probing the mysteries of black anger by josh
as i’ve said before, i think barack obama has done a fine job of articulating the reasons behind many black americans’ receptiveness to remarks like the now-infamous ones by rev. wright. but here’s a much more succinct explanation:
Three detectives were found not guilty Friday on all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens, in November 2006.
…
“The people have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt” that each defendant was not justified in shooting, the judge said, quickly adding that the men were not guilty of all of the eight counts, five felonies and three misdemeanors against them.
…and yet, every time i turn on the TV i see white faces wearing puzzled expressions, voicing shock and disbelief at the idea that a jeremiah wright or an al sharpton could feel the way he feels and say the things he says. is it really that hard to grasp? honestly, is it just too much intellectual effort to disagree with the “god damn america” sentiment and still admit some inkling of where it comes from? this isn’t rocket science, white people.
with justice like this, what’s remarkable is that black folks in this country are not walking around in a constant state of outrage and despair.
Weren’t two of the three officers charged in this case black? I think the outrage here is more sophisticated than simply race relations. It goes to a deep distrust of powerful institutions such as law enforcement and the justice system.
Is the historical distrust of these systems thoroughly wrapped up in problems of race? Of course. There are longstanding racial dynamics of power here. Are you right that white people shouldn’t be so damn shocked? Sure.
But I wouldn’t distill this particular case down to just black/white anger.
true, it’s not always a symmetrical black/white thing — the two colors at stake in this case are actually black and blue. i don’t think the race of the cops matters as much as the fact that in america it’s a hell of a lot easier to get away with killing black people than anybody else. that’s also true of black-on-black violence in general, regardless of whether one of the parties carries a badge. anyway, the outrage in this instance stems not from the shooting itself but from the subsequent lack of accountability in the justice system. the defendants weren’t acquitted because they’re black or white, but because they wear blue.
to downplay the role of race in a case like this just because it doesn’t slot neatly into a dualistic, to-kill-a-mockingbird-style narrative framework is a little obtuse — kind of like complaining about how it’s okay for “them” to use the N-word but not “us.” or maybe you’ve heard this one: slavery wasn’t *really* all that racist because african blacks were often handed over to slave traders by other africans from rival tribes. and so on. don’t even get me started on bill cosby…