White screaming drowns out black voices at protests
Bay Area protests over the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and scores of others may assuage white liberal guilt and provide a righteous reason to rail against the machine, but it would be nice to actually hear from some black folks.
So far, it seems all I’ve seen and heard in three weeks of protest are some pretty vocal white folks screaming to have their way, or dismissing the actions of the wolves inside the flock as the ugly backside of democracy.
Assault, vandalism and looting are not protected forms of free speech.
In Oakland, black religious leaders who have traditionally stood front and center in every successful civil rights movement were not part of the revolution this time.
Their conspicuous absence has led to marches that, quite frankly, appear to be more about white rage than black empowerment. It’s more about what they want than it is about what African American communities truly need.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/White-screaming-drowns-out-black-voices-at-5958642.php
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The powers that be want to make this all about race so when a black person gets killed, many whites will sit and look the other way and when a white person gets killed many blacks will sit and look the other way. The last thing they want is whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, native americans and all people for that matter joining together and speaking with a loud voice against psycho cops murdering people with impunity.
The race based divide and conquer strategy is a win/win for those in power and control, all the while the police blows up some baby in its crib, stop a man with asthma from getting to the hospital and watch him die, summarily execute an accused murderer who had his hands up in surrender, shoot a handcuffed man, execute an 80 year old man in his bed just because they smelled drugs, shoot an unarmed shoplifter who was running away and so on.
Establishment Puppet #1: "Black Lives Matter!"
Gullible Person #1: "Yeah! They're right! Its all about Michael Brown and Eric Garner. White people suck!"
Establishment Puppet #2: "Wheres Obama, Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson when whites get killed?"
Gullible Person #2: "Yeah! Their rite! Its all about Kelly Thomas and Dillon Taylor. Pants up don't loot!"
Establishment Puppet Masters: "HAHAHA! YES! YES! YES! LOOK AT THESE FOOLS BUYING INTO IT! AH HAHAHA! FIGHT! FIIIIGHT!!!"
Slime like Chip Johnson serve his masters well
Damnit, if I don't get some damn recognition, well, then I'm not doing it.
I went to this article: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Dozens-complain-about-police-at-Berkeley-council-5961763.php
Then I searched UCB's racial makeup: http://diversity.berkeley.edu/undergraduate-students-current-census
In 2012, 3% of current undergraduate students are African American, 39% are Asian, 13% are Chicano/Latino, 1% are Native American/Alaskan Native, less than 1% are Pacific Islander, 29% are White, and 5% are Other/Decline to State. Women outnumber men in most race/ethnic groups, with the largest gender gap occurring in Chicano/Latino current undergraduate students. (How to understand the dashboard)
Of COURSE a UC Berkeley protest isn't going to include a ton of minorities.
It's a sad irony that stereotyping and exclusionary rhetoric is being used here in this article to idealize a civil rights protest. This writer (and those quoted in support of his premise) has no way of discerning what motivated these individuals to protest along their black peers, but it's a wonder that there's the expectation from him that the motivations of the black participants will be unquestioned and unassailable.
Point blank, any civil rights movement needs to have the support of as many of ALL of us as it can manage to attract. There's nothing at all top be gained by a protest in which blacks are marginalized and isolated away from the rest of the country to make these appeals for justice alone. We should welcome and appreciate these expressions of support with open arms and refrain from categorizing each racial group into cynical, opportunistic boxes. If we expect black voices to be taken at face value, we must certainly hold the same expectation for our white allies in this struggle.
MLK once said, "Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."
White Americans who join in these protests are correct in understanding that justice, equal treatment, and an end to police brutality against blacks will ultimately benefit their own causes for justice, equal treatment, and police accountability. Conversely, blacks must surely understand that their white counterpart's quest for these will ultimately advantage their own aims.
This isn't a co-opting of the struggle; it's a joining of forces. I'm suspicious and wary of any appeal or motivation which tries to separate us into racial stereotypes and caricatures to further some ideal. Such rhetoric and reasoning is antithetical to the very notion of civil rights, and it should be an obvious harbinger that its logic or reasoning is leading in the wrong direction.
ron fullwood @ronfullwood