Ferguson Marks the Return of the Black Question
Published in Le Monde
(France) on 19 August 2014
by Dick Howard (link to original)
We can’t feign innocence in the face of the resurgence of racial conflict in the U.S., where riots in the small town of Ferguson, a St. Louis, Missouri, suburb, are currently taking center stage. Over the last few years, a series of incidents involving the authorities have revived the sense of injustice felt by the black community.
In July 2013, a Florida court acquitted the murderer of Trayvon Martin, a black teen, saying that he had acted in self-defense, even though the victim wasn’t armed.
More recently, on July 17 Eric Garner, a vendor of untaxed cigarettes, died after being forcibly arrested by New York police. There is thus little reason to be surprised by the outrage that followed the August 9 death of Michael Brown, who was shot six times by a policeman in the small town of Ferguson.
But beyond all of these different scenarios, the sudden spurt of anger can also be explained by African-Americans’ disappointment in the failure of the Obama presidency.
The Political System is Blocked
The election of the country’s first black president in November 2008 represented a bright hope. The progressive left believed their long struggle had ended. Nearly 50 years after the adoption of a law mandating equality of civil rights, they wanted to believe that reason had triumphed and that the values of freedom dear to America had won on the domestic front, just like they had on the international stage with the fall of the wall in 1989.
But alas! Republicans were hostile to the new president from day one. The hand offered to them by the White House was rejected, and the Republican senate leader stated loudly and clearly that his task was to make sure that Barack Obama was not reelected. Thus, despite lengthy negotiations, the parties could not reach a compromise.
The greatest success from Obama’s first term — health care reform to cover those who previously were without coverage — was passed only by the Democratic majority. This only aggravated the Republicans further against the act that they denounced as “Obamacare.”
This vengeful spirit then took the form of a sort of peasant revolt. In 2010, the tea party mobilized and won a majority of Republican seats in the House in the midterm elections. Since then, the political system has been blocked, public opinion has been divided, and demagogy has reigned.
The Segregationist Forces Have Not Been Defeated
We can thus clearly understand the disappointment felt by those we call (without too much sociological precision, but that’s another topic) the black community. African-Americans aren’t playing the game to make their voices heard. Their vote now seems illusory: the president that they elected is helpless! The segregationist forces have not been defeated; on the contrary, they have retaken the bull by the horns and become more virulent than ever. We are alone, and we must defend ourselves.
There is another lesson here: the democratic institutions tasked with defending the equality of all citizens are also helpless. The executive does not have the power the Constitution would appear to give him. The president is backed into a corner; he can make soothing speeches, but he cannot protect us.
Those who tell the blacks to be patient, to have faith in institutions, to vote in elections, and to organize politically, are just patronizing and baiting them. At least, African-Americans can think for themselves, and they do not want the black vote to serve candidates who are subservient to Wall Street, who do not ameliorate the living conditions of the black community, which continues to suffer the same vexations, large and small.
Barack Obama, who never stops preaching the call to reason, the spirit of compromise, and a unified policy over special interests, is either naïve (because he is too swayed by white institutions and by Wall Street to understand the other side’s bitterness) or a banal but charismatic politician who, like the others, has been bought by lobbies and is incapable of transforming his intentions (good, we hope) into convictions (for which he is ready to fight).
The Explosion Was Only a Matter of Time
Here, then, is the backdrop that allows us to understand how and why the revolt grew into the clash at Ferguson. We must add one more element to the mix: Sept. 11 and the large fear that followed. Without revisiting the events in too much detail, we must recall that, in the aftermath of 9/11, Congress created a ministry — Homeland Security — that was given apparently unlimited resources.
This ministry decided to give military arms to local police forces before they even faced any sort of threat. This is how police have come to be furnished with the submachine guns and armored vehicles (usually taken from the stock brought back from Iraq) that we saw in the press photos during the first demonstrations in Ferguson.
Given these considerations, we can’t be surprised by the recent riots. The explosion was only a matter of time.
But nothing is inevitable in politics. The progressives and the libertarians alike are in agreement today in condemning police excess. Many commentators have already started to question the inflexible criminal policies put in place by Ronald Reagan.
