WIDENING THE DIVIDE: FERGUSON TO NYC

July 24, 2024 | admin

(MSCC) John Mudd — Is there a truth yet to be discovered hiding behind a charade of conscionable actions? Beyond the obvious horrid loss of a life, the misuse of deadly force, and the failure to progressively heal our prejudicial divide, there lies a social construct that delivers blame upon an individual, race, class, nation, and so on. A social construct that aims to suppress us through marketing, PR, and advertising. A social construct that urges us toward individualism and takes us away from our true nature: that of compassion.

I’m thinking we should look beyond the rhetoric and the color of people’s skin to understand the corrosive elements that underscore our society, beginning with the Ferguson Missouri shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Police Officer Darren Wilson, which ignited a powder keg of racial discord. Who does Officer Wilson represent? Supposedly, a middle-class civil servant, educated in crime fighting and putting bad guys behind bars kinda guy. But Mr. Wilson is set apart from the people he polices. He is prescribed a different justice (see grand jury process). Peer representation for people of color in public office and on the police force are next to none in Ferguson. The black community of Ferguson (and others like it) stands accused; laden with titles of poor, lazy, no-good moochers, gang-bangers, thieves, and worse, to suit a misguided narrative and further divide us from one another.

Ferguson, of course, is an isolated incident with no connection to the tragic deaths of Tamir Rice (12 years old) of Cleveland, Ohio; Kindred McDada of Pasadena, California; John Crawford of Dayton, Ohio;  John T William of Seattle, Washington; Sean Bell of New York City; Amadou Diallo of Bronx, New York; Kenneth Chamberlain of White Plains, New York; Victor White of Louisiana; Eric Garner of Staten Island, New York; Walter L Scott of North Charleston, South Carolina; Benard Monroe of Homer, Louisiana, and so on….

It is the usual suspects who are offering all the wrong arguments, speaking from anything but facts and offering no real intellectual discourse: Bernie Goldberg speaking on Fox News proclaims, “Michael Brown was the bad guy in this case. Please America, let’s not turn this kid into some kind of civil rights martyr, because that he is not.” He goes on to tell us this is not Selma, Alabama. Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, speaking on the same network, reminds us that Michael Brown committed a robbery before being killed. The former mayor thinks the protestors took to the streets because they were incited by racial arson. Sean Hannity, a Fox News host, supporting his network’s, I mean Giuliani’s theory, says, “President Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton are terribly irresponsable by creating a mindset which caused Ferguson to burn. [The mindset?] Black people have been convinced by a network of shrewd propagandists that they are somehow victims.” Fox’s pundit leader Bill O’Reilly says, “The protestors who did not loot or burn or assault the police, but who remained in the fray, are guilty of aiding and abetting. The mob set back race relations in America years, and they are actually more biased against blacks.” O’Reilly chastises further, “The desertion rate for African American men is astronomical. That is why poor black precincts continue to suffer.”

Fox’s chorus follows with more condemnations: John Stossell says, “Blocking traffic is a form of violence…” Geraldo Rivera comments, “…black people need to clean up their own community.” Steve Doocy comments with deep social understanding, “To David’s point there is just no father he was talking about people in the African American community, there is simply no father in the family.” Tucker Carlson adds, “…the out of wedlock birthrate is over 70%.” Jason Riley (editor, Wall Street Journal contributing on Fox) they need to stay out of trouble with the law, they need to pull up their pants and finish school.” Mike Huckabee (former Governor of Arkansas, radio host, and Fox commentator) brings it back to the president with, “This president could be a phenomenal role model within the African community, just say get married, stay married, be there for your kids.”

Now, after the random slaying of two cops by one unhinged Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, Fox’s expert on racial divide, Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), is tooting the network’s theme of blaming the killing on anti-police “propaganda.” The former mayor said, “We’ve had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police…I don’t care how you want to describe it—that’s what those protests are all about.”

So the protestors rally day after day giving up their holiday buying time to express their hate for the police? And the president is cheering with pom-poms in hand? 

Giuliani continues, “The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence—a lot of them lead to violence—all of them lead to a conclusion: The police are bad, the police are racist…That is completely wrong. Actually, the people who do the most for the black community in America are the police.” Giuliani also lambasts New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for “allowing protests to get out of control.” Adding that it was not the time to call for de Blasio’s resignation, as “a lot of other police officers were killed under a lot of other mayors.”

While I’m wondering—mouth agape—if all these commentators are caught in a bubble of insanity, a 100-watt light bulb illuminates my cranium! I am now able to see beyond their nearsightedness and their desperation for relevance (an intense longing they share with their network), and see their acumen for propaganda! Shrewdly and systematically they’ve launched a relentless choreographed attack through Twitter, Facebook, and the news (well not really “news”) to morph the discussion away from racial and social divide and the need for policy change into, “de Blasio is a murdering communist who needs to throw in the towel.”

Now I am wondering is the President of the Benevolent Association Patrick Lynch voluntarily part of the propaganda to cloud the issues that we face today, or is he sucked into the mythological thinking? (Shouldn’t that be myth-illogical?) Rabble rouser Lynch, which by the way I will never give a dime to while he is the president, desires to dust de Blasio with feathers once Giuliani finishes slapping on the tar. It is unconscionable to me that a large number of police officers would further victimize their brother in arms, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, by turning their backs during a eulogy of well intentioned words that may have helped ease the pain of their survivors. Such political antics inspired by Mr. Lynch, I am sure, is spitting in the eyes of the victims’ families.

The people chose de Blasio and you, Mr. Lynch, are widening the wedge between the people and the police department. I suggest you come together with our mayor and see how we, public and civil servants, may close the divide. And the police officers should think twice about bringing in the rail. No matter how you look at it, there is failure in these incidents with the use of deadly force by the participants.

Now, I thank my good friend who is showing me the error of my ways, for in his financial despair—just as I have done—he is ranting over the fate of our country and talking about the politics that are killing our humanity. Although I agree wholeheartedly, it leaves me wondering why we should wait until our world crumbles around us to rail against societal atrocities? Yes, societal atrocities: Allowing a rampant, inert force to have that kind of skewed, colossal brainwashing effect wipes away the fiber of our being and threatens our evolution.

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