Recent events have motivated me to present my opinion on three things are going on in this country at the same time. If the public is not careful, the result can be terrible:
1) The covid-19 pandemic has crippled much of the economy especially of the lower middle class of all races, and killed a disproportionate number of African Americans, while many young white Americans are not experiencing a major illness and are frustrated by the barriers put up in the society.
2) a Minneapolis police officer, with a long record of disciplinary problems, killed a black man in the line of duty whom he worked with, and probably had a beef with in another setting. This triggered a particularly negative image of police/black relations and activated protests that were also aimed at the president’s racist taunts over months.
3) Exploiting this, unknown groups have systematically arranged looting of various locations in major cities, and set up staged fires and “civil disobedience” carefully orchestrated for the media, who are only too happy to run this footage with angry headlines.
Who are the protestors and who are the looters? Most of the protests in cities other than Minneapolis where police charged them, have been peaceful and easily dispersed. This was true of the first few days in LA as well. If we look at the coordination and planning of the looting, it is clear that, at least in LA, it is targeted: carried out rapidly away from police focused on demonstrations, and evaporating when police arrive. These are thefts, and they are targeted to locations with movable goods. We see images of young black and white males carrying out boxes of t-shirts, etc. What will they do with them? Who would benefit from this? Are poor young men doing this to get money? Do they care that they are disrupting the the protest? Who is paying them? Black groups do not benefit from the image of blacks as criminals. Are right wing groups creating the diversion to discredit the protests and make it seem that blacks are out of control and the police must do whatever they can? If you want to know who is organizing the looting, look at who benefits.
At the white house, and again in Minneapolis police cars or other objects were set on fire, but never associated with the actual message of the protest. The media are mesmerized by videos of the fires and keep attention on them instead of the message. This is the failure of the media to present the full understanding of the situation, preferring the dramatic images that capture more eyeballs. This plays into the right wing agenda, even media that oppose it! America, is this your “kristallnacht”, the moment when the right creates disorder to prove that the country must be taken over and democracy suspended? If we are not careful, the US will drift from “banana republic” to fascist state. The president is not favored to be re-elected, and this police killing has mobilized the black community against him. Can the right manipulate the media to reverse the message?
Black Lives Matter organizers affirm that they have directed the protests to areas of high economic value white businesses, like Macys in NYC, and Santa Monica in LA. It is a clear statement that rich whites will care more about economic attack in their favored world than about black businesses burning, or about black deaths. It is a sad truth that attacking Luis Vuitton is a major crisis while the deaths of black teens and children are not.
We are seeing more white youths demonstrating with blacks this time. What has changed? The economic future of young white men and women is starting to deteriorate in the way that African Americans have suffered for generations. Suddenly economic suppression is a reality for much of the society. And opiate addiction not far behind. Which side will capture the narrative and direct the future of the society? Only time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment