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Ferguson Is the Wrong Tragedy to Wake America Up [groan]
Time Magazine ^ | November 24, 2014 | Professor John McWhorter, Columbia University

Posted on 11/26/2014 8:38:29 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

For many, the main lesson of the Ferguson verdict is that Michael Brown would still be alive if he were white — that Darren Wilson’s gunshots were the spawn of the racism always just beneath the surface of the white American soul.

However, in light of what we heard last night, I feel that the Ferguson incident is instructive to America in a larger sense. The key element in the Brown-Wilson encounter was not any specific action either man took — it was the preset hostility to the cops that Brown apparently harbored. And that hostility was key because it was indeed totally justified.

The right-wing take on Brown, that he was simply a “thug,” is a know-nothing position. The question we must ask is: What is the situation that makes two young black men comfortable dismissing a police officer’s request to step aside?

These men were expressing a community-wide sense that the official keepers of order are morally bankrupt. What America owes communities like Ferguson — and black America in general — is a sincere grappling with that take on law enforcement that is so endemic in black communities nationwide. As Northwestern philosopher Charles Mills has put it, “Black citizens are still differentially vulnerable to police violence, thereby illustrating their second class citizenship.”(continued)

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: blackproblem; blackracism; blacks; blackthugs; darrenwilson; ferguson; mcwhorter; michaelbrown; missouri
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To: angry elephant

Recall that Michelle Obama said that it was dangerous for Barack to gas up a car in the hood. She certainly wasn’t warning about roving packs of white supremacists or racist cops picking random black men off the streets.


41 posted on 11/26/2014 11:44:45 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Dallas59
Ah yes, I remember robbing a store and throwing the owner around like a ragdoll.

I can't count the times I've done that, and with my adult accomplice as well.

I've forgotten how many times I've reached for an officer's gun.

I'm guessing "white privilege" is blocking my memory somehow.

Oh, wait. I've never behaved like a thug.

Guess I've been lucky, because apparently there are cops out there who just execute innocent gentle giants ALL THE TIME.

42 posted on 11/26/2014 11:45:13 PM PST by boop (I never use the words democrats and republicans. I use liberals and Americans.)
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To: Dallas59

Candidate Barack said that it doesn’t make you a (macho) man to make a baby, that black men need to “man up” and be fathers in the lives of their sons and daughters (of course, Barry would know from personal experience).

“Rev.” Jesse Jackson and other self-appointed black leaders came out against Barack (Jesse made a threat against Mr. Obama’s gonads). And that was the end of that appeal from Barack Obama.


43 posted on 11/26/2014 11:48:06 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: boop

When white people engage in such actions with police it generally falls under the heading “suicide by cop”. And all observers agree that the shooting is justified.


44 posted on 11/26/2014 11:50:06 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Some killings, close to home- are headed his way. There is no writing your way out of reality. The urbans, are close to finding that seething edge- no matter what..


45 posted on 11/26/2014 11:58:27 PM PST by RedHeeler
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The hostility of thugs to law enforcement is proverbial, regardless of skin color. But if a greater percentage of a selected segment of society has more thugs, then the whole society will be perceived as hostile toward lawmen.

As a reminder, a lot of that has been seen from FR responders. It would be good if that was not the prevailing attitude here.

(Especially with dog- and kid-lovers. "A man cop that hates dogs and kids can't be all bad." rewording W. C. Fields)

Just sayin' --

46 posted on 11/27/2014 12:54:48 AM PST by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: imardmd1

Oath Keepers Guarding Businesses in Ferguson, Missouri: Calling on Volunteers to Assist
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3231432/posts


47 posted on 11/27/2014 12:56:52 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: Maelstorm
. . . a few young men who haven’t learned the basics of how to conduct themselves.

Yeah. As a first/second grade error-prone kid, the teacher smacking my hands with a ruler taught me a lot. Helped me get through recruit school with no black marks on my DA-201 jacket.

