Though Michael Brown’s death is a horrific incident, it seems to have unleashed a wave of huge demonstrations across America shedding light on police violence against people of color. We have systemic racism in America, racism aimed at even the President.
The great, peaceful protests we’ve seen across America have an undercurrent of anger at the richest and most powerful country in the world. America refuses to take on the pain of racism, and also the pain of hunger, poverty, foreclosure, eviction, hopelessness, joblessness, and income inequality.
I am not at all saying the anger of American protestors at police violence is invalid. I am saying that when 45 percent of new jobs created pay only poverty level wages, that when corporations like Walmart and K-Mart cancel Thanksgiving for their employees, there is a simmering anger waiting for a spark to ignite that anger into movement.
I’ve been watching the liberal pundits say we have to vote. Voting by itself is no longer enough. The right-wing now steal elections and steal the right to vote for thousands of people. Thanks to the Koch Brothers, crazy Sheldon Adelson, and Karl Rove buying elections, voting by itself can feel like a fool’s errand.
We now need a movement. We need every possible person in the street marching in nonviolence for social, racial, and economic justice.
Image: St. Louis Rams players show solidarity with Ferguson protestors
Image source: @UnitedBlackout