No doubt images from Bloody Sunday are as indelibly seared in America’s national consciousness as those from the Kennedy assassination. And, in each case, a picture is truly worth a thousand words.
Therefore, instead of adding yet more words, I shall suffice to reprise excerpts from two previous commentaries.
The first is from “Killing of Michael Brown: as much about Resisting Arrest as Police Brutality,” August 12, 2014. Especially because many consider this killing as much a tipping point for a new civil rights movement as Bloody Sunday was for the original one.
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Not every fatal shooting by the police of an unarmed (Black) man is a case of police brutality. We’ve all seen far too many incidents of people resisting arrest – even wresting away a policeman’s gun and killing him…
Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to cite a case that resulted in fatality, where the victim followed the few general rules we should all follow when dealing with the police. Those rules are:
- Do not run;
- Follow instructions calmly (i.e., no sudden moves that might spook a nervous or trigger-happy policeman);
- Wait for the police to explain why you’re being stopped before politely posing any objections, concerns, or questions you may have;
- If instructed to turn around to be frisked or handcuffed, comply without uttering a word; and
- Save any disagreements or arguments you may have for the courtroom or your civilian complaints review board, which is the only time and place to resist arrest…
No case of police brutality justifies looting and vandalism. Period. The cause for anger and frustration among Blacks today pales in comparison to that which Blacks endured during the Civil Rights Movement. Yet the only barbarism on display during protests back then came not from Black marchers looting and vandalizing stores, when they weren’t taunting the police, but from White cops willfully attacking them as they marched peacefully and non-violently.
Is there any wonder that people (Black and White) have as much contempt for these marauding Black protesters today as they had for those mauling White cops back then?
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The second excerpt is from “Why Chastise the Times for Describing Michael Brown as ‘No Angel?!” August 26, 2014. Especially because, with all due respect to protest slogans like “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” and “Black Lives Matter,” nothing will do more to save Black lives than drumming the following message into the heads of Black kids. But also because of the killing in Wisconsin, just last night, of yet another unarmed Black kid, Tony Robinson (19), by yet another White cop … after this kid, like Michael, reportedly not only resisted arrest but attempted to wrest the cop’s gun away.
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It cannot be overstated that, instead of doublespeak that would make him a saint, those eulogizing Michael would honor his death far more by admonishing young Black men against the deadly hazards of resisting arrest and defying authority … merely as a misguided badge of honor or rite of passage.
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We shall overcome? Yes we can….
Related commentaries:
Killing of Michael Brown…
DOJ: no civil rights charges in Brown case…
Michael Brown no angel…
* This commentary (just pics) was originally published yesterday, Saturday, at 7:10 a.m.