Of course, it never stops. Government thuggery, I mean. Because the incentives all go in the direction of tyranny.
I elaborate over at The Zelman Partisans.
Of course, it never stops. Government thuggery, I mean. Because the incentives all go in the direction of tyranny.
I elaborate over at The Zelman Partisans.
So how do we stop it? At least the blacks are marching,it stopped the VN war.Its our only hope I can see.
But people need to realize it isnt a black thing,its a blue thing and we all are at risk.
Anybody else have an answer? Voting sure isnt going to change it.
An excellent article, Claire. Wish you got paid for it 🙂
Obama’s response to Ferguson, which of course actually wasn’t police brutality, was to usher in a police surveillance state http://www.aim.org/aim-column/a-surveillance-state-for-cops/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=email120514&utm_medium=email while at the same time doing nothing to reduce police militarization which he plans to control with “better oversight.” http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/obama-requests-263-million-police-body-cameras-training-n259161
This obviously furthers the goal of a national police force armed equally with the military, a goal he enunciated very clearly and purposefully years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fO-usAlqak
As we watch the mainstream Republicans turn tail on the U.S. citizens and behave with obvious complicity on the issue of massive amnesty for illegals, we have a president who runs amok over the constitution including by means of in-your-face insults and behind the scenes sophistication and admits, in a moment of impulsive candor, “I took action to change the law.” http://www.wnd.com/2014/12/amnesty-shocker-the-secret-behind-obamas-order/
I naively had hopes after the midterm election results and didn’t want to believe what you put in a previous post, but sadly I do now. The new boss really is like the old boss.
An uninformed electorate obviously can’t maintain a free society. My mind very uncomfortably runs at 80 miles an hour just thinking about this. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202517290999274
I hope putting these comments through moderation doesn’t interfere too much with your hermitting 🙂
Excellent essay.
I have a quibble:
““It stops here” is a brave declaration. In Garner’s case, it was a foolish declaration because he had no means of upholding it against the force of both trained thugs and the government that sent them.”
I don’t know what Eric Garner was thinking when he declared that “It stops here.” But I’m not sure it was foolish. He did have the means to uphold it. It isn’t necessary to defeat the thugs.
Eric Garner withdrew his consent. We’ll never know if he realized he would be murdered on the spot for his defiance, but he said “It stops here” and it did stop – for him. Eric Garner could speak for no one else.
The folly that elections, or politicians, or any other institution can dictate to all is the root of the problem. Affording such charades any level of legitimacy or authority is an error that each of us must confront; no one can force you to consent. Compliance is not consent.
I wonder if I will have the same courage when, not if, the time comes. I withdrew my consent long ago, but not been (yet) forced to make the ultimate sacrifice as Garner did.
He was a brave man. RIP
A second quibble, which the estimable Scott Greenfield has articulated well. The text below is quoted from his blog:
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2014/12/04/but-for-video-the-eric-garner-failure/
As an aside, of only peripheral relevance at this point, I do not accept the “myth” of the case, that Garner was being arrested because he was selling untaxed cigarettes, “loosies,” as that claim arose the day after his killing. At the time, and as the video provides, the police were called to the scene because of a fight, which Eric Garner broke up.
New York City police officers killed a man Thursday after he had broken up a fight between two other men, insisting on placing him in a chokehold and slamming his head to the pavement, piling on top of him as he gasped for air and as he continually told the cops he couldn’t breathe.
The entire incident was caught on video from a witness who kept telling the cops that the man had not committed a crime.
There is a worthwhile discussion as to whether Garner “resisted arrest” when no underlying cause for arrest existed, other than the mundane non-compliance with commands that are escalated into a self-justifying excuse for the police to seize a human being.
Perhaps there was cause to arrest Eric Garner for loosies; perhaps not. However, I will not blindly adopt the police excuse proffered the next day in the absence of evidence to support it. Most of you have and will. I’ve seen too many facile fabrications to join you. As there was no hint of such cause when it happened, the next-day excuse will be treated as media myth here. Yet you will likely read it in every media report about Garner, as journalists are herd animals.
S — I think it’s not so much that the cops were arresting him for “loosies,” as that he and the cops were well-known to each other because they’d hassled him many times over that issue. And they did, would have, and will, use Garner’s past “crimes” as their excuse for killing him.
Certainly they will use any excuse, even if it takes them a day, or 100 days, to smear their victim and concoct a story they think might be plausible.
As Greenfield notes, this is of only peripheral relevance at this point. I don’t accept the myth of Garner being hassled for loosies. Maybe he knew these particular cops, maybe not. NYC is a big place. Maybe the cops had time to run his priors before suffocating him, or maybe they just killed an uppity mundane who didn’t kneel on command.
I won’t give the murderers the slightest benefit of any doubt. Had there been a trial, there might have been an opportunity to sort fact from myth. Since there wasn’t a trial, all we have is a pack of lies.
We have to keep the pressure on, criticism and protest. It is being felt. The NYPD police union spokesman has been whining that cops are feeling betrayed and demonized by all the protests. Good, they deserve it.
They also claim Eric Garner was to blame for his death, since he was overweight and in poor health, and he was a nuisance for selling the loosies. Blame the victim. Ah, yes, nuisance, which seems to be a “magic” legal word that can justify all types of oppression.
Quote from the AP article that appeared in my local paper on Dec. 6: “Some officers are advising each other that the best way to preserve their careers is to stop making arrests” for these nuisance, “quality of life” offenses. Meaning mala prohibita, victimless crimes, like selling untaxed cigarettes. That would be an excellent outcome, if they stop enforcing this stuff.
These deaths by police are tragic, but, like Emmett Till’s death, they may be the catalyst for positive change. Maybe people will start to question why selling loosies should carry the death penalty.
And people also need to question whether it is wise to call the cops at all. Tamir Rice would probably still be alive if the 911 caller had not called the cops over a kid with a “probably fake” gun.
People need to stop being so afraid of firearms, as well. Generations of kids have played with toy guns, and in the past people did not freak out and call the cops.
Some irony: at the bottom of the page which contained the AP article mentioned above, is an article with the headline “In Kenya, police kill suspects with near-impunity.” I hope the readers of the paper got the message the editor may have been sending.
We didn’t get in this mess overnight, and we won’t get out of it in a hurry either. All we can do is keep the pressure on. Thank you, Claire, for being part of the pressure. The cops are feeling it.
I see there are more marches,and some people are getting it.Thats good.
But that the news MSM is reporting it,clouds it in the race baiting terms.The O admin has been nothing but race baiters.
Heard the Garner wife say it wasnt a race thing,and the daughter say its a cop and PEOPLE thing,followed by Sharpton making it all about race again.
What a sorry piece of work he is.
But SOME people get it,its a blue thing,and has my support,Im ready to get out on the line when it gets to my area where I can attend,we need to stand up and be counted,not hide in fear or inactivity.
I marched with my Mom when I was a child and WE ALL stopped the VN war,and we can stop the gov on the military police.It works,lets get it done.
People beating on pans have thrown out illegitimate govs,PEOPLE POWER….its the right thing.