“What is my future now? What is my future now?” The tortured screams of a New York City demonstrator last week — a young black man driven to the streets in fury and frustration. He was one of hundreds clogging thoroughfares and blocking traffic to protest another Grand Jury’s refusal to indict a police officer, this time for the choking death of Staten Island’s Eric Garner.
For some, what happened in Ferguson wasn’t clear-cut, but few dispute that Eric Garner was killed by excessive force at the hands of police officers, including Daniel Pantaleo. Pantaleo helped wrestle Garner to the ground using a banned chokehold to squeeze the very life out of him.
I’ve heard a lot since the Ferguson grand jury decided against an indictment of Police Officer Darren Wilson. Much of it provocative commentary which has, at turns, made me sad and mad.
Five members of the St. Louis Rams were denounced for their “hands up” stance as a show of support for the Ferguson protestors.
And, in a rant gone viral, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called Michael Brown a “thug,” said the protests were based on “lies,” adding “95 percent of America agrees with me.”
What some refuse to accept is that what happened to Eric Garner is connected to what happened to Michael Brown in Ferguson. Ugly truth. This is about race. And it’s about policies and laws, which prop up racial profiling and police brutality. It’s about a systemic pattern revealed in a growing number of killings by cops, and the lack of accountability for those deaths. It’s about a justice system that acknowledges Eric Garner’s death as a homicide, but a grand jury declaring no probable cause. It’s about New Hampshire’s Keene College students who riot and burn during October’s Pumpkin Festival, but are never called thugs, and are never in fear of being shot dead by police.
It’s clear to me that there is an ever widening gap of understanding — much along a racial divide — about Ferguson, Staten Island, and the lived experience of young black men like the anguished protestor in New York. He, like those who raged violently in Ferguson, simply uncapped the everyday rage they normally keep bottled up. A rage aimed at an unequal justice system and about being seen — always — as the enemy.
Officer Darren Wilson revealed his fear of Michael Brown in an interview describing Brown as “it” and a “demon.” Wilson said he felt like a 5-year-old grabbed by Hulk Hogan. This, despite that fact that both the teen and Wilson were exactly the same height — 6'4“ — and roughly the same weight. But in the scant seconds that the cop encountered the unarmed teenager, he was bigger, hulking, and scary. I believe Wilson’s perception was colored by the same unconscious bias which led Cleveland police officers to shoot dead a “guy” waving a gun. That “guy” was 12-year-old Tamir Rice and his gun was a toy. Those responding officers did not see a child with a toy gun, they saw a black guy who could do them harm.
Ferguson is not about Michael Brown’s death alone, it is about a pattern of racial profiling and police brutality, which has led to a growing list of killings by cops, and the lack of accountability for these deaths. It’s about a justice system that acknowledges an illegal chokehold was used to squeeze the very life out of Staten Island’s Eric Garner, but a Grand Jury that will not bring an indictment against the officer. It’s about New Hampshire’s Keene College students who riot and burn during October’s Pumpkin Festival, but are never called thugs, and are never in fear of being shot dead by police.
Michael Brown is dead. Officer Darren Wilson is free. But one young man’s tragic death is now a flashpoint for a re-energized social justice movement reminiscent of another time. Fifty-nine years ago this month Rosa Parks sat down, so that many more can stand in the street with their hands up.
Callie Crossley is the host of “Under the Radar with Callie Crossley”, which you can hear on Sundays from 6-7PM on 89.7FM WGBH.
