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DSA NYC September 8th

 Mtg Readings

Justice for Michael Brown: Community Control of Police & Equality for All

Statement by the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Committee, August 21,2014

Democratic Socialists of America calls for a full federal civil rights investigation into the killing of

Michael Brown and an end to the militarization of local police forces. The action of the Ferguson,

Missouri, police department exemplifies the dangers to the lives of ordinary Americans, particularly people of color, posed by overly aggressive, heavily armed police forces.

Over the past thirty years, federal, state and local government have abandoned commitments to

fighting poverty and unemployment, conditions that disproportionately limit the life opportunities

of young persons of color. Most low income youth only encounter the state as a repressive forcethat relegates them to a life within the prison-industrial complex, even for the most minor and non-

violent of drug-related offenses. These activities rarely lead white youth to be arrested, let aloneimprisoned.

In the case of Ferguson, Missouri, police-mandated media blackouts and the pervasive detainment,harassment and arrest of journalists cloud public understanding of the ongoing crisis. The constant

 barrage of tear gas canisters into crowds, backyards and neighborhood streets in recent days has

further hampered a full understanding of the situation on the ground.

What is clear that on August 9th, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed an

unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, a young black man. African Americans are 65% of thecommunity‘s population, but whites, such as Officer Wilson, are 96% of the town's police

department. Following a night of mass protest and unrest, hundreds of para-militarized officers

swarmed Ferguson, creating an atmosphere of occupation and terror. The massive use of policeforce against peaceful protestors only exacerbated the understandable anger of a community in

which the police are justifiably viewed as a foreign occupying force.

At play in Ferguson are multiple forces long present in American society. The unrelenting killing

of unarmed young persons of color by both police forces and white vigilantes –  from Trayvon

Martin to Oscar Grant to Eric Garner –  demonstrates how racism literally takes the lives of people

of color.

The causes of this assault on the rights of low-income Americans are systemic in nature.

 Neoliberal capitalism greatly contributes to the decline in life opportunities for low-incomeAmericans. Neoliberal policies weaken the state‘s ability to regulate powerful economic actors so

they contribute to the common good rather than their own particular interest. Neoliberal policies

such as deregulation, deunionization, decreases in taxation on the rich, and defunding of essentialsocial services, including public education, weaken the ability of the state to develop the potential

of the less advantaged.

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These policies have given rise to an economic order of frequent crises and mass unemployment.

(Over one in five families in Ferguson live below the poverty line.) Such policies

disproportionately affect communities of color, with unemployment rates running 2-3 times thoseof white Americans –  a clear legacy of institutionalized white supremacy. Neoliberal policies

support cuts in job programs, education and civilian reviews boards, but not police weaponry; the

neoliberal state disinvests in people, but heavily invests in prisons, police repression and

militarism abroad.

While urban rebellions in oppressed communities of color are by no means a new phenomenon forthe United States, the level of para-military police force in Ferguson is. The tanks, battle armor

and mounted semi-automatic weapons present in the streets reflects America's imperial ambitions

abroad as these weapons are channeled from surplus war equipment to local police departmentsthrough Department of Homeland Security grants.

As democratic socialists, we abhor the logic that allows for local police departments to transform

themselves into surrogate occupying armies defending ―social order‖ against popular demands forsocial justice. DSA believes in fighting for an equitable tax system that would fund public

investment and job training that could employ the underemployed and unemployed in alternativeenergy production and the rebuilding of infrastructure and affordable housing. In addition,independent civilian review boards (with adequate funding and power) should oversee a local

 police force that is well-trained and representative of the communities they serve.

Democratic community policing would repudiate the excessive use of force by ―proactive‖ police

tactics and the use of SWAT teams. Such policies would drastically reduce the chances of

repeating the terror of Ferguson. Additionally, mandated "reverse surveillance" technology such as

dashboard and uniform cameras could reduce the willingness of police to engage in the excessiveuse of force. Finally, a full, thorough Federal investigation into the events of August 9th is needed

to provide justice to the family and friends of Michael Brown.

Such measures can only mitigate, not abolish, the effects of racist criminal justice policies and the

absence of equality of opportunity for low-income Americas. The events in Ferguson demonstrate

that actively challenging how law enforcement affects poor communities must be a priority for allworking to build a better America. Changes in criminal justice policies, however, cannot by

themselves bring justice to all Americans. Social protest movements must demand government

 policies that serve the interests of all rather than those of a narrow elite. Only by building amajoritarian movement for racial and economic justice can we reverse the growth of racial and

class apartheid in the United States.

Infuriated by Alliance With Sharpton 3 Police Unions Throw the Book At

Mulgrew Over UFT Role in March

By MARK TOOR August 25 The Civil Service Chief and Leader (city workers’ paper)

The leaders of three police unions expressed outrage last week at United Federation of Teachers

President Michael Mulgrew‘s decision to have his organization co-sponsor the Aug. 23 rally led

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 by the Rev. Al Sharpton on behalf of Eric Garner, who died last month after officers subdued him

during an arrest on Staten Island.

