Tuesday, January 13, 2009
There goes that “Post Racial” America again.
What’s up with the police shootings of unarmed men in NOLA, Houston and Oaktown? Is it a coincidence or business as usual? I say coincidence because of Barack Obama’s pending inauguration. Is the thought of America having the first Black president bringing out the “Devil” in folks?
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Who knows.
Personally I'm inclined to believe it's just business as usual. The problem is that these stories don't get national coverage.
I remember a few summers ago, a kid got shot in the back on the West Side and the police officers were telling residents to go back inside and trying to prevent cell phones and cameras much like the Oakland incident.
It's a catch-22.
I read Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" and I think he hit upon this idea of subconscious racism--or just subconscious prejudices that police officers have to deal with in the "blink" of an eye. Many of us do it in our everyday lives, but we don't have the privilege of being of the right color--blue.
This is not an excuse, but even back in Chicago when I was much younger, a black female officer shot another young black woman in her car because she thought she was pulling out a gun, and it was a cell phone.
This is business as usual, we've finally just seem to have hit a "tipping point" as far as national media coverage. But since the inauguration is winding closer, this and other travesties will continue to get buried.
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