Imagine you are a parent of an 18-year-old boy.
Imagine he is murdered by a petty criminal acting in fear rather than malice.
At the funeral, guests walk in, uninvited, to tell you that the death of your son is your fault for not teaching him to stay away from trouble, or that it was your son’s fault for provoking him to shoot.
Then it’s broadcast on ?national news.
If this was the scenario Michael Brown’s ?family faced, the entire ?country would be appalled by the coverage. However, because he was black — or as Fox News would say: a big, scary, thug — much of the population subsequently shifts their anger from the shooter to the black community.
The Brown family mourns Michael’s death and a ?remarkably small portion of the country seems to care.
The problem the black community faces on a daily basis isn’t that white America doesn’t believe black lives matter; it’s that white America views a black life as only one rung higher than criminals on the social ladder.
That probably offended you. It’s those same kinds of generalizations that African-Americans in this country face every day.
Except when they face them they get shot, and when we face them we are mildly upset about being lumped in with the worst of our demographic.
You pair the ease with which these generalizations are made with the structural failings of our criminal justice system and institutional racism is allowed to run rampant. Many have tried to dismiss the killings of Michael Brown as well as Eric Gardner in New York as isolated instances.
Ten years ago these killings would only be reported, with people viewing it as simply a headline. The rise of technology allows average citizens to be faced with the true brutality of our racial divide.
We have issues with race and criminal justice that need to be addressed. If we are going to address them in any substantial way, we need a press willing to put aside ratings for the sake of progress and a people willing to understand that supporting police officers and ?wanting to hold them to a higher standard is not mutually exclusive.
In December, President Obama announced his willingness to set aside millions for body cameras to be placed on police. This may only help the tip of the iceberg, but at least it’s a step forward.
thompjak@indiana.edu
