On the dawn of a new day after the decision of the grand jury not to charge (white) officer Darrin Wilson with the shooting of (black) teenager Michael Brown all, and I mean all, the news coverage is about the aftermath. I know the case has been covered, but the tone of the reports this morning sadden me greatly. Do we shake our heads when discussing the French revolution and say things like... “I really don’t have any hesitation in telling you that I didn’t see a lot of peaceful protest out there tonight, and I’m disappointed about that,” Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County police chief, said early Tuesday at a news conference. “I’m not saying there weren’t folks out there that were out there for the right reason — I’m not saying that wasn’t the case — but I am saying that, unfortunately, this spun out of control.”
So this is tricky, am I condoning violence and riot?
I'll leave it to MLK on this one....
have a peaceful day everyone...
"It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear ...that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." "I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council of the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action.'"