48 posted on 11/27/2014 1:01:34 AM PST by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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>> The right-wing take

My “right-wing take” concerns the author’s intellectual atrophy.


49 posted on 11/27/2014 1:01:37 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: imardmd1

Huh? Your post seems idiotic. Are you an islam doofus, perhaps from Iran? You must be trying to write something coherent. Try again... we just need your true voice. Happy Thanksgiving


50 posted on 11/27/2014 1:09:49 AM PST by RedHeeler
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

What’s the “right” tragedy to wake up to? Thousands of Americans perishing due to the whims of psychotic Muslims? Or perhaps something like 4 Americans being left to die in another country by government officials? These people know nothing of real tragedy. The only tragic thing about Ferguson is that we have bottom-feeders in this country who contribute nothing to society and are willing to harm people because the media and government encourage them to do so. The real tragedy here is that hard working, business-owning Americans are suffering because these monsters are so full of jealousy, greed, and hatred. The real tragedy is not that a police officer did his job, but the fact that said officer will never live a normal life again. He will be hunted like an animal to the end of his days simply because he’s white.


51 posted on 11/27/2014 1:12:05 AM PST by Politicalkiddo ("It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority."- Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Sasparilla

Some woman tried to tell me that DW stopped MB because he was jaywalking and then shot him. I, of course, couldn’t get a word in edgewise because of her diatribe about how he wouldn’t have been stopped if he were white.


52 posted on 11/27/2014 1:14:50 AM PST by Politicalkiddo ("It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority."- Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Mark17

“I worked in a California prison for 25 years.”

Kitchen or laundry?/sarc ( insert smiley here )


53 posted on 11/27/2014 2:27:11 AM PST by Beagle8U (If illegal aliens are undocumented immigrants, then shoplifters are undocumented customers.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Read McWhorter’s Losing the Race a while back.

Pretty good.


54 posted on 11/27/2014 2:38:51 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I wonder what would have been the response if Officer Wilson were black. I ask that because as a teenager, three black kids accosted my two friends and me. No sooner than the first words were shouted that a police car pulled up and a black officer stepped out, baton in hand. He told us to go on home. He proceeded to start yelling at the black kids: “What you n____rs doing? You want to fight, I’ll lock you up.”

BTW, this happened in Tampa, FL, right after desegregation.


55 posted on 11/27/2014 2:41:09 AM PST by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: Beagle8U
“I worked in a California prison for 25 years.”

Kitchen or laundry?/sarc ( insert smiley here )

LOL, actually, both places were really hot. I did my utmost to avoid those two places. 😃

56 posted on 11/27/2014 2:42:24 AM PST by Mark17 (So gracious and tender was He. I claimed Him that day as my saviour, this stranger of Galilee)
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To: Mark17

I have several friends that are guards in the prison near Jackson, MI.

One is a supervisor over the laundry, he said that was a great gig.


57 posted on 11/27/2014 2:53:22 AM PST by Beagle8U (If illegal aliens are undocumented immigrants, then shoplifters are undocumented customers.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

What America owes communities like Ferguson — and black America in general — is a sincere grappling with that take on law enforcement that is so endemic in black communities nationwide.
Here we go again WE OWE havent we paid enough? when does responsibility for ones self come into play. They talk a great deal about being disrespected, well respect is earned not just given to you when you are born.

def: they want to freely conduct thier business without law enforcement getting in the way


58 posted on 11/27/2014 3:10:19 AM PST by ronnie raygun (Empty head empty suit = arrogant little bastard)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think Ferguson epitomizes obammy and holder to a tee.


59 posted on 11/27/2014 3:22:06 AM PST by Joe Boucher (The F.B.I. Is a division of holders Justice Dept. (Nuff said))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If Brown were White the cop surely would have submitted to being killed. That is blatant racism at work. The cop wasn’t killed solely because Brown was Black.


60 posted on 11/27/2014 3:45:16 AM PST by arthurus
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