Protesters are taking on Capt. Ronald Johnson (in blue uniform), the state trooper who took over police operations in Ferguson. He’s the guy doing the “mea culpa” thing at church services while the National Guard terrorizes the Black community with military occupation & extreme violence.
You can see here the fearlessness & insolence that tyranny hates so much in young people. Does anyone else see disrespect written all over those young men’s faces? You can also see here why Palestinians identify with Ferguson; they’re made of the same tough stuff. Most of all, you can see solidarity isn’t just posturing & well-wishes but a bone-deep affinity–not just in spirit of defiance & demand for justice, but because they stand in opposition to the very same forces of oppression. From Ferguson to Gaza, to Afghanistan & Iraq, to the Central American immigrants coming over the US-Mexico border, there is a common enemy. Oppression thy name is USA. And when you see things that way, that nexus of solidarity goes much deeper & far wider, involving us all.
Don’t let history pass you by. This is the historic moment when Gaza & Ferguson put “an injury to one is an injury to all” back in center place in social transformation.
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)