The narrative justifying why Israel used excessive barbarism against Gaza is echoed in why the US is using excessive barbarism in Ferguson. All you have to do is substitute looters for Hamas. State trooper Captain Ron Johnson, the soft cop in the Ferguson operation, is spouting pieties to the media a mile a minute. His latest: “A small number of violent agitators….hide in the crowd & then attempt to create chaos.” It’s a version of the human shield defense used so ignominiously by Israel to justify bombing Gaza into smithereens. Media also reports the protests have been infiltrated by violent looters from as far as New York & California. Is there now an internal passport system in the US to travel from New York to Missouri to render solidarity?
Obama is saying the same tripe from his pulpit in the White House. He’s preaching that the mistrust between Black communities & local police require Americans “to listen & not just shout.” Golly, it would be a whole lot easier to listen if the National Guard weren’t deploying noisemakers & bullhorns to deny residents of Ferguson their right to assemble.
So if it’s only a handful of troublemakers why the hell did the governor send in the National Guard–not to replace local riot cops, but to augment them? Why are they using noisemakers, armored vehicles, tear gas, stun grenades against unarmed protesters just for a handful of people? Why are officials flouting the US Bill of Rights & making it null & void in Ferguson?
Claiming there’s “a dangerous dynamic in the night,” Captain Johnson “urged” protesters to demonstrate during the daytime hours. This is the first we’ve heard the right to assemble is only a daytime right because thousands of vigils & protests are held at night, especially in the summer to escape blistering heat. But Captain Johnson, who talks out of both sides of his ass, claims violent protests “are erupting” at night. From the West Bank in Palestine to the streets of Santiago, Chile to Ferguson, Missouri, it’s an observable phenomenon that when riot cops & soldiers lob tear gas canisters & stun grenades & point loaded assault rifles at unarmed protesters, anger is provoked.
US Attorney General Eric “Hapless” Holder is headed for Ferguson to meet with the FBI & local officials (to get their stories straight) & mount an investigation into the murder of Michael Brown. Don’t hold your breath for justice. After George Zimmerman was acquitted in the vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin, Holder & the Justice Department launched a review to see if Zimmerman could be prosecuted for criminal civil rights charges. That investigation remains buried somewhere in the bowels of US justice. Meanwhile Darren Wilson, the killer cop is still walking the public streets, suspended with pay. A grand jury just began hearing evidence to see if he should be charged with murder. A kangaroo court trial may follow where he’ll walk away scot-free.
This is the front page of yesterdays St. Louis Post-Dispatch; it’s another picture worth a thousand lies. If there are only a handful of looters from New York & California, why all the firepower against unarmed protesters asserting their rights of free speech & assembly under the US Bill of Rights? And if you notice the subtitle here, why are ‘pastors locking their arms to break up crowds’? Why aren’t those pastors (the Reverend, my ass!) Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson–in the spirit of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Rev. Ralph Abernathy–leading the popular movement to assert democratic rights? Why aren’t they calling national protest rallies in defense of the Black community in Ferguson or even asking people to converge on Ferguson in a massive show of solidarity & power?
Rallies continue around the US to protest the murder of Michael Brown & the truncation of democratic rights in Ferguson. Grab a placard & join a rally in your town.
(Image from St. Louis Post-Dispatch)