'We're Like Animals To Them': An American City's Daily Racism (Spiegel quote)
As an American expat of European ancestry living in Germany this article provides a review from my perspective of a professional librarian, as to an important article written by the mainstream German publication Der Spiegel's English language edition which is essentially on par in Europe with Time Magazine.
In this review Spiegel staff are taken for a ride along by a young African-American male native to Ferguson, Missouri by the name of Jurmael, who in the drive through points to the slave owners' history in the housing of still segregated Ferguson, Missouri. This historical fact is all but completely ignored and if covered at all is in a form of press bias, only covered in the most cursory sound bites, which is the beautiful well manicured lawns and houses in the historically white part of Ferguson. It has an ugly history in its heritage houses of being the homes of Ferguson's former slave owners, in a clear case where plaques adorning the homes seem to celebrate the homes' history with the concurrence or acquiescence of its modern day property owners. We must understand that Europeans in their history are taught that one of the reasons the American Revolution was fought was because Britain was in the process of abolishing slavery in America. This was one of the substantial causes of the American Revolutionary War by the American monied class, who were primarily slave owners, (who were also engaged in exterminating indigenous people) which unfortunately included the ranks of some of America's founding fathers, and the ranks of the British Army were full of soldiers of African descent fighting for what they believed was to end American slavery, a fact that would be echoed later in America's own civil war. Yet the history of the struggle of American civil rights went on long after the Civil War to the Voting Rights Act to Martin Luther King. So it is in a continuation of the civil rights' struggle we find ourselves as guests of the Spiegel staff, in a ride along with Jurmael in Ferguson, Missouri, the 2014 America. Here is what we see and unless we avert our eyes, some of this seen through the perspective of European eyes will be ugly in reviewing the true face of bigotry, racism and the ugly American in the year 2014.
The car is now driving past large, old wooden homes with fresh-painted verandas and well-groomed front yards, small oases of order. "Look right up there," Jurmael says as he points to the front door of a house. There's a bronze plaque on the door, as there are at many homes in the area. It notes that a slave owner once lived in the home.........The plaques are not intended as memorials. Instead they appear to reflect the pride some of these homeowners have in their house's history. The neighborhood is the city's Historic District and is a tourist attraction. Even today, though, the district is inhabited exclusively by white people........ In the days leading up to Brown's funeral on Monday, white signs bearing the slogan of a new movement had been posted in the front yards of the former slave-owners' district. They read, "I love Ferguson." On this particular morning, the organizers of the initiative have gathered at the Corner Coffee House. A long line formed at one table with people waiting to buy signs and t-shirts. There's not a single African American in the cafe -- not among the guests or among the service personnel. Only the guy in the kitchen is black. The people gathering here are part of what could be described as the white countermovement.
Again to understand this in looking at it through European eyes we must understand history, which is Europeans are taught that throughout the ongoing civil rights' struggle, laws were promulgated through various statutory provisions and other law forms, which essentially exist to allow in order to keep America's racist, social pecking order in place, that allow American police through the modus operandi of racial profiling to belittle, harass and provoke primarily American poor people, especially working class and poor African-Americans with essentially almost complete impunity, where though the police are rather fastidious at publishing the tragic line of duty deaths of police, which are usually 67 deaths a year, wherein less than half are usually due to gunfire. For example in the statistics reported for 2013 it was 27.
But concurrently there is no comprehensive centralized database or statistical resource to identify how many people nationally are killed by police annually. There are no official govt statistics as to how many American citizens police kill annually, that is comprehensive. Though to be clear the exact number is well known to government, to police and the police unions, especially as a matter of accountancy every time a member of the police causes the death of an American, the police union will spend between 25 to $35,000 in legal fees on behalf of the member of the police involved in the killing. So as a matter of straightforward responsible accountancy and bookkeeping the number of persons killed by police in America is very well known by everyone except the American public. Why is that? Who benefits from that? Why as members of the public and voters do we tolerate this lack of accountability from our public servants, who work for us? Please let me invite to read.
