AUDASE

Thinking about Ferguson

David A Fairbanks

Reno Nevada

When I was a small boy in Fort Lauderdale Florida in the 1950s I was struck by the attitude of Whites toward Blacks and the response of Blacks. I found all of it troublesome and though I was only seven or so knew all of it to be wrong.

As a boy I wanted respect and at school I defended my dignity when other boys gleefully sought to bully me or to show disrespect. Why I felt these things and where the notions came from I could not say at the time.

Now sixty years later I am certain humans have a native mindset of self preservation and dignity. I'm certain that in all of us is a natural distance to things that seem different and might be a threat.

Somewhere in the past a clever fellow realized that it was possible to capitalize on natural fear and resistance to exploit some groups and marginalize others. Racism granted the few a means to use and exploit the many as bigotry gave rise to a politics of division and power through select abuse.

The Untied States has struggled with racism from the start. Once a very profitable tool for the agricultural south and later as a way to justify political violence and keep a large block of voters away from participation in governance, today racism poisons and ruins millions of lives both black and white. The prison industrial complex profits from it and the military becomes an untended haven for its victims.

Cynical appeals to race panic give the Republicans dominance in the south and offers extremists a platform to feed the voters the poison that makes compromise and sensible government impossible.

We all know the line "Muslim Socialist" is a racial code and that the Republicans willfully promote hatred of President Obama because it wins elections.

The Democrats are at fault as well. They sit on their hands while Republicans filibuster and block everything the president does. Big supporters of Hillary Clinton in 2008 many Democrats were like Senator Mitch McConnell wanting Barack Obama to be a one term president.

What happened in Ferguson Missouri was just the latest outrage and it fuels a very real belief that even when given a real chance at change the prosecutor and the court officers threw it away.

The inflammatory comments of Darren Wilson to the Grand Jury referring to Michael Brown as Hulk Hogan and the general tone of his four hour presentation create a very negative impression.

It is a fact police are given latitude the rest of us never get. And it's reasonable to do so, but there has to be an iron understanding that this latitude of action is founded on a principal of insight awareness and a grasp of the importance of never being caught up in a destructive emotional state.

Prior incidents at Ferguson already gave rise to a environment of hostility between police and the Black community.

It is a fact that police possessed a viewpoint of mistrust toward the Black community and that the Blacks felt the same. Darren Wilson operated in a enhanced culture of resentment and hostility.

No effort of community outreach or understanding was evident until after the Michael Brown incident.

Now that Mr. Wilson has been exonerated and is departing the area what incentive will there be to amend a bad situation? And with recent looting and night time confrontations will anyone Black or White attempt a change in culture or attitudes?

Public awareness and media attention must not fade away there has to be a relentless pursuit and a unflagging insistence on change for everyone both white and black.