already weeping gash with a pride that defies decency. This screams 'Don't be invested in the possibility that justice is obtainable via peaceful means'. Don't you dare believe"

"His rambling, self-congratulatory babbling brings my blood to a boil.."

That's exactly what I said when I saw Larry O'Donnell's "Rewrite" on what the ADA gave the GJ in DWilson case.
 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
18. On Monday night, as my wife and I stood vigil with about 30 other fellow
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:46 AM
Nov 2014

travellers outside Santa Monica's old City Hall, I found myself weeping inconsolably as McCulloch droned on and on and as it became clear that the Klayton Kangaroo Kourt was doing what so many had long predicted. I can no longer describe my blood as "at a boil,' as I have now reached some depth of implacable anger I did not know I possessed. I do not know where this shall end up. But like the writer of this essay, I have begun to lose faith in the institutions of this democracy to function as they are supposed to and as I was always trained to believe they should. Amazing that one man, this McCulloch who, by his words and deeds, enabled the monster Wilson to act out the dark subtext of the American experience.

Quoting again from the essay:

I find it a breathtaking compounding of injustice to have a man like Bob McCulloch at the wheel at the exact time that you fundamentally needed his opposite. At a point when our nation needed to cement the vitally important message to everyone in the land that, yes, you can have full faith in the rule of law. What this nation needed was clear. Here. Look. Justice is possible. The system works. But that is not the message that was sent out in this dark time.

Cha

(295,903 posts)
19. "I find it a breathtaking compounding of injustice to have a man like Bob McCulloch at the wheel at
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 03:00 AM
Nov 2014
the exact time that you fundamentally needed his opposite." So well stated.

I can imagine, KC.. Thank you all in Santa Monica for being there for Michael Brown.. this essay from dkos and your telling me your experience helps my faith in humanity that was shockingly absent from Bob McCulloch actions and bizarre speech after the Decision was read.

democrank

(11,052 posts)
21. A sense of entitlement and a lack of empathy are terrible, destructive partners
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 03:43 AM
Nov 2014

as is evidenced by today`s America.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
27. It's getting late out here in LA and I'm a little punch-drunk from all the
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 04:50 AM
Nov 2014

reading and posting I've been doing. But I really think you should take this statement -- which is incredibly profound, by the way -- and build your own original post around it by elaborating on its themes. I bumped into that terrible destructive pairing in the aftermath of Katrina when one of the entitled unempathetic to whom you refer sidled up to me and whispered that the people stranded in New Orleans "deserved" what happened to them "because they didn't obey the Mayor and leave." There's no reasoning with that level of hatred and malevolence.

chervilant

(8,267 posts)
63. What just happened to me
Sat Nov 29, 2014, 09:13 AM
Nov 2014

seems pathetically insignificant when compared to the horrific tragedy of the murder of Mike Brown. After reading this eloquent essay and your post, I think it relevant:

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I was wrongfully terminated. While my boss alleged this was because I'd "made too many mistakes," which he refused to identify and dismissed with the glib assertion, "we're going in a different direction," I am well aware of the real reason I was dismissed: I was consistently anti-racist in response to a cohesive group of virulent racists.

My old boss, who retired in October -- and who regularly engaged in racist diatribes with the owner of the company whilst in earshot of me (knowing I respectfully requested that I not have to hear it) -- admitted that he counseled my new boss about "letting me go."

And I came to the same conclusion that you did herein above: there's no reasoning with that level of hatred and malevolence.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
64. Wow, I'm very sorry to hear about your losing your job. This is a rough time
Sat Nov 29, 2014, 11:41 AM
Nov 2014

of year to have it happen (although there's never really a good time).

Don't know what your personal circumstances are financially and what-not, but you might consider touching base with an attorney specializing in labor law to see whether there's a case to be made for 'unlawful termination.'

Enough of the unsolicited personal advice, though. I hope you are able to find new employment soon with a minimum of disruption to your life and circumstances and with an absolute minimum of reactionary racist bullshit.

chervilant

(8,267 posts)
65. Thank you,
Sat Nov 29, 2014, 09:17 PM
Nov 2014

I appreciate your response.

I have filed for unemployment. I suspect they may try to block it, but I'm also aware that they know I WILL talk to an attorney if I have to.

If I don't get unemployment, I will be homeless within three months. I've faced this likelihood twice before, and I am determined to make it through this time.