"No comprehensive, reliable database of police shootings exists" February 19, 2013 By Pat Schneider
August 19th 2014
Erin Burnett of CNN speaks with Michael Bell.
"Erin says: There is still no national set of statistics for how many people are killed by police officers."
http://edition.cnn.com/...
American Line of Duty Police Deaths for 2014: 67
Assault: 1
Automobile accident: 15
Fire: 1
Gunfire: 27
Gunfire (Accidental): 1
Heart attack: 8
Motorcycle accident: 2
Struck by vehicle: 3
Vehicle pursuit: 2
Vehicular assault: 7
Link: http://www.odmp.org/...
Ask yourself why is America putting out a militarized police response in the face of a low police death rate and falling crime statistics that have been dropping off for the better part of 2 decades. Why is it that America has the highest incarceration rate of any major industrialized country in the world per 100,000? Wherein the majority of the inmates, particularly in the for-profit prisons are members of the minority community, particularly African American males. Faced with this reality, it's difficult not to agree with the Spiegel's conclusion which is that African American males in the United States are being openly hunted by an increasingly militarized (primarily) white police force with regular de facto summary executions taking place on American streets even in broad daylight of African American males, even if they are unarmed as was the case with 18 year old Michael Brown in America's racist militarized police state, which acts and looks more like an army of occupation in terrorist style terrorizing the African American community.
" It took the shooting of 18-year-old Brown on August 9, a young man who was unarmed, before anyone took an interest in the everyday reality of the city's African-American population and their demoralizing harassment by the police. It also took this tragedy before people began to ask an important question: Why does a city whose population of 21,000 is two-thirds African American have a police force that is 95 percent white?
The question ought to be asked why is the choice of Jurmael's girlfriend's partner a matter for the police? How is it that this member of the police acting with impunity may be allowed to comport themselves in the way described in the quote below?
"Jurmael then points to a place where he said he recently got pulled over. He says the police immediately spoke to his girlfriend, who happens to be white, and asked, "Why are you with him?" "He's my boyfriend," she said. The officer said, "You shouldn't be with him," and then left."
Truly may it be said that Jim Crow is still alive and well in more places in America than we care to admit, where people are essentially defenseless against acts of racial terrorism by a militarized police force, where they are with some regularity publicly murdered under the color of American law in too many states, with complete impunity by police. So it is we have these murderers walking amongst us, and particularly in the African-American community spreading terror and horror in killing people, in this case on their own property during a birthday party in modern day Ferguson, which as previously described has a colorful history of racism, as colored by slave ownership followed by Jim Crow, where readers of the English version of the Spiegel magazine in the great social democracies of Western Europe recoil rightfully at such a pariah community as Ferguson being openly tolerated in the United States in the year 2014. They look at us with open disgust in the tragic shooting of an 18 year old unarmed American male shot several times which hit him in the head, leaving brain matter splattered for a substantial distance on the pavement in the area surrounding the body of Michael Brown. Therein disturbingly suggesting these headshots took place while Michael Brown was already on the ground. In a timely fashion he wasn't even given the human dignity of being covered up, and just leaving him in the street, just as they historically and quite tragically have done with complete impunity so many times for over 200 years of American history again and again.
Back on our drive, just as we approach Tyler's house, he points to a front yard. He says his neighbor, a black man, held a party there three years ago. At some point, Tyler says, the police arrived and complained that the music was too loud. A fight ensured and the host was soon dead. He died of a heart-attack after police zapped him with a Tazer. It had been his birthday party.
'People Are Completely Powerless'
"They don't treat us like humans," Jurmael says. "We're like animals to them, ones they can shoot down like deer." The wife of the man who was Tazered still hangs her husband's photo each year on a tree in the front yard to commemorate his birthday. She never filed a complaint.