―The Teachers union should not in any way be involved in anything involving New York City

 police,‖ Mr. Lynch said in an interview with THE CHIEF-LEADER. ―I don‘t stick my arm into

the UFT, nor should he be reaching into the ranks of police officers.‖ 

Mullins: He Should Resign

―He should step down,‖ said of Mr. Mulgrew Edward D. Mullins, president of the Sergeants‘

Benevolent Association. ―He‘s totally aligned with all the wrong issues.‖ 

―The UFT is aligning themselves with extremists like Al Sharpton,‖ said Michael J. Palladino,

 president of the Detective‘s Endowment Association. 

All three leaders had harsh words for Mr. Sharpton.

After several days of silence, Mr. Mulgrew spoke to THE CHIEF-LEADER the day before themarch. ―This is not an anti-cop rally; in fact it‘s the opposite,‖ he said, describing it as an effort to

support both police and community at the same time. ―We were trying to do something that hadnever been done before,‖ he said.

―We were very adamant about being open, honest, transparent and respectful of police at the same

time,‖ he said, but the police unions ―didn‘t want to hear it.‖ He accused Mr. Lynch of ―fear -

mongering,‖ with ―constant attacks on myself and my union.‖  

He said police unions have a different relationship with Mr. Sharpton than the UFT does. ―When

Teachers were being attacked all these years, Sharpton was on his national TV show saying this

has to stop,‖ he said. The UFT, he said, has a long history of participation in the civil-rightsmovement.

Educators who disapproved of the sponsorship were urging union members to wear NYPD shirtson the first day of school in a show of support for the Police Department.

A posting on the union‘s Facebook page said the march ―will be an opportunity to show the rest ofthe country that New York City is united in its belief in justice for all.‖ Hundreds of commenters

disagreed.

‗A March of Hate‘ 

―This isn‘t a march of unity—this is a march of hate against the NYPD,‖ wrote Chr istopher

Wallace.

―The UFT has no place in this fight,‖ wrote Bill McCarthy. 

―We don‘t support a union who tells us to march in ‗unity‘ with the biggest racist on the planet!‖wrote Kathy Strauss.

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―Maybe you should focus less on embarrassing your membershi p with this race-baiting nonsense,

and more on getting a little more than five years of zeros at the bargaining table,‖ wrote Peach

Doc.

One member posted instructions on how to cancel the UFT‘s Committee on Political Education

deduction from paychecks. The COPE deduction is voluntary and separate from union dues.

The march drew more than 2,500 participants, according to police estimates, and remained

 peaceful. No arrests were reported. ―Do not undermine the family‘s fight for justice,‖ Mr.Sharpton said in his speech. ―They want you to act up so they can act like Eric was acting up.‖

Other speakers included Esaw Garner, Mr. Garner‘s widow, and Kadiatou Diallo, mother of

Amadou Diallo, who was mistakenly killed by police hunting a rapist in 1999.

―We told the Mayor and everybody, they must reform police,‖ Mr. Sharpton said. ―This is about

solutions. But let me tell you something: you cannot do it without holding accountable those that break the law. Now, either a chokehold is illegal or it‘s not. If it‘s illegal, then deal with it. If you

won‘t deal with it, then you‘re making it legal.‖ 

He did say, ―We are not against the police.‖ 

Mr. Lynch said he spoke with Mr. Mulgrew early last week and ―I voiced my displeasure at hisgetting involved in something that has nothing to do with the Teachers.‖ 

He pointed to blowback from UFT members. ―Teachers‘ union members do not support it,‖ he

said. ―We are gratified that New York City Teachers are against their union pulling this stunt.‖ 

‗He Likes Stirring the Pot‘ 

Mr. Lynch said he was particularly unhappy with Mr. Sharpton‘s participation in the event.―Sharpton‘s goal is never to start a dialogue, or teach the community to understand police, or bring

the police and the communities together,‖ he said. ―His role is always self-serving, always to stir

the pot, always on the shoulders of police officers.‖ 

Mr. Mullins called him ―king of the bottom-feeders.‖ 

Mr. Lynch said it was ironic that the UFT was calling for a rush to judgment in the Garner case

when one of the major roles of unions is defending due process. What the UFT should do, he said,

was withdraw from sponsorship of the rally and call for the investigations to take their course.

―How would he like it if police officers lined up with the activists who oppose his efforts to shield bad Teachers and undermine effective charter schools?‖ Mr. Lynch wrote in a letter to the NewYork Post. ―He has already colluded with the administration to saddle his members with a

substandard contract —  rather than continuing to curry favor with politicians and Al Sharpton, he

should try standing up for his members and the children of New York City.

