There have been a lot of really jaw-dropping questions asked lately. Many times they're asked in the face of the actual answers already being stated. Questions like, "If you're angry at [X], why are you burning your own town?" immediately after an example of someone being frustrated so they throw their phone at the wall. A lot of it is out of innocent, or even willful, ignorance of the factors behind the current situation. Today, I caught the mother of them all.
"If all of these problems have existed for so long, why are we only hearing them now?"
For a deeper investigation into the complete, blindfold-required levels of ignorance required to ask this question, follow me below.
I admit I'm still new to this whole diary thing. I only posted my first one up (yesterday in fact) after a week of Daily Kos Recommended mailsurging me to do so. Then, just this morning, I heard a caller on a local radio show ask this question, and it turns out this has been parroted across at least a half dozen major news stations, both local and national.
The matter of the fact is, we have been hearing about these situations for the longest time, but the mainstream have been outright ignoring it. For years, decades even, the image of the dirty cop planting evidence, profiling anyone of dark skin as instant-criminal, and/or resorting to extreme or lethal violence have been staples of African American comedy. From stand-up bits to feature-length movies, you heard it all the time. So why wasn't it taken seriously? Because they were comedies, and thus it was rationalized that it was only hilarious over-exaggeration.
Occasionally, a dramatic piece would put it front and center, but even then it was rationalized (either in-film or here in the real world) as being just one or two bad cops, or a symptom of a bad system that had already been fixed. it's becoming more and more evident that, no, the system has not been fixed.
For decades there have been protests, lawsuits, and the occasional riot over police brutality against portions of the citizenry, those portions typically involving Black and Latino communities. Even when it wasn't a case of outright violence, the systemic racism involved with African Americans committing roughly 30% of all crimes somehow having more than 70, 80 or 90% of all "police activity" ranging from Stop and Frisk laws being on the books to officers pulling over every car that "doesn't belong in a neighborhood" because it's not a big enough piece of crap to assuming every woman walking on a street and dressed less conservatively than a nun must be a prostitute? All of these notions have been made public for years now.
The difference between now and previous years and generations? How quickly information can spread. Until relatively recently, the official story was typically the only one that anyone outside the scene at the time would hear. A "suspect," one who was already tried and convicted in the public mind and typically the police officers' as well, would cry foul and be told that it couldn't be that way. And by the time it got to the newspapers and the TV news, those allegations wouldn't even be part of the copy. Cases like Rodney King happening got the spotlight because somehow the evidence made it through to the public spotlight.
Now we have personal cameras and cell phones that can have pictures, audio and video up on the internet within minutes or seconds. It's only a matter of time until someone literally livestreams what's going on. Now the police can claim all they want about a suspect attacking and that's why they were "forced" to fire 18 rounds into them, they need to understand that there will likely be a dozen people around with cameras filming them placing that gun down on the body. This is why many police precincts are trying to find loopholes in existing laws, if not rewrite the laws to specifically not apply to them, in order to confiscate the cellphone or other recorder from anyone around who may have caught their wrongdoing.
But, well, mister officer, if you weren't doing anything wrong, you shouldn't mind getting filmed, right? That's what the NSA keeps telling us. And going around trying to frantically stymie any chance of anyone else having their say seems awfully suspicious, while "suspicious activity" is many times the lead or ONLY reason many police have to stop, harass and arrest individuals. Then again, "being Black in public" is apparently suspicious activity.
All of this information has existed for as long as the iniquities have existed. It's just becoming increasingly difficult for people who want to take a moral high ground of "not hearing about it" to cover their ears as the truth is screamed. It's becoming harder to close your eyes when the facts are shone in your face.
And I say it's about damn time.
Fri May 01, 2015 at 8:18 AM PT: Update: Holy crap guys, 200 reqs and a ton of comments. Thanks to everyone!
A few people I noticed were asking which radio show; sadly, it was caught in the middle of dial-spinning because all my normal channels were playing songs I don't like, commercials, or commercials featuring songs I don't like. It was somewhere in the high-90's. I'm not sure the specifics of this one instance matter wholesale, though; it seems that the sentiment, if not the exact wording, runs rampant through the mainstream media, and that's mostly the problem I was trying to bring to light.
Fri May 01, 2015 at 1:24 PM PT: Update 2: HOLY SMOKES GUYS I MADE THE REC LIST!? Why is my ranty gibberish suddenly popular!?