rhett o rick

rhett o rick's Journal

September 8, 2014

Will the result of the DoJ investigation in Ferguson be just a band-aid?

The Real News interviewed Glen Ford th Executive Editor of the Black Agenda Report.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12335

Mr. Ford points out that we need to look at the bigger picture. The problem isn't just Ferguson and fixing Ferguson, even if it's "fixed" won't touch the bigger problem. The problem is a system that is working fine and, "is accomplishing the mission of criminalizing a whole race of people, black folks,"

"The New York Times has a very interesting article out this week in which it notes that the state of Florida, which is not the worst, not the best, pretty indicative of Southern justice, certainly, the state of Florida has not even charged, much less tried, a single police officer in 20 years for using deadly force against a civilian. Not once in 20 years. And Florida doesn't really stand out too far from other states."

Mr. Ford says we shouldn't look at the problem as a "broken system":

"But my position is that the system works just fine. It does exactly what it was designed to do. It acts with uniformity all across the United States and delivers, like clockwork, millions of black bodies to be incarcerated in the biggest gulag in the world. It does it quite efficiently. It cost a lot of money, but the money that's spent is made by somebody. And it's the uniformity, again, the system that shows that it is a well-oiled machine that has been working at the highest possible speed for the last 45 years. That's not a broken system. If we look at it as a broken system, we're just going to tinker with it. If we understand that it is a system that is accomplishing the mission of criminalizing a whole race of people, black folks, then we have to look in a much more systemic, societal-wide way at what we do about a criminal justice system that is itself a criminal enterprise."

IMO Mr. Ford is pointing out that what we see in Ferguson is just an example of a culture that has developed over decades that criminalizes the Black Community and justifies that criminalization to the White Community. Why, one might ask? It is very profitable to those invested in the for-profit prison system. It also provides a good excuse for the militarization of the local police departments, which is very comforting to the paranoid American Aristocracy. And IMO the most important reason, it keeps the masses fighting among themselves instead of fighting the tyranny of the American Aristocracy. That is, when the Black Community stands up against the overbearing authoritarian dominance of the American Aristocracy will the White Community give support or look the other way. I bet the armed TeaBaggers will side with the American Aristocracy. I also believe that the Left will support the Black Community, but what will the Centrists do? Those that are so comfortable in their "status-quo"? Will they turn on the Black Community like they did OWS? Or will the simply hunker down and hope the Aristocracy won't see them and won't punish them? It's just like in the school yard: some side with the bully, some fight the bully, and some hide from the bully.

September 6, 2014

It was a little over a year ago when my wife and I got to stand up for a couple of our best friends.

We were the only ones there as the couple didn't want their families to attend. The lady judge that volunteers her time to perform marriages said after the ceremony "these are my favorite weddings", referring to the same sex marriage of my two female friends.
This was their third ceremony, the first happened 15 years previous as a quiet affair just between the two. The second was when the State of Washington allowed formal domestic partnerships. This one was important because the state of Washington officially recognizes them as married. Also, this allows one partner to be covered by health insurance from the others work, which wasn't allowed prior to this. It was a big day.

May you have a long and happy marriage.

Profile Information

Gender: Male
Member since: Fri Apr 22, 2005, 01:05 PM
Number of posts: 55,981