I should be writing about El Paso and Dayton, but friends, I have written about this country’s idolatrous relationship with guns more than enough and I write about white supremacy all the time.
Anyway…
It started on July 17th.
Continued on August 5th.
And August 9th.
And August 20th.
For six weeks in 2014, the killing of Black men by agents of the state was all over screens.
It’s not as if Black people getting killed by agents of the state was a new phenomenon. It most definitely isn’t. What made these six weeks different was there was video (in most cases) that could be played on a loop.
The movement that started because of the August 9th killing has changed many things. Not enough things, but many.
Five years on, Black people are still killed by agents of the state for anything and everything.
Five years on, the agents of the state still do not (for the most part) face punishment.
Five years on, the families of those killed have to fight to set the record straight.
Five years on, law enforcement agencies still fight against changes in procedure.
In the aftermath of El Paso and Dayton, it is with a melancholy heart that I write about Eric and John and Mike and Kajieme. And think about the others. And see the connections between this and El Paso and Dayton.
The U.S. is so outside the norm when it comes to OECD countries. Especially around guns and mass shootings. And policing. And incarceration.
In no other OECD country is there the toxic brew of easy access to guns and white supremacy. This toxic brew plays itself out in many ways. It plays itself out in law enforcement (and others) having an unnatural fear of black/darker bodies, which causes people to want to arm up to alleviate the fear. Which, in turn, lets those who have other issues (like toxic misogyny, a thread through every mass shooting) create chaos.
It’s been five years. And the toxic brew of easy access to guns and white supremacy is still causing chaos. That’s all there really is to say.
East Of Midnight 