Seriously humans?
I've been pretty quiet about Ferguson, MO. Didn't see much point in writing anything cynical, despite all my thoughts about the whole thing being very much so. I thouht it best to ignore it all. But there it is, slapping me in the face again and again whenever I read the news. Killing of black men is so routine and commonplace, I really don't get all the hubub. If that is the actual subject of this news, which it naturally increasingly isn't. As expected. So, two cents:
Race. Its not a real actual thing, and yet it is. There really is no scientific reason to divide people by race, but we do it anyway. No basis for it in biology. Its as if we had laws that took into account a superhero or two might come in and save the day, therefore making exemptions to destruction of property or due process. So, we have rules, written and unwritten, made according to a comic book like social construct. If we didn't have race as a factor here, why we'd just be talking about police overreach and militarization of law enforcement, and crime, and who got arrested, and the political implications for the parties, who is meeting with who, and which politician said what, and what right wing blogs are doing and....wait a minute...whats this all about again?
The root cause of any of these things is lost somewhere on the floor in the storyboard room. Every signle time theres a media event. Black folks: how bout a collective sigh....thank you.
I've come to accept this state affairs as much as I accept the weather. Some of you might think this is terribly cowardly, defeatist, and preposterous. Fair enough. I have nothing to contribute to anything about race in America that isn't negative or pessimistic. I'm just a black man who managed, with great luck, to not get killed before I reached 30. What do I know? But I've seen more than my share of outrage and investigations and trials and marches and counter marches and elections and blogs and counter blogs and the whole nine yards. I know that at the end of the day, we will still have race fiction as reality and so called black people will be on the 'this sucks' end of it.
So, to all of you who are outraged over the events in Ferguson. Well. I suppose thats really nice. And to all those taking 'action' in some form. Well. Good for you. And to most of the black folks in America, who have to come up with some sort of old saying to get through the day ('more things change, more they stay the same' comes to mind), take comfort in the fact that you're not alone. To the dogs, who dont care about breeds or color coat, were just a bunch of really strange humans.
I'm going to walk my dog. 50-50 chance I'll make it back alive. (sigh)(woof)