I really do like what you said. Welcome to DU, and hope to see more from you.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
22. K&R
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 04:02 AM
Nov 2014

An excellent explanation of what happened in Ferguson and what is really at stake. I hope as many as possible will take time to click on the link and read the rest of the article.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
24. I felt I should honor the spirit of the stylebook for Late Breaking News, which says
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 04:20 AM
Nov 2014

one should copy no more than 4 paragraphs. Wasn't sure of the copyright implications of copying any more, so I share your hope and strongly encourage all who read this thread to take the time to read the essay in full.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
25. Those 4 paragraphs...
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 04:42 AM
Nov 2014

... sure piqued my interest. I love DU because of all the opportunities to learn and to converse/discuss the articles that are linked with mostly like-minded Democrats.

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
48. I think the 4 para rule is universal on this board, not specific to LBN. You dun rite.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:09 PM
Nov 2014

And it's a profoundly moving essay. Thanks.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
51. Yeah, I figured as much, given the 'Fair Use Doctrine' and what-not. Glad to see
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:12 PM
Nov 2014

my feelings are validated by someone else. Thanks!

Lars39

(26,093 posts)
28. I believe it goes farther up the chain than McCulloch
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 04:53 AM
Nov 2014

Judges, the commission choosing jurors, etc. All of this is part of justice system and is suspect, too.
Powerful article. Thanks for posting.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
34. MO Governor Jay Nixon's lackluster response is certainly implicated in this, as is the
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:50 AM
Nov 2014

response in general of the MO state Democratic Party, a response I would characterize as a 'collective shrug' until quite recently. (Individual MO Dems are speaking out, like Rep. Chappelle.)

Locrian

(4,522 posts)
29. this is it in a nutshell
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 09:54 AM
Nov 2014

Why it's happening...

So I have lived in the America where oblivious white people comfortably think of racism that they will never face as something both puzzlingly abstract and largely overblown. An enigma lying between the Other's "exaggerations" and a truly nasty thing that is dismissed as a long-gone relic of the past. The America where millions sleepwalk around in a life of imagined safety living inside a couch-cushion fort of assumed societal stability because the perceive themselves as safe.

As I listened to the water cooler talk at work and *every* white male talked about how:

"what do you expect if you hit a cop" = worship of power
"never would have heard about it if it would have been a white person" (!) = stupidity and racism
"it's all their fault that the cops are forced (!) to react with violence" = worship of power, ignorance
"well of course now there's going to be more riots form "those" people = racism, ignorance, lack of empathy

on and on and on....

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
36. RE the "hit a cop" trope, if one reads Mr. Dorian Johnson's testimony
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:53 AM
Nov 2014

in Volume 4 of the transcript with an open mind, i.e., non-racist, one is struck by the fact that Mr. Johnson at no point ever says that Mike Brown hit or struck Wilson. On the contrary, Johnson makes it sound as though Mike Brown did what any normal human being would do when struggling with a crazed person, i.e., try to evade and escape. I know that this line won't go very far at the proverbial water cooler, but you should nurture it within your own soul, even as you listen to the shit spouted by your workplace colleagues.

truth2power

(8,219 posts)
30. Excellent essay! It's heartbreaking, isn't it?...
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:04 AM
Nov 2014

Two sentences stood out:

"He tried harder to put Twitter on trial than a murderer who gunned down an unarmed man." and "Timed for the shitshow to end in angry blowback."

When I clicked on the link there was a pop-up wanting readers to sign a petition. It said, "Michael Brown's killer may never be held accountable unless Attorney General Holder acts", something like that- can't find it again.

Right! Eric Holder is going to do something about this. Dream on! He cares even less about justice in this country. AG Holder is a know-nothing toady for the elites and the banksters (but I repeat myself). And you can be sure that the next person Obama appoints will also be a suck-up to the wealthy and well-connected.

As George Carlin said, "It's a big club, and you ain't in it".

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
33. I use Firefox (with AdBlock), so I think I am spared a lot of the annoying pop-ups and
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:47 AM
Nov 2014

ads.

I think what the essay's author is getting at is that when substantial numbers of people stop believing that the 'system' responds to their input and values their opinion(s), that same 'system' will eventually face a crisis of legitimacy. I'm not a political scientist or sociologist by training, but I suspect this phenomenon is one that can be ascertained (and perhaps quantified) only after the fact. All the essay writer, I and other similar-minded folk can do is sound our Cassandra-esque warnings and hope we are either wrong or our warnings are heeded before it's too late.

azmom

(5,208 posts)
35. They really fucked up this time.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:51 AM
Nov 2014

They were way over their heads, and accidently exposed the ugly underbelly of America.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
37. Some say there was nothing 'accidental' about it and that it was just the brutal
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:56 AM
Nov 2014

working out of the system as designed, that it was not a 'fuck up.'

