In response to the failure to indict the police in the killing of Eric Garner, literally hundreds of protests have been organized across the US over the last couple of days, with thousands upon thousands of people joining in and raising their voices. The character of the ongoing waves of racial and social justice protests reveals the obvious commitment by countless progressive activists to bring about positive change through non-violent means.
Given the wholly justified anger people feel about the numerous and appalling cases of racist police killing unarmed African American males, this is a truly amazing accomplishment.
CBS noticed the peaceful nature of the current protests, and in response published the dumbest, most reactionary article imaginable.
The article looks only at the protest in NYC, with headline posing the question it addresses: Eric Garner case: Why weren't protests as violent as in Ferguson?
Not as violent? ABC doesn't mention any violence at all in the NYC protests. Oh well, what do facts have to do with journalism anyway?
The article begins noting
While the protests were large and more than 200 arrests were made by NYPD officers, they were mostly peaceful -- nothing like the rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, last week surrounding the death of Michael Brown.
In this case, it was preparation and experience that made a difference, CBS News' Michelle Miller reports.
"Demonstrators were not intent on using violence, and the police were certainly intent on giving them room to demonstrate, if you will," New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.
Get that? They weren't
intent on using non-violence, they were
not intent on using violence!
The piece continues:
"There's no question the lack of operational experience [of the police] has an impact potentially on performance," former Missouri police chief Steve Ijames said.
The article concludes:
Bratton sent NYPD detectives to Ferguson to observe protesters' tactics, which also may have helped them hone their response.
In the entire article,
not one single protest organizer or participant is interviewed or quoted.
The writer interviews and quotes exactly
two people:
The New York Police Commissioner and the former Missouri Chief of Police.
That's quite the feat, CBS.
The article assumes protesters are inherently violent, and only proper policing stops them from acting out violently. Wow, that's the fucking problem right there!
The media abets the police narrative that citizens standing up for justice (and with African American males in particular singled out) are inherently violent, and police must control them. Let the mindset at play here sink in.
Not to mention the fact that hundreds of non-violent protests are going on around the country. Did the NYPD prevent all of them from busting out into violent mayhem as well?
It's as though they've never heard of the role of non-violence in movements for racial justice in this country. It's as though the Civil Rights Movement never happened.
It shows what a farce it is when outlets like CBS pretend to respect Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy.
This article is deeply disrespectful of Dr. King's magnificent work, to the countless non-violent civil rights activists who put it all on the line, and is an insult and a slap in the face to all of the committed, wonderful, compassionate, non-violent protesters.
Shame, just more shame.