‗Marching Against Police‘ 

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Mr. Palladino noted, ―There‘s a countless number of encounters each and every day when the

 police and public cross paths with a minuscule amount of controversy,‖ he said. ―For a union to

march against police in this case, it‘s painting all the encounters with the same brush. If oneTeacher has a bad encounter with a student in a school, should the NYPD paint all Teachers with

the same broad brush?‖ 

He added, ―You expect it from Al Sharpton because his motive is to line his pockets with taxpayermoney.‖ 

―I was certainly shocked in 2006 when the UFT marched against the Police Department during the

Bell case,‖ he recalled. In an earlier statement, he said, ―Teachers‘ union leadership marched

alongside Sharpton, with the Bloods and Crips, during the Bell case. I imagine most educatorswould be embarrassed by Mulgrew‘s actions.‖ 

Lesser Role by UFT Then

Mr. Palladino was referring to the fatal shooting of Sean Bell and the wounding of two

companions by several officers on a street near a notorious Queens club after a Detective thoughtone of the men was reaching for a gun. All three were unarmed. The officer who initiated the

gunfire, Det. Gescard F. Isnora, was fired by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly several

years after his acquittal along with two other cops by a Queens Supreme Court Justice. The march,also led by Mr. Sharpton, took place in December 2006.

A blogger at http://jd2718.org, who identifies himself or herself as a math Teacher and UFTchapter leader who lives in The Bronx, posted at the time, ―Union President Randi Weingarten

was involved with the organizers, announced she was attending, and initiated a discussion —  but

did not attempt to get the union to endorse the action.‖ The blogger said that in ―the charged

 political atmosphere,‖ an endorsement discussion would have been ―divisive.‖ 

―Without law and order there is no education,‖ Mr. Mullins said. ―...What I find disturbing is it‘s a person who‘s representing the people in our education system is aligning himself with overriding

the judicial system...I think it goes against everything you stand for.‖ 

Says Contract‘s Bad, Too 

He cited what he called the ―terrible contract‖ Mr. Mulgrew recently agreed to and the UFTleader‘s defense of teachers in so-called rubber rooms, many of whom are assigned there because

of discipline problems. ―Should I be defending drug-dealing cops?‖ he asked. 

Mr. Mullins said he could not think of a time when one union offended others in this fashion. Aspokesman for Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitation Workers and chairman of the

Municipal Labor Committee, said, ―The MLC works collaboratively on areas of common concernamong unions, but does not typically choose sides or mediate disputes between individual

members.‖ 

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Ferguson isn’t about black rage against cops. It’s white rage against progress 

By Carol Anderson August 29 The Washington Post

Carol Anderson is an associate professor of African American studies and history at EmoryUniversity and a public voices fellow with the Op-Ed Project. She is the author of  “Bourgeois

 Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941-1960.” 

When we look back on what happened in Ferguson, Mo., during the summer of 2014, it will be

easy to think of it as yet one more episode of black rage ignited by yet another police killing of an

unarmed African American male. But that has it precisely backward. What we‘ve actually seen isthe latest outbreak of white rage. Sure, it is cloaked in the niceties of law and order, but it is rage

nonetheless.

Protests and looting naturally capture attention. But the real rage smolders in meetings where

officials redraw precincts to dilute African American voting strength or seek to slash the

government payrolls that have long served as sources of black employment. It goes virtually

unnoticed, however, because white rage doesn‘t have to take to the streets and face rubber bulletsto be heard. Instead, white rage carries an aura of respectability and has access to the courts,

 police, legislatures and governors, who cast its efforts as noble, though they are actually driven bythe most ignoble motivations.

White rage recurs in American history. It exploded after the Civil War, erupted again toundermine the Supreme Court‘s Brown v. Board of Education decision and took on its latest

incarnation with Barack Obama‘s ascent to the White House. For every action of African

American advancement, there‘s a reaction, a backlash. 

The North‘s victory in the Civil War did not bring peace. Instead, emancipation brought white

resentment that the good ol‘ days of black subjugation were over. Legislatures throughout theSouth scrambled to reinscribe white supremacy and restore the aura of legitimacy that the anti-slavery campaign had tarnished. Lawmakers in several states created the Black Codes, which

effectively criminalized blackness, sanctioned forced labor and undermined every tenet of

democracy. Even the federal authorities‘ promise of 40 acres —  land seized from traitors who hadtried to destroy the United States of America —  crumbled like dust.

Influential white legislators such as Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (R-Pa.) and Sen. Charles Sumner (R-

Mass.) tried to make this nation live its creed, but they were no match for the swelling resentment

that neutralized the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, and welcomed the Supreme Court‘s 1876

United States vs. Cruikshank  decision, which undercut a law aimed at stopping the terror of the Ku

Klux Klan.

