What do you do when the criminal justice system is the crime itself?
Returning to the status quo should not be an option
?Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin?
Please get out of the new one if you can?t lend your hand
For the times, they are a-changin.??
? Bob Dylan, 1964.
For those who consider the killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day an isolated incident, these are strange days, indeed.
Over the weekend, they saw fire, anger and intense alienation erupt on the streets of at least 140 American cities and they wondered what happened to the Mayberry, USA, they once knew, loved and even lived in.
Oh, even those steeped in the deepest denial about the nature of American justice will concede that too many police departments have refused to move aggressively against bad actors in their ranks who seem particularly biased against blacks and other minorities.
Still, they?re not ready to consider the possibility that there?s something akin to structural evil at the heart of the criminal justice system itself.
They have no explanation for why the law tolerates so much inequality of outcomes based on race or why the oppression of black people has been so unrelenting for centuries other than the actions of individual perpetrators.
A video of a verbal dispute between Amy Cooper, walking her dog off a leash in New York's Central Park, and Christian Cooper, a black man bird watching in the area, is sparking accusations of racism.
Tony Norman
Tony Norman: Amy Cooper did not get what she deserved
If they had to come up with a reason not yoked to a vaguely offensive liberal term like ?white supremacy,? they?d guess it might have something to do with ?the curse of Ham? from the Bible, thus making God ultimately responsible for America?s original sin.
They?ll even concede that it shouldn?t have taken four days to arrest the officer who pressed his left knee down on George Floyd?s neck for nine minutes even as he gasped and begged for air. Some crimes are self-evident. Given the same evidence, anyone else would?ve been arrested immediately.
And if they?re feeling really radical, they?ll agree that the former cop?s three comrades should all be arrested, too. If there was enough evidence to fire them, there should be more than enough to arrest them for murder.
Had the four cops been arrested minutes after they were fired, there wouldn?t be any civil unrest anywhere because the minimum expectations of justice would?ve been met and America could?ve returned to ?normal? even after witnessing and internalizing the gruesome lynching of George Floyd.
Normal for America means returning to the default mode of ignoring reality for the sake of one?s anemic conscience. It means absolving oneself of any responsibility for dismantling and replacing a morally incoherent criminal justice system that is structurally designed to murder and oppress black people and other minorities.
Everyone, especially those protesting in the streets of our major cities, sees this moral incoherence, but not everyone can bring themselves to acknowledge it.
Think about it: A cop kneels on a man?s neck, kills him and skates free (though jobless) for nearly a week. A riot forces his arrest, ostensibly because an airtight case had to be built first. We then learn that he?s had 18 previous complaints lodged against him without serious professional repercussions. How is this possible? And how is it that the same illegal choking method he used has been used by other Minneapolis cops hundreds of times since 2015?
Meanwhile, a cable news reporter is arrested live on-air for no apparent reason as he attempts to report what happened the night before. People aren?t stupid. They can see when the law has abandoned any claim to legitimacy.
Last week, the cops couldn?t even explain why they were arresting and detaining journalists except to say they were just ?following orders.?
When the system is seen as working only one way ? to the benefit of those in power and the working stiffs who protect their interests ? then there is no police authority that angry citizens feel obliged to respect.
It?s hard to respect a system that protects even a small number of criminals and killers who operate under color of authority. When another group of criminals comes along ? looters and wanton destroyers of property ? they instinctively know they?re going up against a rival gang ? cops with no standards of morality except what their unions allow them to get away with.
Most cops and most protesters are peaceful, civic-minded people, but there is a death cult among both groups that has to be acknowledged and dealt with.
For now, it is more important that the criminal justice side of this equation be dealt with since it has been around for centuries and exerts disproportionate control over who lives or dies in our society. It is a murderous system far bigger than the crimes of individual cops no matter how heinous. Our criminal justice system as it currently exists is a crime against all Americans, but especially those considered expendable because of race, class and income.
For those who prefer to heed President Donald Trump?s call to ?get tough? with the protesters ? ?when the looting starts, the shooting starts? ? instead of dealing with the rot at the heart of the system, get ready to repeat this pandemic of violence every time there is an unjust police killing. But as the violence escalates, those who hate the system the most are only getting bolder and angrier.
Is it worth preserving
this system of inequality
so that a few hundred thousand wealthy people
and the politicians who serve them
feel secure that they have a nation of police officers
protecting their interests
in exchange for legal immunity from justice?
Over the weekend, thousands of angry protesters marched to the White House with the symbolic equivalent of torches and pitchforks in hand. The late Gil Scott-Heron was wrong: The revolution was definitely being televised. The Trumps were forced into an underground bunker just in case the crowd broke through the perimeter established by the Secret Service. After a weekend like that, who in their right mind thinks returning to the status quo is even an option?
Tony Norman: tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631. Twitter @Tony_NormanPG.
