Obama Is Doing Nothing for Black People

Police in Ferguson have entered the battle against unarmed citizens. In the past few days the town has become a combat zone. That says a lot about America.

Eight days ago, American Michael Brown was shot dead by a policeman. He died in broad daylight and on a public street, in the midst of people doing their shopping. Michael Brown was going to start his college studies in the next few days.

In the week since his death, a lot has happened in Ferguson, a town in Missouri with 21,000 inhabitants. We’ve learned a lot about Michael Brown and also a bit, although hardly anything, about Darren Wilson, the policeman who shot him. All the information changes nothing about the circumstances of his death, which President Obama has called tragic. Michael Brown’s death was the result of an extreme imbalance of power.

Police Officers with Body Armor and Machine Guns

Two men, one 18 years old, the other 28; one wearing a t-shirt and shorts, the other a uniform. One was unarmed, the other equipped with a service weapon. One had just graduated high school. The other has been a police officer for six years, has been educated in dealing with weapons and dangerous situations, and had received a commendation for extraordinary effort in the line of duty. One was walking, the other sat behind the wheel of a patrol car. One was black, the other white.

Brown had raised his hands, when the fatal bullets hit him — so said his friend, who was stopped with him for not using the sidewalk. Eyewitness reports about the upheld hands now serve an iconic purpose; they’ve had the same effect as classical war photography. The dying man’s gesture has become a symbol for the entire injustice of his fate.

In the days since his death, Michael Brown’s friends and neighbors have paid him a final tribute by adopting his pose. They took to the streets and walked with raised hands toward the police, to say: Shoot me as well! The nightly demonstrations in Ferguson aimed to reproduce a living image of the confrontation between the police officer and Michael Brown. They wanted to induce the law enforcement forces to demonstrate their superiority. However, nobody expected the police to play along with such zeal. Again, unarmed citizens of Ferguson saw police weapons directed at them, but this time it was machine guns. Officers advanced in armored vehicles, equipped with body armor and gas masks. The looting that took place Sunday night through Monday morning meant that strong precautions were necessary. But the police force’s menacing appearance provoked horror across the whole country.

Additional Excuses for the Cover-Up of Errors

However, when federal politicians like Attorney General Holder and Senator McCaskill bemoan the militarization of the police force, they are overlooking the fact that equipping local police with military equipment is an official aim of national security policy. After the mass murder of Sept. 11, 2001, advice was given to police stations that they must be prepared for the worst. The armed forces give decommissioned weapons and vehicles, as well as tanks, to the municipalities, and the military lobbyists are pleased at the extra room created in the depots by these donations. Seeing as the United States hands out wars as punitive actions of the world police force, this means that at home the local police are pulled in as an auxiliary force in the war on terror. Since then, there have been additional excuses for the cover-ups of police errors. Along with the weapons systems came the paranoid way of thinking of the secret military-industrial complex.

Tom Jackson, commander of the 53 policemen of Ferguson (50 white, three black), has fueled the anger of the population with his communication policy. For a whole week, he refused to reveal the identity of the shooter, while suspected looters could read their names and addresses in the paper. Yesterday, he revealed the name of Darren Wilson. At the same time, he released a case file which indicated that on the day of his death, Brown was suspected of having committed a robbery in a cigarette store. Only hours later did the police chief clarify that Wilson knew nothing of this, and Brown was only stopped because he was walking in the middle of the road.

The 150th anniversary of the American Civil War carries on — and has led to a second, conclusive victory for the North. The South isn’t presented as the gallant loser anymore, because racism is seen as the ultimate evil. That the police of a town, two-thirds of whose inhabitants are black, are treating a mourning community as a Civil War party acts as a brutal awakening. The first black man in the president’s office has done nothing more for black people since his election. It’s almost laughable that he is still considered the most powerful man in the world.