 Nearly 80 years later, Brown v. Board of Education seemed like another moment of triumph —  with the ruling on the unconstitutionality of separate public schools for black and white students

affirming African Americans‘ rights as citizens. But black children, hungry for quality education,

ran headlong into more white rage. Bricks and mobs at school doors were only the most obvious

signs. In March 1956, 101 members of Congress issued the Southern Manifesto, declaring war onthe Brown decision. Governors in Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and elsewhere then

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launched ―massive resistance.‖ They created a legal doctrine, interposition, that supposedly

nullified any federal law or court decision with which a state disagreed. They passed legislation to

withhold public funding from any school that abided by Brown. They shut down public schoolsystems and used tax dollars to ensure that whites could continue their education at racially

exclusive private academies. Black children were left to rot with no viable option.

A little more than half a century after Brown, the election of Obama gave hope to the country andthe world that a new racial climate had emerged in America, or that it would. But such audacious

hopes would be short-lived. A rash of voter-suppression legislation, a series of unfathomableSupreme Court decisions, the rise of stand-your-ground laws and continuing police brutality make

clear that Obama‘s election and reelection have unleashed yet another wave of fear and anger. 

It‘s more subtle —  less overtly racist —  than in 1865 or even 1954. It‘s a remake of the Southern

Strategy, crafted in the wake of the civil rights movement to exploit white resentment against

African Americans, and deployed with precision by Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

As Reagan‘s key political strategist, Lee Atwater, explained in a 1981 interview: ―You start out in1954 by saying, ‗N-----, n-----, n-----.‘ By 1968 you can‘t say ‗n-----‘ —  that hurts you. Backfires.

So you say stuff like ‗forced busing,‘ ‗states‘ rights‘ and all that stuff. You‘re getting so abstractnow you‘re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you‘re talking about are totallyeconomic things, and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites. And

subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I‘m not saying that.‖ (The interview was originally

 published anonymously, and only years later did it emerge that Atwater was the subject.)

 Now, under the guise of protecting the sanctity of the ballot box, conservatives have devised

measures —  such as photo ID requirements —  to block African Americans‘ access to the polls. A

 joint report by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the NAACP emphasized thatthe ID requirements would adversely affect more than 6 million African American voters.

(Twenty-five percent of black Americans lack a government-issued photo ID, the report noted,

compared with only 8 percent of white Americans.) The Supreme Court sanctioned thisdiscrimination in Shelby County v. Holder , which gutted the Voting Rights Act and opened the

door to 21st-century versions of 19th-century literacy tests and poll taxes.

The economic devastation of the Great Recession also shows African Americans under siege. The

foreclosure crisis hit black Americans harder than any other group in the United States. A 2013

report by researchers at Brandeis University calculated that ―half the collective wealth of African-American families was stripped away during the Great Recession,‖ in large part because of the

impact on home equity. In the process, the wealth gap between blacks and whites grew: Right

 before the recession, white Americans had four times more wealth than black Americans, on

average; by 2010, the gap had increased to six times. This was a targeted hit. Communities of

color were far more likely to have riskier, higher-interest-rate loans than white communities, withgood credit scores often making no difference.

Add to this the tea party movement‘s assault on so-called Big Government, which despite the

sanitized language of fiscal responsibility constitutes an attack on African American jobs. Public-

sector employment, where there is less discrimination in hiring and pay, has traditionally been animportant venue for creating a black middle class.

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So when you think of Ferguson, don‘t just think of black resentment at a criminal justice system

that allows a white police officer to put six bullets into an unarmed black teen. Consider the

economic dislocation of black America. Remember a Florida judge instructing a jury to focus onlyon the moment when George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin interacted, thus transforming a 17-

year-old, unarmed kid into a big, scary black guy, while the grown man who stalked him through

the neighborhood with a loaded gun becomes a victim. Remember the assault on the Voting

Rights Act. Look at Connick v. Thompson, a partisan 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 2011 thatruled it was legal for a city prosecutor‘s staff to hide evidence that exonerated a black man who

was rotting on death row for 14 years. And think of a recent study by Stanford University

 psychology researchers concluding that, when white people were told that black Americans areincarcerated in numbers far beyond their proportion of the population, ―they reported being more

afraid of crime and more likely to support the kinds of punitive policies that exacerbate the racial

disparities,‖ such as three-strikes or stop-and-frisk laws.

Only then does Ferguson make sense. It‘s about white rage. 

Stanford research suggests support for incarceration mirrors whites'

perception of black prison populations

Informing the white public that the percentage of black Americans in prison is far greater than the

 percentage of white people behind bars may not spur support for reform. Instead, it might actuallygenerate support for the policies –  such as stop-and-frisk and three-strikes laws –  that created the

situation.

By Shara Tonn August 6 Stanford Report

Stanford psychology researchers discovered that when white voters perceive more blackAmericans in the prison population, they support harsher laws.

Although African-Americans constitute only 12 percent of America's population, they represent

40 percent of the nation's prison inmates.