First Published June 2, 2020, 2:00am
Returning to the status quo should not be an option
?Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin?
Please get out of the new one if you can?t lend your hand
For the times, they are a-changin.??
? Bob Dylan, 1964.
For those who consider the killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day an isolated incident, these are strange days, indeed.
Over the weekend, they saw fire, anger and intense alienation erupt on the streets of at least 140 American cities and they wondered what happened to the Mayberry, USA, they once knew, loved and even lived in.
Oh, even those steeped in the deepest denial about the nature of American justice will concede that too many police departments have refused to move aggressively against bad actors in their ranks who seem particularly biased against blacks and other minorities.
Still, they?re not ready to consider the possibility that there?s something akin to structural evil at the heart of the criminal justice system itself.
They have no explanation for why the law tolerates so much inequality of outcomes based on race or why the oppression of black people has been so unrelenting for centuries other than the actions of individual perpetrators.
A video of a verbal dispute between Amy Cooper, walking her dog off a leash in New York's Central Park, and Christian Cooper, a black man bird watching in the area, is sparking accusations of racism.
Tony Norman
Tony Norman: Amy Cooper did not get what she deserved
If they had to come up with a reason not yoked to a vaguely offensive liberal term like ?white supremacy,? they?d guess it might have something to do with ?the curse of Ham? from the Bible, thus making God ultimately responsible for America?s original sin.
They?ll even concede that it shouldn?t have taken four days to arrest the officer who pressed his left knee down on George Floyd?s neck for nine minutes even as he gasped and begged for air. Some crimes are self-evident. Given the same evidence, anyone else would?ve been arrested immediately.
And if they?re feeling really radical, they?ll agree that the former cop?s three comrades should all be arrested, too. If there was enough evidence to fire them, there should be more than enough to arrest them for murder.
Had the four cops been arrested minutes after they were fired, there wouldn?t be any civil unrest anywhere because the minimum expectations of justice would?ve been met and America could?ve returned to ?normal? even after witnessing and internalizing the gruesome lynching of George Floyd.
Normal for America means returning to the default mode of ignoring reality for the sake of one?s anemic conscience. It means absolving oneself of any responsibility for dismantling and replacing a morally incoherent criminal justice system that is structurally designed to murder and oppress black people and other minorities.
Everyone, especially those protesting in the streets of our major cities, sees this moral incoherence, but not everyone can bring themselves to acknowledge it.
Think about it: A cop kneels on a man?s neck, kills him and skates free (though jobless) for nearly a week. A riot forces his arrest, ostensibly because an airtight case had to be built first. We then learn that he?s had 18 previous complaints lodged against him without serious professional repercussions. How is this possible? And how is it that the same illegal choking method he used has been used by other Minneapolis cops hundreds of times since 2015?
Meanwhile, a cable news reporter is arrested live on-air for no apparent reason as he attempts to report what happened the night before. People aren?t stupid. They can see when the law has abandoned any claim to legitimacy.
Last week, the cops couldn?t even explain why they were arresting and detaining journalists except to say they were just ?following orders.?
When the system is seen as working only one way ? to the benefit of those in power and the working stiffs who protect their interests ? then there is no police authority that angry citizens feel obliged to respect.
It?s hard to respect a system that protects even a small number of criminals and killers who operate under color of authority. When another group of criminals comes along ? looters and wanton destroyers of property ? they instinctively know they?re going up against a rival gang ? cops with no standards of morality except what their unions allow them to get away with.
Most cops and most protesters are peaceful, civic-minded people, but there is a death cult among both groups that has to be acknowledged and dealt with.
For now, it is more important that the criminal justice side of this equation be dealt with since it has been around for centuries and exerts disproportionate control over who lives or dies in our society. It is a murderous system far bigger than the crimes of individual cops no matter how heinous. Our criminal justice system as it currently exists is a crime against all Americans, but especially those considered expendable because of race, class and income.
For those who prefer to heed President Donald Trump?s call to ?get tough? with the protesters ? ?when the looting starts, the shooting starts? ? instead of dealing with the rot at the heart of the system, get ready to repeat this pandemic of violence every time there is an unjust police killing. But as the violence escalates, those who hate the system the most are only getting bolder and angrier.
Is it worth preserving
this system of inequality
so that a few hundred thousand wealthy people
and the politicians who serve them
feel secure that they have a nation of police officers
protecting their interests
in exchange for legal immunity from justice?
Over the weekend, thousands of angry protesters marched to the White House with the symbolic equivalent of torches and pitchforks in hand. The late Gil Scott-Heron was wrong: The revolution was definitely being televised. The Trumps were forced into an underground bunker just in case the crowd broke through the perimeter established by the Secret Service. After a weekend like that, who in their right mind thinks returning to the status quo is even an option?
Tony Norman: tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631. Twitter @Tony_NormanPG.
First Published June 2, 2020, 2:00am
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