White Guilt Won't Fix America's Race Problem. Only Justice and Equality Will
On 26 November 2007 Brandon Moore, an unarmed 16-year-old, was shot in the back while running away from a security guard in Detroit. The guard made it look like sport. "[He] put one arm on top of the other arm and started aiming at us," Brandon's brother John Henry, who was with him at the time, told me.
On 26 November 2007 Brandon Moore, an unarmed 16-year-old, was shot in the back while running away from a security guard in Detroit. The guard made it look like sport. "[He] put one arm on top of the other arm and started aiming at us," Brandon's brother John Henry, who was with him at the time, told me.
"Brandon wasn't involved in anything. He was the last one to take off running, I guess." The shooter was an off-duty policeman with a history of brutality. Sacked from the force after he was involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident while drunk-driving, he was reinstated a few years later on appeal. He went on to shoot dead an armed man in a neighbourhood dispute, and shot and injured his wife in a domestic fracas.
The story got a paragraph in Detroit's two daily newspapers. Neither even bothered to print Brandon Moore's name. The policeman was reassigned to a traffic unit until he was cleared by an "investigation".
The cold-blooded killing of Walter Scott, who was shot eight times in the back as he ran away from a policeman in North Charleston, South Carolina, is not news in the conventional sense. Such shootings are neither rare nor, to those who have been paying attention, suprising. Sadly, they are all too common. It is news because, thanks to the video footage, we have incontrovertible evidence at a moment when public consciousness has been heightened and focused on this very issue. While in this case the policeman involved has been fired and charged, such a degree of proof is no guarantee of justice. There was video evidence of police choking Eric Garner to death in Staten Island while he protested "I can't breathe", and his killers were acquitted; there was video of evidence of Rodney King's beating in Los Angeles, and his assailants walked free. But in an era of 24-hour news and social media, video guarantees attention.
Black people have been dying for this kind of attention for years.
Michael Brown died for it; Kajieme Powell died for it; Tamir Rice died for it; Justus Howell died for it. The roll call could go on - and until something fundamental changes, not just with American policing but in the American psyche, it will get longer.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. In a few short weeks, US voters will have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
On 26 November 2007 Brandon Moore, an unarmed 16-year-old, was shot in the back while running away from a security guard in Detroit. The guard made it look like sport. "[He] put one arm on top of the other arm and started aiming at us," Brandon's brother John Henry, who was with him at the time, told me.
"Brandon wasn't involved in anything. He was the last one to take off running, I guess." The shooter was an off-duty policeman with a history of brutality. Sacked from the force after he was involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident while drunk-driving, he was reinstated a few years later on appeal. He went on to shoot dead an armed man in a neighbourhood dispute, and shot and injured his wife in a domestic fracas.
The story got a paragraph in Detroit's two daily newspapers. Neither even bothered to print Brandon Moore's name. The policeman was reassigned to a traffic unit until he was cleared by an "investigation".
The cold-blooded killing of Walter Scott, who was shot eight times in the back as he ran away from a policeman in North Charleston, South Carolina, is not news in the conventional sense. Such shootings are neither rare nor, to those who have been paying attention, suprising. Sadly, they are all too common. It is news because, thanks to the video footage, we have incontrovertible evidence at a moment when public consciousness has been heightened and focused on this very issue. While in this case the policeman involved has been fired and charged, such a degree of proof is no guarantee of justice. There was video evidence of police choking Eric Garner to death in Staten Island while he protested "I can't breathe", and his killers were acquitted; there was video of evidence of Rodney King's beating in Los Angeles, and his assailants walked free. But in an era of 24-hour news and social media, video guarantees attention.
Black people have been dying for this kind of attention for years.
Michael Brown died for it; Kajieme Powell died for it; Tamir Rice died for it; Justus Howell died for it. The roll call could go on - and until something fundamental changes, not just with American policing but in the American psyche, it will get longer.
On 26 November 2007 Brandon Moore, an unarmed 16-year-old, was shot in the back while running away from a security guard in Detroit. The guard made it look like sport. "[He] put one arm on top of the other arm and started aiming at us," Brandon's brother John Henry, who was with him at the time, told me.
"Brandon wasn't involved in anything. He was the last one to take off running, I guess." The shooter was an off-duty policeman with a history of brutality. Sacked from the force after he was involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident while drunk-driving, he was reinstated a few years later on appeal. He went on to shoot dead an armed man in a neighbourhood dispute, and shot and injured his wife in a domestic fracas.
The story got a paragraph in Detroit's two daily newspapers. Neither even bothered to print Brandon Moore's name. The policeman was reassigned to a traffic unit until he was cleared by an "investigation".
The cold-blooded killing of Walter Scott, who was shot eight times in the back as he ran away from a policeman in North Charleston, South Carolina, is not news in the conventional sense. Such shootings are neither rare nor, to those who have been paying attention, suprising. Sadly, they are all too common. It is news because, thanks to the video footage, we have incontrovertible evidence at a moment when public consciousness has been heightened and focused on this very issue. While in this case the policeman involved has been fired and charged, such a degree of proof is no guarantee of justice. There was video evidence of police choking Eric Garner to death in Staten Island while he protested "I can't breathe", and his killers were acquitted; there was video of evidence of Rodney King's beating in Los Angeles, and his assailants walked free. But in an era of 24-hour news and social media, video guarantees attention.
Black people have been dying for this kind of attention for years.
Michael Brown died for it; Kajieme Powell died for it; Tamir Rice died for it; Justus Howell died for it. The roll call could go on - and until something fundamental changes, not just with American policing but in the American psyche, it will get longer.