Or, as the kids these days say, "A feature, not a bug."

One thing's for sure, it has depressed, saddened and enraged me in ways that 8 years of the Bush-Cheney torture regime never came close to doing. And I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever say that.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
39. Those are damned good questions. One could have asked the
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 11:30 AM
Nov 2014

same about Rosa Parks some 60-odd years ago. Parks was preceded by a 16-year old, Claudette Colvin:

Claudette Colvin (born September 5, 1939) is a pioneer of the African-American civil rights movement. On March 2, 1955, she was the first person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, preceding the more publicized Rosa Parks incident by nine months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudette_Colvin


I can speak only for myself in these matters. I used to teach Freshman English in Kansas City, MO and had a smattering of students from St. Louis metropolitan and St. Louis County. So, for me, it is this awareness that, 20 years ago, Michael Brown could have easily been one of my students. I tend to take attacks on students personally.

I cannot speak for others, but we may all sense the senseless waste of potential that occurred here. Who among us can say what Michael Brown might have grown up to accomplish? And it was all taken away for something so banal as jaywalking (and possibly talking back).

That's as near as I can come right now.

azmom

(5,208 posts)
41. Maybe it's not something that can be predicted.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 11:47 AM
Nov 2014

But when it happens, everyone will say "well I saw that coming"

azmom

(5,208 posts)
43. Personally, what lit my fuse is
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 12:14 PM
Nov 2014

When the police put out the store video. It was at the point that the community was finally being listened to ( captain Johnson), we were all waiting for the officer's name, and bam he hit us over the head with the video. He damn well knew what it was going to do the community but he could care less. It was the timing and his demeanor that said it all.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
49. With all due respect and out of a persnickety desire to make sure we get the details
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:09 PM
Nov 2014

exactly right, so that the right and racists can't use petty error to impeach the larger thrust:

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson (and\or his underlings) released the Ferguson Market video in response to a spurious FOIA request from a media who never acknowledged requesting the video.

St. Louis County DA Bob McCulloch (the villain of this essay) had nothing to do with the release of the Ferguson Market video.

Everyone on DU should take the time to read Dorian Johnson's GJ testimony (in Volume 4 of the transcript). If they do, they will leave with the firm impression that what went down that day in August was an extra-judicial execution and not anything remotely having to do with the due process of the law.

truedelphi

(32,324 posts)
57. I missed hearing about or seeing the store video.
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 06:52 PM
Nov 2014

Can you relate what the release of this video showed to those watching it?

I am totally clueless.

I went on an internet fast starting late on Wed-Thursday, and ending jsut one half hour ago. I couldn't stomach what I heard from participants on Al Sharpton's show on Wed afternoon. I knew i deserved a holiday, as does everyone else, and this matter made it hard for me to feel good about anything.

To think that the prosecutor had allowed juror members to see paperwork on which Michael Brown was listed as the assailant against Police Officer Wilson, with Wilson's name being followed by the word "victom" that turne dmy stomach.

Prosecutor and now interntionally known Liar McCullough was supposed to put together a case FOR Michael Brown, but instead he was allowed to do the exact oopposite!

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
58. I am going to have to punt on the issue(s) around the Ferguson Market video, at least
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 07:06 PM
Nov 2014

for now. When the video was first released by Ferguson PD Chief Thomas Jackson and his department back in August (concurrent with release of the killer cop's identity), I had a very poor internet connection that meant interminable waits while videos buffered. I have subsequently secured a much better internet connection and have watched the video since then, but have now lost track of all the issue(s) around it.

So I would ask anyone reading this who has studied the video issue in detail to bring their wisdom and expertise to this thread.

I will say this: a fair-minded reading of Volume 4 of the GJ transcript suggests that Mr. Dorian Johnson believed that Mike Brown had stolen individual Swisher Sweets. However, that is Mr. Johnson's take on it and he also acknowledges that Mike Brown had lived at the apartment complex a lot longer than Johnson had. Thus, Johnson infers from Mike Brown's actions that he stole the cigarillos but, in Mr. Johnson's testimony, Mike Brown laughs it off almost as if Mike Brown did not consider it a theft, which makes me wonder if possibly Mike Brown ran a tab at the store or had some understanding with its management about payment.