But informing the white public of this disproportionate incarceration rate may actually bolster

support for the very policies that perpetuate the inequality, according to a study published in

 Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Stanford psychology researchers Rebecca Hetey and Jennifer Eberhardt found that when white

 people were told about these racial disparities, they reported being more afraid of crime and more

likely to support the kinds of punitive policies that exacerbate the racial disparities.

The expansion of harsh policies –  such as California's Three Strikes law and similar measures byother states –  has led the United States to have the largest per-capita prison population in the

world.

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"Most people likely assume this must be due to rising crime rates, but the explosion in the prison

 population is better explained by harsh criminal justice policies," said Hetey, a postdoctoral

scholar and the lead author on the study.

Real-life test 

Hetey and Eberhardt, an associate professor of psychology, wanted to know whether making white people aware of racial disparities in incarceration would bolster or diminish their support for

draconian policies.

Their first experiment unfolded at a train station near San Francisco. A white female researcher

asked 62 white voters to watch a video containing mug shots of male inmates. Some of the participants saw a video in which 25 percent of the mug shots were of black men, while others saw

a video in which the percentage of black men among the mug shots rose to 45 percent.

The participants then had an opportunity to sign a real petition aimed at easing the severity of

California's three-strikes law. "It seemed like a great opportunity –  a real-life political issue –  to

test this question of whether blacker prison populations lead people to accept these more punitive policies," Eberhardt said.

The results were clear. Over half of the participants who'd seen the mug shots with fewer black

men signed the petition, whereas only 27 percent of people who viewed the mug shots containinga higher percentage of black inmates agreed to sign. This was the case regardless of how harsh

 participants thought the law was.

Stop-and-frisk policy

To determine whether fear of crime might explain these findings, Hetey and Eberhardt conducted

a second experiment.

In 2012, the New York City Police Department detained people more than 500,000 times underthe city's controversial stop-and-frisk law. Of that total, 55 percent were African-American. For

their experiment, Hetey and Eberhardt showed 164 white New Yorkers statistics about the prison

 population.

The New York residents read about black inmates either in terms of the national incarceration rate

(40 percent of prisoners are black) or the New York City rate (60 percent.) Next, they were asked

about their support for the stop-and-frisk policy.

About 33 percent of the participants who saw the lower national statistic were willing to sign a petition to end the policy. But only 12 percent of those who saw the higher city rate of black

incarceration were willing to sign the petition.

Participants who saw the higher rate of black incarceration were more likely to report concern

over crime, which was associated with reluctance to sign the petition.

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Social activists or policymakers trying to fight inequality often use statistical evidence to motivate

 people to join their cause. In light of this study, that strategy may backfire.

"Many legal advocates and social activists seem to assume that bombarding the public with

images, statistics and other evidence of racial disparities will motivate people to join the cause and

fight inequality," Hetey said. "But we found that, ironically, exposure to extreme racial disparities

may make the public less, and not more, responsive to attempts to lessen the severity of policiesthat help maintain those disparities."

"Our research shows that numbers don't always speak for themselves," Eberhardt said. "Reducing

inequality takes more than simply presenting people with evidence of extreme inequality."

Shara Tonn is an intern at the Stanford News Service.  

In Defense of the Ferguson Riots

 by Robert Stephens II August 14 Jacobin Magazine

The protesters in Ferguson aren‘t irrational or apolitical. They are calling attention to their basic, unmet

needs.

Over the weekend, police in Ferguson, Missouri murdered Michael Brown, a black teenager.

While details are still trickling in, it‘s clear that during a confrontation with a squad car a block

away from his grandmother‘s house, an officer shot and killed the unarmed teen in the middle of

the street. Witnesses say Brown was running away from the policeman and had his hands in the air just before the officer shot him.

Ferguson is a city with a large concentration of poor blacks under the control of overwhelminglywhite institutions. The killing immediately struck a nerve. Rallies and protests erupted as people

took to the streets —  eventually culminating in a riot. Crowds went from holding candle light

vigils at the site of Brown‘s death to burning down a number of businesses and lighting molotovcocktails during confrontations with police. How did we get here?

Far from a mindless, violent mob, the people of Ferguson were engaged in concerted politicalconsciousness-raising leading up to the insurrection. A video taken at the scene shows a number of

 political

agitators talking with the crowd, converting momentary outrage into political unity. One speaker

in particular, a young black male, offers a cogent political analysis that frames the injustice of police brutality as a byproduct of the community‘s economic dislocation. 

We keep giving these crackers our money, staying in they complexes, and we can‘t get no justice.

 No respect. They ready to put you out [if you] miss a bill … You got to be fed up. 

Riots, like other forms of political action, can build solidarity. They can create strong feelings of

common identity. The outrage in Ferguson quickly attracted marginalized people throughout the

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region. Rather than evidence of illegitimacy, the presence of these ―outsiders‖ reflected the

magnetic power of the political moment.

