August 25, 2020
The specter of Black death haunts us, a dispiriting backdrop that persists in our daily life, regardless of whether the President is an urbane Black liberal or a corrupt, frothing-at-the-mouth racist. By now, we have all heard the story of Jacob Blake, the 29 year old father of three who was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha, Wisconsin cops in front of his three young children.
Blake was in the midst of trying to defuse an argument between two women when the police arrived. Video shows officers shooting him in the back as he tried to enter his S.U.V. Although Blake has survived thus far, Kenosha erupted in justifiable anger, with some protestors setting fire to buildings and vehicles, (Source: “Fires in Kenosha Reflect Anger After Police Shooting of Jacob Blake,” by Julie Bosman, The New York Times, 8/25/20).
Although Democratic Governor Tony Evers condemned the shooting and called for a special legislative session to work on measures to address “use of force by law enforcement,” he also called out the National Guard and imposed an 8:00 p.m. curfew. These moves led to the depressingly familiar tableau of soldiers in full riot gear facing off against citizens; deploying tear gas and rubber bullets against people principally armed with incandescent, righteous rage. Rage at knowing how hollow the black squares and yellow murals were. Rage at the emptiness of belatedly acknowledging Juneteenth, itself a holiday that commemorates enslaved people finally being freed two and one half years after the Emancipation Proclamation (h/t Michael Harriott). Rage from recognizing that resistance to de-funding the police comes, not only from gun-toting racists policing their gated community, but from self-described liberals quick to call the police on a Black person who doesn’t “belong” in their leafy suburb or tony high rise, (Source: “As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change,” by Betsy Hodges, The New York Times, 7/9/20).
It’s time to face the brutal fact that an organization with roots in slave patrols cannot be reformed to believe that Black Lives Matter, no matter how many Black officers join the force. It is long past time to take some of the billions given to police forces nationwide and invest in housing, education and social services in the Black and Brown communities suffering from a century of disinvestment, (Source: “The Color of Law,” by Richard Rothstein, Liveright Publishing, 2017). And for God’s sake, don’t respond to Black rage by decrying damage to property. It just reminds us of the sickening truth— our lives don’t matter to you because we no longer are.