What is also beyond dispute is that, in Mr. Johnson's account of their encounter with Officer Wilson, NO MENTION OF THE CIGARILLOS IS EVER MADE BY WILSON to either Mr. Johnson or to Mike Brown. Johnson's account has the ring of truth to it and reads like plain vanilla American literature of the Steinbeck\Upton Sinclair mold. I haven't read the transcript yet for the killer cop's testimony, but from what I've read about it, it sounds like bad pulp fiction.

truedelphi

(32,324 posts)
60. Oh and coincidentally to our discussing the store's video
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 08:10 PM
Nov 2014

Someone over at Facebook just put up an entire clip from CNN, with the lawyer for the store's owner being interviewed by whomever over at CNN.

And the interesting thing about the store video - you can tell there is a discussion with the store clerk and several individuals who are in the store, and the converstion is about the Cigarillos, but unless you are God you have no way of knowing who exactly is in the video.

It could be Mr Johnson and Mr Brown - or it could be other people. All you can tell is there is a clump of individuals inside the store near the entrance, exit to the store, and that the clerk is there too. No way to tell who in particular these people are! (Except the store clerk is able to say they are one of the grainy filmed people there.)

I tried to pull the video of that over here to DU, but it is one video I can't get to run in an individual window so I can't have luck putting it up over here.

Locrian

(4,522 posts)
47. me too
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 12:54 PM
Nov 2014

The transcript being released was the system not ever realizing what the problem is with itself.

Its nakedness and confidence in itself enrages me - but at the same time makes me think that it offers a way to be able to *see* the lines better. By turning on the light for all to see, it makes it less easy for them to hide. It offers a "focus" on who and what we're up against.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
50. These are excellent observations. Methinks I feel an OP forming by you around this
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 01:11 PM
Nov 2014

topic with its themes elaborated. Perhaps as time permits over the holiday weekend?

Locrian

(4,522 posts)
54. thanks - I'll try
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 02:22 PM
Nov 2014

It's the one thing I see coming out of it: the lines are being drawn, it's becoming obvious to anyone with open eyes that there are huge problems.

It doesn't mean it will be easy, or that suddenly everyone will wake up.

Just that a change is a-commin'...

Spazito

(49,757 posts)
46. Excellent, excellent commentary....
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 12:39 PM
Nov 2014

Thank you so much for posting this, it encapsulates everything I am feeling about this tragedy, this perversion of justice. What justice? There wasn't any.

people

(612 posts)
62. What is the future?
Fri Nov 28, 2014, 09:35 PM
Nov 2014

Someone above talked about the spark this murder lit throughout the country - even outside of the U.S. I heard a woman on the radio who is Egyptian saying you are asleep in the U.S. if you don't understand that what happened there could unpredictably and suddenly happen here. That's what I thought about when I read this paragraph:

"This is a force multiplier for really bad outcomes. This compounding of evil just cannot stand. Recently, an impatient driver plowed into a large crowd of protesters in Minnesota. Nothing came of it. Now, if you are a person who is already out in the streets over the free-pass murder of Michael Brown, do you have any good will towards the authorities to give out any benefit of the doubt here? Or. Does this compound what is already in your heart and mind and take you to an even darker place? Everything in context. Everything in the context of the moment. Certain people can kill a person of color whenever they claimed to feel threatened. Now? Some can even mow down a crowd of protesters for the sin of being inconvenienced. Everything just feeding negative energy into the great puke funnel that is drowning a dream."

My daughter was at that demonstration. I stared at the young woman on the ground for a long time to try to figure out if it could be my daughter. It wasn't.

My daughters' (in their 20's) perceptions of this government and this country are so different than the perceptions I had in my late teens. I was profoundly shocked and disillusioned by Viet Nam and Jackson State, etc., etc. My children were born into a world long past Watergate, the killing of Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Viet Nam, and many other horrors. They never really believed all that stuff in the same way that (white) people of my generation did in our teens. My children are in a much harsher world. They are not surprised by any of this harshness. It's to the point where I try to give them some hope - I say "you are the next generation" and "you will do better than we did" but I don't think they believe me at all. One of them has even said that my generation has screwed it all up for them. So funny that when I was young I honestly was naive enough to think my generation would change the world - make it more peaceful, less racist, etc. What did my generation give to the U.S.? Extreme inequality and George W. Bush. Excuse me while I puke.

It made me feel good to see primarily young people and some older and my age out there protesting all over the U.S. In terms of cops freely killing young black males - this is not worse than it used to be. It's just that it's no longer a purely personal private event, which is good. Maybe the reaction to this lying murdering cop will result in something positive. I feel so terrible for all of these families whose young sons are just murdered by police. Someone give me some hope for the future. I do not feel in any way hopeful tonight about the future I see.

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