No More

I've stayed (relatively) silent since the rally that had happened in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend.

When tragic events happen, my process is as follows: I watch videos, if any, of the tragic events in question; then, I check out what people are doing and saying on social media and other outlets; and finally, I assess. During this process of assessing, I genuinely do my best to wear different shoes.

This time it's a lot different.

Let's briefly go back in time to the incident that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri. The altercation that occurred between Michael Brown, a civilian, and a cop, officer Wilson. Wilson was responding to a 911 call regarding a theft. The cop came to the scene, or the whereabouts thereof, and scanned the area until he saw a man matching the description of the assailant--Michael Brown. The altercation between the officer and Michael Brown occurred outside and then inside the confines of the police vehicle as Michael Brown reached into the cop car to address the officer. The officer used multiple verbal warnings, yet Michael Brown persisted. In a state of fear and/or panic, officer Wilson fired a barrage of bullets at Michael Brown killing him. Those are the facts as designated by the court documents. And even after looking at shaky video evidence and hearing from multiple different perspectives--which include reading the court transcripts--there is an overabundance of grey-area. Does it suck that there's a lot of grey? Yes. Is it arguable to say that Michael Brown acted incorrectly whether he was white, black, brown, etc? Yes. Is it arguable to say that the officer over-used his weapon? Yes. But I think what makes the entire situation the grayest--aside from the video, testimonies, protests, editorials, outside opinions, etc--is simply the heat of the moment. Officer Wilson, despite being acquitted of all charges, is the most vilified of the two people in the altercation. Michael Brown, who, according to testimony, was intoxicated with some kind of drug and stole some objects from the local convenience store. Let's stop right there. Michael Brown starts off in the wrong. Knowing that, let's now put ourselves in the shoes of  any cop who is about to approach a thief. Could the thief have a weapon and be dangerous? Yes. Could the thief try to run away from the scene upon officer arrival? Yes. What should the officer do then? Call back up right away? Chase the assailant? Should he use his gun? Michael Brown's original offence is certainly not payable on death, etc. Ok... The point of all of this is to provide context to more recent events.

Fast forward to when Philando Castile was shot and killed inside of his own car. We have video evidence of the altercation from start to finish. We have the officer's dash cam as well as the video footage from Philando Castile's girlfriend/wife with their child in the back seat of the car. Philando let the officer know, upon a traffic stop, that he was carrying a weapon legally. The officer shot and killed Philando as he reached for his paperwork i.e. owner's card, insurance card, etc. No grey area here. The officer was wrong. However, the officer was still acquitted. Did the officer also fear for his life and use information to incorrectly identify a suspected robber? Yes. But how often do we hear that story? The guy was a black guy! They all look the same! Oops!

Please try Google searching "white guy shot by police for being incorrectly identified," and you'll see Google give this face in return: O.o. The articles you'll find are of cops incorrectly shooting black citizens. Defenders will say: "But that's a problem with the media!" "This is fake news!" Or how about it's an issue with police culture? Shoot first and ask questions later, right? I digress...

Fast forward to this past Friday in Charlottesville, Virginia. Clear video evidence of Nazis and white supremacists flooding the streets. Clear video evidence of Nazi and Confederate flags lining city blocks. Where's the grey area?! If history serves me correctly: We, the United States of America, went to war with and killed these people. We went to war with the Confederacy after they had attacked Fort Sumter and after 4 long, arduous years we beat them. Killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of them to the point of their surrender. Subsequently, we turned our egos aside, and we allowed them to stay here and be a part of our country with the caveat that they could no longer hold slaves. The Union finally fought for the "Freedom" written in our constitution. Less than 80 years after the end of the Civil War, we fought against the Nazi regime. We fought against the dehumanization of millions of people. We fought, again, against the idea that certain people should be taken advantage of just because of their religion, the color of their skin, the color of their hair, etc. And we won that fight, too! So how are our domestic police--our domestic authorities--not taking down the very same people we took down in Germany? In Belgium? The beaches of Normandy? Wasn't this train of thought, let alone the actions that tend to follow, supposed to be eradicated? And forget whether they were "allowed!" Why didn't they take more actions into their own hands? What happened to shoot first, ask questions later? Especially when the answer would have been, "Well, they were Nazis." I would personally expect their exoneration! They would have fought against domestic terrorism! "There were so many of them! That would have been a strategical nightmare!" Oh, really? I didn't see our law enforcement have that issue in the 1960's against African-Americans when all they were doing was fighting for equality...

One of the overarching problems our society has is that every time an officer kills any person of color that garners national attention, whether right, wrong, or indifferent, the country shifts just a little. Some people wonder whether the police should be able to use force. Some people believe that the person who was killed deserved it. And some people begin to conspire an uprising. Wiser minds understand that the election-into-office of President Trump has not helped silence voices that should not be heard, as well. In interviews leading up to Trump's election to presidency, he made his indifference clear when he did not immediately and sternly denounce David Duke after being asked if he would accept the former KKK leader's endorsement. And that kind of clear indifference can be empowering. Many white supremacists watched Trump closely following the rally in Charlottesville, and many wrote out messages on social media platforms of how Trump didn't answer questions under definite terms. Whether Trump means to do this or not is irrelevant. The fact is the indifference, or lack of forthright opposition towards the neo-nazi and white supremacist demonstrators sends positive messages to those hateful groups.

To go even further back for a moment: What if the Trayvon Martin incident wasn't just the lynch-pin for democratic/liberal uprising, but also the lynch-pin for a far-right/alt-right uprising? The night watchman was acquitted there--due to extremely bogus Stand Your Ground laws--and as previously stated, I understand that the Michael Brown case garners a lot of grey areas, but since officer Wilson's acquittal we've been seeing more and more of the same under much tighter black and white situations. From the liberal point of view, these acquittals tell us that there's a clear issue with the justice system. Perhaps far worse than we previously suspected. But to the Alt-Right movement, they see something else. They see similar minds. They see that the white man can get away with anything if he's scared enough. And ideas start to form like: Oh, we (the white elite) can shoot black people and have little to no consequences? We (the white authoritative elite) can plant drugs for years and years and years specifically to incarcerate people of color and not get caught until body cams? Our justice system has made this neo-nazi/white supremacist uprising accessible and tolerable! There are European countries, i.e. Germany, Portugal, etc. where Nazism is completely illegal, let alone intolerable. Why hasn't our country followed suit? A rooting political interest? Votes? This is the depth of our sinking ship?

Ultimately, the problem is much bigger than a rally in Charlottesville. The problem is our entire country's justice system. And if that doesn't get fixed--through new grassroots movements and politicians, through more calls to our political constituents, through more petitions that call to injustice--then expect to see more Charlottesville incidents coming soon. We have no choice but to come together as a country to ensure that the Alt-Right/Neo-Nazi/Confederate ideals are doused before that fire spreads any further. If we don't band together sooner rather than later, the history of the Civil War can and will repeat itself.

- PatInTheHat