From the outset, the anti-police police rallies that pr eceded the riots had a clear ―us versus them‖

dynamic. At one point during the rally, the woman holding the camera says, ―Where the thugs at?

Where the street tribes when we need y‘all?‖ and the crowd then begins to call on various street

gangs to abandon ―black -on- black‖ violence and unite in struggle against oppression. Thecommunity was unified and ready to take action. The police were the problem, and they had to be

stopped.

The crowd was not irrational and apolitical. They were attempting to use this opportunity to

address their broader political needs. They knew that intraracial violence within the communitywas also an issue, and that in most cases the perpetrators of violence are the communities‘ own

children, cousins, friends, and neighbors. Though many claim that black people don‘t care about

violence within our communities, the crowd‘s calls for gang unity demonstrate that anti-police

uprisings provide unique opportunities to unite people in ways that seek to resolve long-termissues like gang violence.

Following the insurrection, participants continued to discuss the uprising in political terms.

DeAndre Smith, who was present at the burned down QuikTrip, told the local news, ―I believe that

they‘re too much worried about what‘s going on to their stores and their commerce and

everything. They‘re not worried about the murder.‖ A second man added, ―I just think whathappened was necessary, to show the police that they don‘t run everything.‖ Smith then concludes,

―I don‘t think they did enough.‖ 

In a second interview, this time with Kim Bell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Smith expanded on

his belief in the riot as a viable political strategy.

This is exactly what‘s supposed to happen when an injustice is happening in your community … Iwas out here with the community, that‘s all I can say … I don‘t think it‘s over, honestly. I think

they just got a case of what fighting back means, in St. Louis, the last state to abolish slavery. Dothey think they still have power over certain things? I believe so.

This is how they receive money: businesses and taxes, police stopping people and giving themtickets, taking them to court, locking them up —  this is how they make money in St. Louis.

Everything is all about money in St. Louis. So when you stop their flow of income they have

things organized in a certain way … ‗we‘re gonna eat, you‘re gonna starve,‘ gentrification —  putyou in a certain neighborhood by yourself and see if you can starve … It‘s not going to ha ppen,

not in St. Louis.

Smith identifies what so many self-styled anti-racists and leftists fail to understand —  that racism

is not an issue of moral character. He recognizes that the broader economic order facilitates and

 benefits from racial subjugation, and so he‘s looking for ways to intervene and disrupt that

 process. Not only is this a more substantive analysis than what is often offered on the Left, butacting on this analysis is the only way to eradicate entrenched racial hierarchy.

Typically, when events like the Ferguson rebellion occur, well-meaning people rush to condemn

the participants. At a minimum, they dismiss rioting as unproductive and opportunistic —  a few

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 bad apples spoiling the bunch. This is precisely the attitude that Deandre Smith was criticizing in

his first interview. Most detractors, some of whom are black themselves, seek to police these

communities with ―respectability politics‖ —  a call for subjugated people to present themselves inways that are acceptable to the dominant class in an effort to make political gains.

As the political scientist Frederick Harris wrote in an article this year:

What started as a philosophy promulgated by black elites to ‗uplift the race‘ by correcting the

‗bad‘ traits of the black poor has now evolved into one of the hallmarks of black politics in the ageof Obama, a governing philosophy that centers on managing the behavior of black people left

 behind in a society touted as being full of opportunity.

But the politics of respectability has been portrayed as an emancipatory strategy to the neglect of

discussions about structural forces that hinder the mobility of the black poor and working class.

Whereas riots are often galvanizing community events with the potential to unleash concerted

 political energy in dynamic and unpredictable directions, the stale politics of respectability only

leads to further marginalization and dislocation. Now, it‘s possible to disagree with the utility ofinsurrection. But these communities‘ responses to subjugation must be discussed in political terms

and not simply dismissed out of hand.

We live in a context of white supremacy and neoliberal capitalism, where race-neutral policies are

 being used to maintain class exploitation and racial hierarchy, and any overt attempts to address

racism are being dismantled or disregarded. These policies only intensify the economic dislocationand poverty experienced by those at the margins.

What both the local news interviewees and the crowd at the scene of Brown‘s death seemed tounderstand was that they needed to disrupt the interplay between racial subjugation and capitalism.

They felt that a march or some other acceptable form of benign indignation would not addresstheir political needs —  and they weren‘t wrong. 

Many of us rush to condemn these types of disruptions because we‘re actually content with

neoliberalism‘s post-racial illusion. At the burned down QuikTrip, someone left a sign addressedto their ―corporate neighbor,‖ in the hopes that the business would return: ―Dear Corporate

 Neighbor, I am sorry this act of robbery & violence has happened. Please return soon. I stop in 2-3

time[s] per week.‖ 

On the surface, addressing the effects of rioting is an important political issue. By framing

themselves as a customer in need of their ―corporate neighbor,‖ it‘s possible that this person is

acting not out of concern for the working people that lost their jobs —  their actual neighbors —   but from the fear that their shopping routine will be disturbed. Like Deandre Smith observed, we

identify more strongly with broken windows than broken people.

