http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/28/1380944/-The-Dominant-White-Response-to-Baltimore-Shows-Why-Black-Residents-are-Justified-in-their-Anger?detail=facebook_sf
Imagine for a moment that man's neck was almost severed, nearly clean
cut in the most painful way possible, while in the custody of the people
charged with the duty of protecting and serving. Imagine that man died,
alone, in a prison cell, while his cries for help were blatantly
ignored. Now imagine that in the wake of that tragedy, a government had
been infantile in its ability to explain even the basic details of what
happened.
That's the revolting reality in Baltimore. And through it all, the
dominant white response was muted. From different reaches of the
Internet, prominent civil rights leaders weighed in on the travesty,
offering perspectives on another data point in an ever-growing body of
evidence that the police state is
still being mobilized against black Americans. And sure, the death of Freddie Gray received some national media attention.
But it wasn't the concern of the average guy who looks like me. White
Americans are immune these problems, isolated from the realities of
police brutality and oppression. Severed spines are a problem in the
abstract, but certainly not something to get all bothered about. For
some of us, the Freddie Gray travesty was another opportunity to reflect
on the moral failings of the afflicted, noting that if Freddie had been
a law-abiding choir boy, he wouldn't have found himself in the
crunching grasp of Baltimore's police force. For others, it was an
opportunity to remind the world that
not all cops are bad, an impulse that's certainly correct, even if ill-timed.
But the brutal death of Freddie Gray, an example of police brutality
that could have reminded us all of the dangers faced by inner-city black
men on a daily basis? Well, that's just not occasion enough for us to
offer an opinion.
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