ATU ON THE FERGUSON GRAND JURY DECISION REGARDING THE SHOOTING OF MICHAEL BROWN

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.atu.org/media/releases/atu-on-the-ferguson-grand-jury-decision

Washington, DC – Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International President Larry Hanley issued the following statement in reaction to the Ferguson Grand Jury decision on the Michael Brown shooting.

“The civil unrest in the aftermath of the grand jury decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown reflects a much deeper issue that is not being talked about in the media and across the world today.

“It’s not just a race issue; it’s a class issue. The division of our country around the notion that we must choose villains and assess blame is a false choice. This was a tragedy for both Michael Brown and Darren Wilson. We as Americans should not choose sides among them.

“Street confrontations between police and working class people are the product of decisions made every day by the politicians who allow an economy that exploits the poor and has advanced the destruction of the middle class.

FULL story at link.

[JaneyVee]

1. BOOM! Spot on.

[rhett o rick]

9. I support that. Spot on. The Oligarch Leaders want to turn us against each other. nm

[GliderGuider]

2. Police have always been the enforcers for the ruling class.

Last edited Thu Nov 27, 2014, 03:02 PM - Edit history (1)

That's why property rights are so highly protected, and civil rights ignored.

The class war goes back a long way: back to the birth of property rights around the time humans developed agriculture, 10,000 years ago. It's how we're wired.

[heaven05]

3. while I agree, this 'incident'

Last edited Thu Nov 27, 2014, 04:12 PM - Edit history (1)

and the many like it since MB was murdered, is a political statement designed to take a serious issue of racism and turn it into some class issue that most white americans would agree with because they do not face racism of the kid that black people do in all the institutions and system of amerikkkan society. The ATU person is right, wilson thepig is a racist tragedy figure of a murderous clown waiting to kill someone black and he got his wish . Michael Brown's MURDER is the tragedy in this case. Not some kind of fucking class struggle about the exploitation of workers. That's ongoing along with the white racism in amerikkka..... for a black person it's the double whammy....

[Jackpine Radical]

10. The unfortunate truth is that race & class are heavily confounded in America

(as well as in many other parts of the world). Race is, among other things, a sort of marker for class; thus the black professor is not recognized as belonging in an upper-middle-class neighborhood, and the cops act based on the marker (and their own pre-wired stereotypical assumptions about it).

Nobody gonna mess with Oprah, though. Unless, of course, she tries shopping in a high-class store in Paris, where her starhood is not recognized.

White folks are always willing to make a few exceptions for darker-skinned folks--Sammy Davis Jr., Cosby (at least before the fall), Tiger Woods, Oprah, as long as they have plenty of money, are clearly recognizable, and portray non-threatening and domesticated images to the Establishment.

This is not in any way meant to suggest that racial prejudice does not exist on its own, or that it is not a powerful social force, but rather, merely to describe it as part of a deeply entangled context, and to suggest that race & class are intimately linked, with racism being used as a major tool in holding down the working class of all races.

Long ago, black workers were imported into northern towns as scab labor. The white unions at first attacked them, and certainly didn't allow black membership. Then the labor leaders finally figured out that the racism was being used against them, and their only way forward was to allow black membership. Thus they had a simple financial reason to promote integration, regardless of their personal racial sentiments.

Racism still exists of course, and it is very prevalent in uneducated poor whites. But then so is anti-unionism. Both racism and anti-unionism are attitudes strongly fostered among the public at large by those who would keep the whole of the working class enslaved.

[heaven05]

15. Per your beginning line, true

and many of your statements, facts, true. Yet to my thinking, if racism was not such a tool, many problems would be alleviated by the class unity and number evidenced that the corporate monied class who are holding us all down would REALLY have to address with something more substantial than a box begging poor workers to support other poor workers in the same building. That is so fucking ludicrous.. Yet the tools as mentioned by you of the corporate monied class are those racist idiots like the ones that voted against their self interests on Nov 4, 2014. I am a union man, so no problem with that part of analysis. I did like that NYC walmart million dollar condo stunt immensely.

Race relations in amerikkka is only complicated because of people not wanting to recognize the ongoing racial divide in amerikkka because they feel that would some how take away from their privileges gleaned by being a certain skin color. So while many may not consciously be racist, they do nothing to acknowledge and try to stop the active acts of racism as done in ferguson and many other places. An unjust and racist murder started all this and on this site, I have read many examples that reflect an uncaring and uncompromising view of black genocide for fear, as I see it, of losing a privileged place in the american race and class structure.

I wonder how the monied/famous blacks like Oprah, Tiger and the others not so famous but just as rich are really dealing with the travesty of justice in ferguson and say the "due process" as exhibited in the shooting of that 12 year old. Looked around don't see a lot of statements. But thanks for a reasoned response that reveals a lot of truth about amerika.

[Live and Learn]

4. Precisely. nt

[samsingh]

5. wilson shot Brown in cold blood

this is not about rich versus poor but a ruthless pathetic cop who murdered an innocent man.

[Fred Sanders]

7. The rich are in control in Ferguson because of elections being won by them...how did that occur?

If the rich were not in control it might have well been a black cop responding to the incident that night.

[TBF]

8. It's not one rabid individual -

it is a systemic problem. A system that not only protects but actively encourages such behavior.

If you doubt me think about what happens if we suggest the cops wear cameras 24/7. Big backlash from the authoritarians - they don't want transparency.

[maced666]

14. Not according to the evidence.

Debunked.

[Lochloosa]

16. Really?

[Fred Sanders]

6. Good way to put it, this is the result of purposeful media and political division; the system built this.

[99th_Monkey]

11. Race & Class baby. Connecting these dots is what got MLK Jr. assassinated IMHO

He had started very publicly connecting the dots: racism and classism are two main branches of the same tree,
(my apologies to all trees) rooted in a cesspool of elitist greed and avarice. THIS message is dangerous (to the .01%)
if only because it provides a solid bridge between "poor white trash" and poor racial minorities.

These two sub-groups interests, while not identical, hugely overlap in many important ways; yet have been deeply divided historically, and probably not accidentally.

[JDPriestly]

12. I so wish that I could disagree. But I see this around me every day.

African-Americans are a minority. That will not change.

So African-Americans need to make more coalitions with other groups that are not getting a fair deal.

Because I am white, my comments probably won't be well received, but when a minority pulls away from the larger community, it just makes itself more vulnerable to discrimination.

I think that a lot of African-Americans do this, but it is not being done enough.

Poverty, low wages, student loan debt, disenfranchisement, police abuse -- all these problems are greater, more prevalent in the African-American community. I will grant that. But the secret for dealing with those problems to increase fairness for African-Americans is to deal with them so as to improve fairness for other groups and for all but the most privileged.

It is true that white people are privileged by "virtue" of their skin. (Not really a virtue, but a condition that readies some to see virtue more readily.) But not all white people are privileged to the same degree. And immigrants -- especially from Central and South America, are not privileged either.

I'm not saying anything new. I am reminding people that the coalitions that are being formed, those that exist need to be strengthened, not allowed to fall apart.

Bitterness can work against progress. This is not the time to fall into bitterness and a feeling of inadequacy. This is the time to reach out and form coalitions.

So now you can tell me how wrong I am and how I don't understand. OK. I won't mind a bit.

[jtuck004]

13. +1000. Someone with a backbone and a brain. What a refreshing combination. n/t

[BlancheSplanchnik]

17. yes, this gentleman cuts right to the core.

That's the exact dynamic. It's heartless. We need revolution in every area, in individual people. A revolution of truth telling and compassion.

[True Blue Door]

18. Even with that wider context, it's still overwhelmingly a racial issue.

Rich black men still live their lives in fear of police, and still get harassed. The President of the United States would probably be stopped by cops in most of the country if he were alone and not recognized.