From the Boston Tea Party to Shays‘ Rebellion, riots made America, for better or worse. In the

 past, white rioters have had access to institutional power, which allowed some of their grievancesto be legitimized and politically resolved, at least to extent possible in a capitalist society. The key

for the Ferguson uprising, as with any unsustainable political moment, is to transition outrage and

disruption into constructive political organization. Easier said than done —   but it‘s a better

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reaction than dismissing the riots and only making it more difficult for the people to accomplish

this herculean task.

Malcolm X reminds us that media is a key instrument of subjugation because it determines which

acts are respectable and which are extreme and thus illegitimate. Instead of following that familiar

script, let‘s push back against narratives about rioters being devoid of politics. Let‘s find ways to

honestly observe and discuss their political needs, rather than simply criticizing the nature oftheir response to social violence.

Will Ferguson be a moment or a movement?

By Frederick Harris August 22 The Washington Post

 Fredrick Harris is a professor of political science and the director of the Center on African American Politics and Society at Columbia University. He is the author of  “The Price of the

Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics.” 

When does a moment become a movement?

Events such as the killing of unarmed, 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., can providethe moral shock that political movements need to build their ranks and bring attention to a

community‘s afflictions. They can be like the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 or the

 beating death of Matthew Shepard in 1998 —  transformative episodes that remake perceptions and

force a society to abandon abhorrent practices.

Or they can be like the 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers: a horrific

moment that failed to create a sustained push for broader, nationwide reforms of policing practices.

For black Americans, the outrage against the police that we‘re seeing in Ferguson has appeared in

roughly 10-year intervals —  from the 1979 beating death of Arthur McDuffie by police, which

sparked protest and violence in Miami; to the attack on King, which led to more than 50 deathsand several days of unrest in Los Angeles; to the 2001 shooting death of 19-year-old Timothy

Thomas in Cincinnati, which also erupted in protest and rioting and produced a costly economic

 boycott against the city.

So perhaps America was due for another bout of unrest. But will Ferguson recede in the coming

days and weeks, becoming the scene of just another tragic slaying that didn‘t lead to meaningfulchange in police conduct toward black or brown communities? Will history remember  MichaelBrown less like Emmett Till and more like Rodney King?

I‘m optimistic that Ferguson can lead to real change. The church rallies, street demonstrations,marches, looting and targeted violence against police are familiar responses. But there are four key

differences in what is unfolding in Ferguson: first, the cumulative effect of recent cases of police

misconduct against black people across the nation; second, a backlash against rhetoric that blames

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 poor black youth for the way they are treated by police; third, the use of innovative protest tactics;

and finally, the support of allies beyond the black communities that are demanding justice for

Brown and reforms in policing.

It‘s happening again and again 

Ferguson reflects the changing mood in black America, and the realization that police misconductis not isolated to particular communities but is a nationwide crisis. Since the fatal shooting of

Trayvon Martin by self-described neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012,a series of killings of unarmed black youths by police and vigilantes has brought black frustration

to the boiling point.

Last September, 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell was gunned down by a white police officer in

Charlotte while looking for help after a car crash. The following month, 19-year-old Renisha

McBride was shot to death in Dearborn Heights, Mich., by a white man who assumed that the teenwas attempting to break into his home and fired at her from behind a locked screen door. She was

also seeking help after a car crash.

The outcome of the February 2014 trial of Michael Dunn, a white man who killed 17-year-old

Jordan Davis during an argument over loud music in Jacksonville, Fla., angered many black

Americans who thought that Dunn should have been convicted for Davis‘s death rather than forthe attempted murder of the three survivors of the shooting.

And about three weeks before Brown‘s killing in Ferguson, 43-year-old Eric Garner died from a police chokehold in Staten Island, N.Y., after telling the arresting officers that he could not

 breathe.

Police misconduct has often been treated as a local matter. But the cumulative effect of these and

other events points to a national challenge, and it is only deepening black mistrust of lawenforcement and the criminal justice system.

Putting blame where it belongs

There is a widespread belief among white Americans, as well as many black ones, that the

hairstyles, clothing, music and speech of poor and working-class black youths are the causes of

aggressive police reactions —  basically, that the kids are asking for it. This belief reflects a long-standing tradition of respectability politics, in which progress against poverty and discrimination

must flow from black people behaving differently, better.

In a nationwide 2008 poll by ABC News and Columbia University‘s Center on African AmericanPolitics and Society, 44 percent of black Americans said they believed that the reason African

Americans faced difficulty moving ahead was because they lacked individual initiative. Thirty-seven percent said that the lack of black progress was caused by racism in society.

