On the day of our discussion, there was still snow on the
ground from a major winter storm and it was only eleven degrees. In spite of
the freezing weather and difficult driving conditions, four of us managed to
meet. The one criticism we all shared
was the “jumping around in time” in an otherwise great book.
Our facilitator stated that the purpose of the book was to
explain how activism of this generation started, an accounting of how millennials
got involved.
Fortunately for us, one of our members had shared a podcast
from the Enoch Pratt Free Public Library in Baltimore, MD. The podcast series
is called Writers Live and the particular podcast featured Wesley Lowery
recorded Mar. 7, 2017.
In the podcast, Mr. Lowery relates that the purpose of his
book is to tell the stories of the individuals he met while covering the protests.
He states, “These stories did not come to light because of
the mainstream media. The people of Ferguson insisted on having this story
told. The people now had the tools to tell this story: cell phone cameras and video apps. I do think
there is a role for the journalist. We have to be the muscle behind the people,
forcing the mainstream media to pay attention.
Black men are 6% of the population but make up 24% of people
killed by the police.
One quarter of those people are in the midst of a mental
health crisis. Ironically, police having body cams haven’t helped. In fact, there
was a huge spike in killings by the police in 2016. The cameras don’t deter
shooting. Camera footage shows more gray area. We can see that the stories are
much more complicated.
The data backs up what African Americans have telling us for
generations and we did not believe them.
The first question from the audience in the podcast had to
do with toy guns. Mr. Lowery answered that the situation could not be explained
away. A white person has to do so much more to get killed.”
In our book Discussion, our facilitator brought up the topic
of the toy gun in the shooting of Tamir Rice. She referred to Prosecutor
Timothy J. McGinty’s announcement that the police officer who killed Tamir Rice
would not be convicted on page 108 in the book:
“The outcome will not cheer us. His (Tamir’s) size made him
look older…” And now, after making everyone wait for more than a year, the
prosecutors were saying that under the letter of the law Tamir’s death was not
a crime, and that no one would be prosecuted. It would only be a matter of time
before people were taking to the streets in Cleveland."
Our facilitator also mentioned something called “The Dance
of the Lemons.” She says that the same
way that bad teachers get sent from school to school, bad police officers get
sent from department to department. She
pointed out the following:
p. 75 “…it was revealed that Cleveland Police had hired Tim
Loehmann, the officer who shot Rice, without checking his references or running
a serious background check. Had the city done that, they would have uncovered
job reviews from the suburban department where Loehmann once worked that
describe him as “weepy” and “distracted.”
Another question brought up in the podcast had to do with
police officers being properly trained to deal with someone who is mentally
ill. Mr. Lowery responded that many officers are trained to yell or pull a gun.
This is the worse response to someone who is mentally ill.
The next question in the podcast had to do with the response
to Black Lives Matter with the refrain “All Lives Matter.” Mr. Lowery answered
that Black Lives Matter is an assertion to how in this society, black lives
have not mattered. The responses have been ignorant. When we say breast cancer
matters, we’re not saying prostate cancer doesn’t matter. These retorts of” All
Lives Matter” show mainstream feelings being threatened.
Mr. Lowery continued, Bernie Madoff stole 65 million dollars
– no one killed him. The men killed by police haven’t done anything close. In a
traffic stop, the person runs. If a gun falls out of their pocket, the police
feel they have to kill the suspect because he saw a gun. We don’t train
officers to slow these situations down. They already have the license plate of
the vehicle; there is no need to chase.
The last question in the podcast had do with the connection
between the military and police officers. Who are driving these tanks? Mr.
Lowery states that when police departments are given this equipment, they are told
explicitly not to use them for crowd control. Whether this statement is true or
not, Angela Davis wrote a great deal about the military build-up of police
departments in Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine,
and the Foundations of a Movement. Her position is that police departments were given free
military equipment and training to fight “terror.”
We’re reading a biography of Langston Hughes for our February meeting. The new
date for this discussion is Feb. 24th at 12 noon. You can choose
whatever biography (or autobiography) you’d like to read for this discussion.
I’m actually reading a version for teens. The Langston Hughes biography is in
conjunction with our Black History Month celebration and it fits in with the
cultural and social justice theme of our group. There will be a film
presentation about Langston Hughes at 1:30 and I hope that you all will
consider staying for the film.
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