In the quote below we see but yet once again the ugly face of American bigotry and racism by de facto being tolerated openly in public for all to see. Though the piggery of racism is vile, we all know that pigs have no shame. Therefore can never be publicly shamed into changing the error of their ways. Martin Luther King reminded us that it isn't at all the horrible words of the oppressors that we will remember, it is instead the silence of our friends that will be painfully remembered. For it is likewise said that all that has to happen for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing. Certainly the Spiegel in their quote got it right and we shouldn't turn away from that uncomfortable truth.
Shadows of the Past
Tyler wears a red cap with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team logo on it. Several decades ago, black fans were still required to sit in a separate seating area in the stadium with inferior views of the field. But even after segregation ended, the seating arrangement remained. People were used to it. Indeed, the shadows of the past reach right up to today.
So it is that it starts in the same way it started one day on a bus with a lady by the name of Rosa Parks, who just didn't want to move to the back of the bus anymore. In such a simple act of moral courage caught the attention of a nation and the world, and we will never forget her. We should never forget Michael Brown's sacrifice, as an unarmed 18 year old African-American who died in a largely segregated town, with a largely segregated police dept, whose job it seems to be to needlessly harass and provoke young African-American males in an uncalled for manner, in an acronym well known to Ferguson residents walking while black (WWB).
We don't like the way our city is being portrayed," says Brian Fletcher. "We're not going to allow this incident to ruin our reputation." Fletcher served as mayor of Ferguson for six years until 2011. Now he's sitting at a desk watching over petitions signed by local residents.The people here have little regard for the African-American protesters who have been marching for justice each night. "They're like COCKROACHES," one woman next to Fletcher calls out. "THEY ONLY COME OUT OF THEIR HOLES AT NIGHT"......When asked why only three of the city's 53 police are African Americans, Fletcher answers: "They just don't apply. Or they don't pass the test to get in to the police academy."
Here we have a case of a system in Ferguson, as is the case in many other states and cities, that is so broken that essentially it is able to suppress written records of voluminous deeds of racism, bigotry, racial profiling and harassment, unlawful kidnapping, assaults, because the system allows the perpetrators essentially to cover up their actions, so that civic leaders and as is the case of former Mayor Fletcher can vociferously claim that it is a lie that there is racial strife in the city of Ferguson based on the records, as there is a system of record suppression in place, pointing to so called records as evidence of a lack of racism becomes nothing short of an axiomatic self-serving lie meant specifically to mislead the uninitiated in a system of in effect Jim Crow, wherein a pecking order is kept in place. It started in Ferguson under a system of slavery leading through Jim Crow to the 2014 Ferguson tolerance for racial profiling, which is a Jim Crow type system meant to intimidate and terrorize Ferguson's African-American community in specific acts of local govt terrorism against unarmed victims like Michael Brown, whose name through the media now has national and international recognition. Far less recognizable is the name of Henry Davis, wherein 52 year old Henry Davis was pulled over and arrested in a clear case of mistaken identity after police themselves identified this mistake, they however continued to hold and beat Mr Davis so severely that it has caused what appears to be permanent memory loss and disability in Mr Davis, making it difficult for him to hold employment due to the trauma he received.
Now you might think given the matter of his wrongful arrest and injury by police that Mr Davis would have received compensation. In fact he has received no compensation whatsoever and in the matter of his wrongful arrest and resulting beating he was charged with bleeding on the members of the Ferguson police' uniforms, who couldn't charge him with resisting arrest or anything else. This often seems to happen in places like Ferguson where police arrest innocent African-American males and then in order to try to cover up their mistake, they simply do their best to provoke their victim into displaying some type of reaction, which they can then use to launch criminal charges. However the only charge they could charge Mr Davis with was bleeding on their uniforms, resulting remarkably in a $3,000 fine, as published in the Spiegel article quote below, where its readers rightfully see us as a de facto pariah Jim Crow nation full of Ferguson type communities, where such regular horror shows in a consummated system of Jim Crow type acquiescence is alive and well, leading to working class Americans being terrorized by militarized police forces all over the United States, where swat teams now serve no knock warrants, even for the seemingly smallest of infractions.