This divide mirrors the lack of consensus among African Americans about how to deal with racist police practices. Either keep your head down at all times in public to avoid run-ins with police

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officers —  or with white people more generally —  or demand that you be treated as equals under

the law, just like anyone else, without needing to strive for some flawless ideal.

In the wake of Ferguson, many black and white Americans alike have awakened to the idea that a

lack of respectability is not the problem; the problem is policing practices in black and brown

communities. In Brown‘s case, the allegation of his role in a ―strong arm‖ robbery  before his

encounter with officer  Darren Wilson has not defused protest. Indeed, the accusations heightenedresidents‘ anger, because many fail to see a connection between the alleged robbery and Brown‘s

shooting, especially since Wilson had no knowledge of Brown‘s potential involvement at the timeof the shooting. Blame is falling where it belongs —  on the officer for his aggressive policing, not

on Brown for being less than superhuman.

Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, appointed by the governor to oversee security in

Ferguson, has eloquently challenged the notion that black youths‘ appearance says something

about their propensity toward crime. ―When this is over,‖ he told a church audience, ―I am going

to go in my son‘s room. My black son. Who wears his pants sagging. Wears his hat cocked to theside. Got his tattoos on his arm. But that‘s my  baby.‖

Such arguments reflect reality: Embracing respectability does not provide a shield against police

misconduct. The stellar credentials of Ferrell, a former Florida A&M University student with a 3.7

GPA who was working his way back to college, did not protect him from being shot down by

 police. Nor did the professional status of Arizona State University professor Ersula Ore preventher from being manhandled by a police officer, who wrestled her to the ground after she politely

asked why she was being stopped for jaywalking and treated disrespectfully.

Taking the fight online

While the streets of Ferguson have been the scene of protest and confrontation, social media  —  in

 particular ―Black Twitter‖ —  has emerged as a powerful forum for activism and debate regardingFerguson, helping sway public opinion by challenging racially biased interpretations of Brown‘s

killing. For example, black people on Twitter and Facebook have posted images of themselves informal clothes alongside pictures of themselves in informal attire, asking whether they deserved to

 be under suspicion because of the way they were dressed. They have posted individual and group

 photos with their hands raised in a gesture of surrender —  as witnesses reported Brown did whenhe was shot —  with hashtags such as #HandsUpDontShoot and #blacklivesmatter. And they have

used social media to coordinate vigils for Brown and other victims of police brutality, to organize

rallies across the country, and to post links to live-streaming sites that show the Ferguson protests

in real time.

With Ferguson more than ever before, social media has become the game-changer of blackactivism, filling the void left by the weakening of traditional civil rights leaders and organizationsthat used to play a vital role in interpreting events for the black community, but now have less

credibility in that community than they did a generation ago.

Channeling anger into reform

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Increased anger and distrust, shifting perceptions of blame, and new protest techniques will go

only so far. If Brown‘s death is to lead to a true movement, it must transcend the street unrest and

hashtag angst that too often stand in for political organizing.

To succeed, movements require strong organization and coordination. The kinetic energy from

 protests in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, the District and elsewhere

needs to be harnessed to build local organizations aimed at combating police brutality. Localactivism, in turn, should be linked to regional and national efforts and protest campaigns such as

the Dream Defenders in Florida and the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina and Georgia. This is how numbers and influence grow.

A movement will also need allies beyond black communities, such as immigration reformers andLGBT groups, whose constituencies are also affected by police brutality. And in the best tradition

of the civil rights movement, allies should be sought abroad. Highlighting human rights abuses in

the United States on the world stage —  as Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X and Martin

Luther King Jr. did during the Cold War —  will put more pressure on America to live up to its professed ideals of freedom and equality.

Lastly, movements require patience and persistence. Once the marching stops and the cameras

leave Ferguson, the grinding work of organizing will have to take hold. The 1955-1956

Montgomery bus boycott lasted a year until victory was declared, and congressional legislation

 banning racial discrimination in public accommodations and voting did not pass until a decadelater. It took 17 years for LGBT activists to repeal ―don‘t ask, don‘t tell.‖ Change does not come

overnight.

What may keep Ferguson from becoming a national transformative event is if ―justice‖ is narrowly

confined to seeking relief for Brown and his family. If the focus is solely on the need for formal

charges against Wilson, a fair trial, a conviction, a wrongful-death lawsuit —  rather than seeing

those things as part of a broader movement that tackles stand-your-ground laws, the militarizationof local police, a requirement that cameras be worn by police on duty and the need for a

comprehensive federal racial-profiling law. If justice remains solely personal, rather than

universal.

Some believed that the beating of Rodney King and the riots that followed would lead to improved policing in black communities. But energy went toward rebuilding, not reforming. Ferguson

 presents an opportunity to pursue a different course. Let‘s turn this tragedy into a tipping point.