Police responded with force overnight as demonstrators torched cars and set buildings ablaze in Kenosha, Wisconsin, demanding justice in the shooting of Jacob Blake. …
Police shot Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, at close range Sunday evening as he tried to enter an SUV. In the vehicle were his 3-, 5- and 8-year-old sons, family attorney Ben Crump said. Following the shooting, the injured man was flown to a hospital in Milwaukee. He remained in intensive care late Monday, his lawyer said.
(CNN, August 25, 2020)
It speaks volumes that the family attorney took center stage to speak as the family doctor waited his turn. But we all knew what the fallout would be as soon as that cop pumped the first of his seven bullets, at point-blank range, into Blake’s back.
As it happens, though, I’ve already commented on the pertinent issues this latest white-cop-shooting-black-man tragedy is triggering. (See “Defund the Police…” on June 15.) What’s more, as is so often the case these days, the viral video makes plain the material facts for all to see.
Therefore, I intend the following points to complement that original commentary:
- Like the shooting of Walter Scott, the shooting of Jacob Blake was wholly unjustified. And, just as the cop who shot (and killed) Scott is now rotting in prison, the cop who shot (and paralyzed) Blake should be too.
- There’s no denying that, if Blake had not resisted police efforts to talk to him, he (probably) would not have been shot. I wish more Black leaders and influencers would stress this unassailable point. Fatefully, too many of them seem resigned to hailing black men as martyrs. This, instead of assailing them for resisting in ways that escalate these encounters to the point where they end up dead.
- Rioting and looting make a mockery of BLM claims of protesting in the name of justice. Just days ago, I wrote “Democrats’ Achilles Heel: Ostrich-like Silence on Spikes in Urban Crime” (August 21). In it, I pleaded with BLM leaders to finally recognize that their “peaceful marches” are only providing cover for the vandals and looters who invariably hijack them. Nothing is more fateful in this respect than the plaintive pleas of surviving family members for non-violent protests. For their pleas invariably fall on deaf ears.
- BLM leaders should consider why the white men who peacefully protest with them by day are invariably the ring leaders who instigate and perpetrate violence at night. And, with apologies to McDonald’s, President Trump is lovin’ it! (He thinks open warfare between BLM protesters and white militias would be a godsend for his re-election prospects. And the deadly exchange that ended with two dead and others wounded on Tuesday night bodes well for him in this respect.)
- BLM leaders should appreciate that, henceforth, the best reaction to these white-cop-shooting-black-man tragedies is not to march in the street but to sue in court. Because the former is only giving credence to Trump’s dystopian narrative, which casts all BLM protesters as rampaging vandals and looters hell-bent in turning American cities into mosh pits of anarchy.
Kudos to NBA players for showing BLM leaders this more effective way to protest:
The Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor for Game 5 of their first round playoff series against the Orlando Magic prompted the NBA to postpone all three games scheduled for Wednesday. … ‘We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,’ Bucks guard George Hill told ESPN’s Marc Spears, in explaining his team’s decision. …
Milwaukee is about 40 miles north of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the city where 29-year-old Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times by police on Sunday
(ESPN, August 26, 2020)
No doubt this is historic, symbolic, and courageous. But I wonder about its real impact if they resume play as rescheduled in a few days.
Because it’s one thing for them to make a statement like this for this cause; it’s quite another for them to emulate the likes of Muhammad Ali and Colin Kaepernick. The latter would mean striking for a season or two, knowing full well this would entail the irreparable loss of tens of millions in income and career-defining accolades. But just imagine the impact if all NBA players do so – not because of a health pandemic but because of race consciousness. Imagine further if players from other professional sports leagues decided to wildcat strike in solidarity …
With the Montgomery Bus Boycott 65 years ago, Blacks demonstrated the most effective way to force change in the name of racial justice: Hit powerful and influential white men where it hurts, namely in their pocket books. But, in this case, I suspect NBA players (ideally in solidarity with players from other professional sports leagues) would merely have to threaten to boycott a whole season. Because that alone would compel team owners to act; specifically, to use their power and influence to get politicians to implement the panoply of police reforms BLM protesters have been demanding for years. Those reforms include everything from mandatory use of body cameras to eliminating qualified immunity — accountable measures that are bound to change the way police interact with Black men.
That’s the way you do it, not with protest marches to the point of such diminished effectiveness that they only cause traffic jams (and provide cover for vandals and looters).
[Note: BLM leaders would do well to refocus their movement’s efforts on “getting souls to the polls” (for early voting) and volunteering at the polls. Because nothing will help them realize their mission quite like helping Joe Biden unseat Donald Trump as president of the United States.]
Related commentaries:
Defund the police… Ali… Kaepernick…