As bad as this is in America, for persons of European ancestry it is remarkably worse for persons of African-American ancestry who feel often that local police for them are de facto terrorist organizations, who under color of law are allowed to kidnap and even kill at will people even if they are unarmed, and then they feel completely defenseless at this behavior. So it is that the German magazine Spiegel has conducted through its work in good old fashioned investigative journalism published in its English language edition a remarkable piece from which as Americans we could learn a lot by seeing ourselves through the eyes of European mainstream media, without averting our eyes from the belly of the beast of racism based on a history of American slavery in Ferguson, Missouri. It is important to remind our readers that in fact we the American voters are the true owners of this country and not the 1% with all of their bought politicians. We do have the authority and power to change all of this as the owners of the country at the ballot box. Link: "Using the ballot box to lawfully disarm the American militarized police state-Police execution video". Thanks to the generosity of people like yourself that diary (in the hypertext link above) it has already received over 3,000 Facebook shares.
** We should understand that the long history of chattel African American slavery in terms of labor exploitation has led to an enabling mentality in the American mindset that allows for the present day modern system of low wage, no benefit wage slavery to flourish in the United States in a way that is impossible to sustain in the European Union which doesn't have the history of slavery that America does, wherein ALL working class and poor Americans are substantially oppressed. Especially members of the African American community, whereas in the European Union even low wage full time fast food workers must receive 30 days paid vacation, complete medical and dental insurance for themselves and their family, to include a paid prescription benefit and even paid maternity leave. These policies are supported by even conservative politicians (in Europe) who on many of these issues are far to the left of the Democrats in America. The simple truth is the history of chattel African American slavery today continues to injure not only the African American community in Ferguson and beyond, but that same history ALSO injures poor and working class whites in America from sea to shining sea. Racism has hurt the United States in what may only be described as a long nightmare from which our collective national conscience must awaken in the acceptance of human rights for all people, irrespective of the color of their skin - to where instead we must look to the content of their character to judge them, just like Dr King said. This is the true hope and promise of his "I have a dream" speech which we must never forget. For not to do so will continue to diminish us all.
Racist Incidents
When asked why so many blacks are stopped by the police on the streets, Fletcher replies that it is unrelated to the color of their skin... He claims the record speaks for itself. To be sure, there isn't much in the official record, but there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Take the account of Henry Davis. Five years ago, police pulled the 52-year-old African American over one night. They checked his papers and allegedly found there was an arrest warrant against him. At the Ferguson police station, one officer told them that they had picked up the wrong MAN.
Nevertheless, Davis was still forced into a cell by four white policemen. As he lay on the floor, they punched him in the back and in the head........
Henry still sounds furious and distressed when he tells his story today. "They hit us blacks and they kill us blacks," he says. "And they do everything they can to cover it up."............... In Ferguson, officials accused of excessive violence fill out the investigation reports themselves -- so it comes as little surprise that cases like the Davis beating never crossed former mayor Fletcher's desk. The police claimed that Davis had fallen against a wall. Instead of justice, Davis was charged two weeks later with counts of destruction of property, for "knowingly bleeding on their uniforms," and ordered to pay $3,000."I don't believe they would have done this kind of thing to a white man," Davis says today. He says he was incapable of working for a long time and that he still suffers from migraine headaches and memory loss. He continues to challenge the fine he was ordered to pay, but he hasn't had any success so far.
Here's a link to the full Spiegel article below:
'We're Like Animals To Them': An American City's Daily Racism
http://www.spiegel.de/...
And for those of us who are inclined to blame the Spiegel's review so as to turn this into a case of shoot the messenger, please remember the English word for Spiegel is mirror.
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