At the same time, aggressive police methods (like the famous “broken window” theory, where one must punish every offense, however minor, in order to make criminals understand the powers of the police) have been criticized for their deleterious effects on relations between the police and the community. Can the parties pull themselves together, faced with the shock of the sad events in Ferguson?
In July 2013, a Florida court acquitted the murderer of Trayvon Martin, a black teen, saying that he had acted in self-defense, even though the victim wasn’t armed.
More recently, on July 17 Eric Garner, a vendor of untaxed cigarettes, died after being forcibly arrested by New York police. There is thus little reason to be surprised by the outrage that followed the August 9 death of Michael Brown, who was shot six times by a policeman in the small town of Ferguson.
But beyond all of these different scenarios, the sudden spurt of anger can also be explained by African-Americans’ disappointment in the failure of the Obama presidency.
The Political System is Blocked
The election of the country’s first black president in November 2008 represented a bright hope. The progressive left believed their long struggle had ended. Nearly 50 years after the adoption of a law mandating equality of civil rights, they wanted to believe that reason had triumphed and that the values of freedom dear to America had won on the domestic front, just like they had on the international stage with the fall of the wall in 1989.
But alas! Republicans were hostile to the new president from day one. The hand offered to them by the White House was rejected, and the Republican senate leader stated loudly and clearly that his task was to make sure that Barack Obama was not reelected. Thus, despite lengthy negotiations, the parties could not reach a compromise.
The greatest success from Obama’s first term — health care reform to cover those who previously were without coverage — was passed only by the Democratic majority. This only aggravated the Republicans further against the act that they denounced as “Obamacare.”
This vengeful spirit then took the form of a sort of peasant revolt. In 2010, the tea party mobilized and won a majority of Republican seats in the House in the midterm elections. Since then, the political system has been blocked, public opinion has been divided, and demagogy has reigned.
The Segregationist Forces Have Not Been Defeated
We can thus clearly understand the disappointment felt by those we call (without too much sociological precision, but that’s another topic) the black community. African-Americans aren’t playing the game to make their voices heard. Their vote now seems illusory: the president that they elected is helpless! The segregationist forces have not been defeated; on the contrary, they have retaken the bull by the horns and become more virulent than ever. We are alone, and we must defend ourselves.
There is another lesson here: the democratic institutions tasked with defending the equality of all citizens are also helpless. The executive does not have the power the Constitution would appear to give him. The president is backed into a corner; he can make soothing speeches, but he cannot protect us.
Those who tell the blacks to be patient, to have faith in institutions, to vote in elections, and to organize politically, are just patronizing and baiting them. At least, African-Americans can think for themselves, and they do not want the black vote to serve candidates who are subservient to Wall Street, who do not ameliorate the living conditions of the black community, which continues to suffer the same vexations, large and small.
Barack Obama, who never stops preaching the call to reason, the spirit of compromise, and a unified policy over special interests, is either naïve (because he is too swayed by white institutions and by Wall Street to understand the other side’s bitterness) or a banal but charismatic politician who, like the others, has been bought by lobbies and is incapable of transforming his intentions (good, we hope) into convictions (for which he is ready to fight).
The Explosion Was Only a Matter of Time
Here, then, is the backdrop that allows us to understand how and why the revolt grew into the clash at Ferguson. We must add one more element to the mix: Sept. 11 and the large fear that followed. Without revisiting the events in too much detail, we must recall that, in the aftermath of 9/11, Congress created a ministry — Homeland Security — that was given apparently unlimited resources.
This ministry decided to give military arms to local police forces before they even faced any sort of threat. This is how police have come to be furnished with the submachine guns and armored vehicles (usually taken from the stock brought back from Iraq) that we saw in the press photos during the first demonstrations in Ferguson.
Given these considerations, we can’t be surprised by the recent riots. The explosion was only a matter of time.
But nothing is inevitable in politics. The progressives and the libertarians alike are in agreement today in condemning police excess. Many commentators have already started to question the inflexible criminal policies put in place by Ronald Reagan.
At the same time, aggressive police methods (like the famous “broken window” theory, where one must punish every offense, however minor, in order to make criminals understand the powers of the police) have been criticized for their deleterious effects on relations between the police and the community. Can the parties pull themselves together, faced with the shock of the sad events in Ferguson?
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