Posted on 11/18/2014 6:06:46 AM PST by shortstop
In Missouri yesterday, the governor put the National Guard on alert.
He and his state and much of the county are fearing the worst.
As early as today, a grand jury could come back in Ferguson after months of deliberation in the matter of a white police officer who shot and killed a black teen-ager.
The National Guard and the region’s police agencies are on standby because of the expectation that the jury will find no probable cause to charge the officer with a crime. That decision, many fear, could spark race riots in Missouri and elsewhere.
Earlier, upset in Ferguson led to violent riots that burned down a portion of the city and saw widespread looting and theft.
Many have warned that the reaction to an exoneration of the officer could be worse. And many believe that the results of the grand jury’s investigation of the matter have been purposely delayed in order to let the seasons change and the cold weather come.
Simply put: People don’t like to riot in the snow.
And there’s a polar vortex for the rest of the week.
So it could be soon.
And the anticipated reaction should give us pause.
We have made a national assumption that some black people, disappointed with the grand jury’s decision, will react with violence and mayhem.
That assumption, and the realities or perceptions that underlie it, is deeply troubling.
It presumes that some black people have disengaged from our system of law, that they do not civilly submit to it, but rather reserve the right to rise up, mob like, against it. It presumes that some black people have decided that the law does not apply to them.
It also puts some black people in a unique category of people who have opted out of the social contract.
That should bother us.
White people should be bothered by a double standard of citizenship, black people should be bothered that the country thinks so little of their maturity and behavior, and all of us should be bothered that our society is so deeply divided on the issue of race.
There is an unspoken problem in this country when the president is a genteel, black, sometime college professor, and yet the police departments of most American big cities have prepared contingency plans in case of black riot over the Ferguson decision.
The assumption across the nation is that there is a possibility that black neighborhoods throughout urban America could ignite in anger if the police officer is cleared.
Is that assumption bigotry based in stereotype, or is it prudence based in experience? Are the mayors and police chiefs unfairly characterizing black neighborhoods, or have black neighborhoods earned the mistrust and suspicion?
There hasn’t even been a decision announced and yet the St. Louis region law-enforcement community has been mobilized and the governor has called out the National Guard. They are expecting big problems.
From black people.
Which makes me think black people either have a conduct problem or a perception problem.
Again, the numbers of violent, thieving rioters is smaller than the total number of all protesters, but it is a significant and impactful number, and enough to drive police policy in the state of Missouri and elsewhere across the country.
And black people should be either angered by that or ashamed by that.
Angered if the rest of the county unfairly thinks they are a bunch of uncivilized rioters; ashamed if in fact they are a bunch of uncivilized rioters.
The activists have presented Ferguson as an insight into a problem between black people and the police, but I think the matter more clearly illustrates a problem between black people and the rest of America.
America does not trust black people to respond to a legal decision peacefully, and that is the result of either a horrific stereotype about black people, or horrific conduct by black people.
Either way, we’ve got a problem.
And it won’t get solved by looking the other way.
Because a society as large and as varied as ours is naturally going to have differing opinions and views – it has ever been thus in the United States. But the overwhelming majority of our history includes the ethic that we follow the rules, abide by what they say, and support our system of laws and justice.
That’s the American way: Be a good citizen – win, lose or draw.
But that is not what we are preparing for.
We are preparing for urban insurrection.
And that ought to shame one side or the other, and scare the daylights out of us all.
Riots mean $$$$ for “community organizers”. There will be riots
This.
NOPE, no riots. This is NOVEMBER, remember, NOT August?
The weather is way too cold for any protests, let alone riots. Even the protesters want to stay inside their homes.
“double standard of citizenship” - meaning there is just not enough “white guilt” out there yet. ??
No matter which way the GJ goes.
the outrage machine is led by a grievance elite that needs funding in order to make a living. if after all this fuss it turns out there was no violence, then it calls into question the raison d’etre of this outrage machine.
If things fizzle these organizers loose face save and can’t claim that they are somehow needed.
They prefer death to getting regular jobs.
Time will tell, but I'm going with the former.
Since when does one sentence become a paragraph? People who write like this annoy me.
“........ black people have disengaged from our system of law”.........
This isn’t a new issue, it started long before Trayvon Martin and “Big Mike” in Ferguson, MO. Basically, it started with the breakdown on VALUES which, we all know starts and are taught in your homes and at early ages.
Can't imagine the sting of a rubber bullet or bean-bag on a sub freezing day.
Obama’s pen and phone will be put to use the exact *moment* the riots start—it will be to grant amnesty to to all illegals. Congress (and the media) will focused on the riots and will ignore the amnesty until it becomes difficult to do anything about it.
Violence is being spawned and promoted, by Obama, Holder, Jarrett, Sharpton, the CBC, the NAACP & the Obamabot, Democrat Party!!! It will fail....wherever it raises its ugly, destructive head....and, African-Americans will remain in “plantation” economic Obama “slavery” and at the bottom of the economic & opportunity Totem pole for many, many years to come!!! Poor souls just don’t get it!!! Obama has thrown all of them under the bus...and they follow their failed leaders like sheep lost in the wilderness!!! I feel sorry for the all the good folks Black & White that reside in Fergurson, Missouri. The Black racist, animals of Obama & Holder & Sharpton hold sway with the low life, destructors in Ferguson, MO. Sad!!!
Violence in Ferguson, minor unrest elsewhere.
I sure hope the police have water cannons, lots of them.
With the temps as they currently are here in the mid west, being hosed down certainly would be a deterrent to rioting. Then again, burning building do create a lot of heat. Its getting more interesting every day.
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