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I live less than 5 miles from Downtown Oakland, and I'm down there once or twice a week. Last night the criminals were there instead, marching up and down Broadway. They were smashing windows and assaulting police. They were looting the Smart & Final of all its alcohol. They were just across a parking lot from my favorite game store (my favorite store) and it's merely by the grace of Broadway that it wasn't destroyed. (I hope.)
I was born in the Ferguson/Florissant area. Though I don't have the same attachment to it that my parents might, as they grew up there, I did regularly visit my grandparents there when I was young. I don't recognize the individual businesses being destroyed, but I do recognize the general look and feel of the area. It's the nostalgic wonderland of my youth, and it's burning.
There are deep problems with racial inequity in the country.
It's wrong that a black man is likely to be less educated and to earn less money than a white man. It's very wrong that he's more likely to be killed before he turns 18, that he's more likely to be stopped by the police for no reason, that he's more likely to be shot by the police.
It may even be wrong that this particular white police officer in Ferguson wasn't indicted for killing a black man. I don't know for sure, as I think there have to be very high standards for indicting an officer of the law for doing something while carrying out his duties. But maybe those standards should have been met in this case -- and it certainly sounds like DA wasn't doing his job, that he wasn't serving the rights of the victim.
But my own anger wells up when I bike down to Oakland and see yet again all the boarded-up buildings and the broken glass littering the street.
It's fashionable to blame anarchists when Oakland is burning (yet again), and maybe (probably) they're the inciters, but there are a lot of protesters who are all too willing to become arsonists and looters.
I would happily give up some of my income for the rest of my life as a part of a nation-wide program that redistributed that money to people and communities that had been economically disadvantaged. I'd happily vote for politicians who made that their platform.
But I can just barely see that when mob violence erupts like clockwork, when civil disobedience turns into an excuse to get a new pair of Nikes or a bottle of booze, when rioting is an expected response instead of a spontaneous eruption of horrible emotions.
So, pretty much the world sucks today, from every side.
I was born in the Ferguson/Florissant area. Though I don't have the same attachment to it that my parents might, as they grew up there, I did regularly visit my grandparents there when I was young. I don't recognize the individual businesses being destroyed, but I do recognize the general look and feel of the area. It's the nostalgic wonderland of my youth, and it's burning.
There are deep problems with racial inequity in the country.
It's wrong that a black man is likely to be less educated and to earn less money than a white man. It's very wrong that he's more likely to be killed before he turns 18, that he's more likely to be stopped by the police for no reason, that he's more likely to be shot by the police.
It may even be wrong that this particular white police officer in Ferguson wasn't indicted for killing a black man. I don't know for sure, as I think there have to be very high standards for indicting an officer of the law for doing something while carrying out his duties. But maybe those standards should have been met in this case -- and it certainly sounds like DA wasn't doing his job, that he wasn't serving the rights of the victim.
But my own anger wells up when I bike down to Oakland and see yet again all the boarded-up buildings and the broken glass littering the street.
It's fashionable to blame anarchists when Oakland is burning (yet again), and maybe (probably) they're the inciters, but there are a lot of protesters who are all too willing to become arsonists and looters.
I would happily give up some of my income for the rest of my life as a part of a nation-wide program that redistributed that money to people and communities that had been economically disadvantaged. I'd happily vote for politicians who made that their platform.
But I can just barely see that when mob violence erupts like clockwork, when civil disobedience turns into an excuse to get a new pair of Nikes or a bottle of booze, when rioting is an expected response instead of a spontaneous eruption of horrible emotions.
So, pretty much the world sucks today, from every side.