Those white folks down in Ferguson, Missouri are clever, aren’t they? In a classic “winner deals and dealer wins” situation, the white power structure has arranged for city elections to be held on off years, in April! Hey, what’s wrong with having an electorate composed of the citizens who care, who work hard, who aren’t just looking for a handout and a free ride?
Well, maybe, just maybe, it might be better to have a city government, and a city police force, that represented, you know, the entire community, instead of just the white smart folks.
Of course, “home rule” is no guarantee of anything. In Detroit, a succession of highly representative black mayors encouraged a culture of crime and corruption that, when combined with the near collapse of the U.S. auto industry, has brought the city to its knees. In Washington, DC, it’s quite likely that only the unending gusher of federal cash avoided a similar outcome.
But I’m not going to exempt the nearly all-white Ferguson police force from special obloquy. The Washington Post has expressed editorial concerns over the department’s “fumbles.” I’m sorry, WP, but persistent manipulation of public information, including harassment of the media and the entirely unnecessary banning of news helicopters are not “fumbles.” They represent a culture of secrecy that verges on lawlessness. We’ve got the goddamn badges, goddamn it! That’s all ye know, and all ye need to know!.
But none of this begins to excuse the widespread arson and looting that has accompanied the black community’s protests in Ferguson. There is a persistent and unattractive pattern among “radical” blacks to justify theft, riot, and even murder as “rebellion.” Destroying the businesses, and even the lives, of shop owners guilty of the crime of supplying black communities with the necessities of life is not rebellion. It is a celebration of low-level gangsterism, frequently mingled with racism, since many of the destroyed businesses are operated by white or Asian owners. It increases the economic burden on the residents of poor black communities and glorifies exploitation while purporting to overthrow it. This is the sort of “rebellion” that destroyed Detroit and has come close to destroying other cities as well.
