If we are playing for fun, why keep score?
— Coach Al McGuire
I am saddened in equal measure by the Ferguson grand jury’s proclamation and the opportunistic reaction of roving bands of thieves and thugs bent on pillage, not protest. Who provoked whom? Did the grand jury decision give thugs a rationale to plunder their own community or did the video of Michael Brown pocketing cigarillos give the jury its rationale to put young Michael on trial, posthumously?
Why did the media reduce a very convoluted situation to a headline of “White Cop Kills Unarmed Black Teenager”? The media doesn’t pick sides — it creates sides. We all know that pitting blacks against whites, or vice versa, raises ratings and circulation. Each group scrubs the media reports to glean so-called facts to support their pre-determined beliefs.
Media pundits, solicitous politicians and armchair commentators ignore the powerful undercurrents of America’s racial realities. Even actual video footage is subject to self-serving interpretations. Skilled lawyers can and will interpret videos as not showing what they show. Often what these lawyers are asking us is: “Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?”
Brown and Wilson were both 6-feet-4. In other words, both were pretty big guys. However, thanks to the continued airing of the convenience store video, Michael Brown is considered by many as the menacing Goliath versus little Darren. Still, if the Ferguson Police Department were actually committed to “community policing,” Darren Wilson would have known more of the people he was sworn to “serve and protect.” He could have said, “Mike, come on, get out of the street, you’re creating some traffic issues.”
The grand jury’s decision notwithstanding, I am sure Michael’s mother and father would rather have their son alive than Darren Wilson’s indictment for his murder. Black or white, we must empathize with the Browns. Wilson can explain his actions; a dead Michael Brown Jr. cannot. Darren Wilson has become a willing pawn in a sinister game of racial finger-pointing.
Some believe that the grand jury’s decision was a declaration of Wilson’s innocence. In reality, the grand jury’s decision raised more questions regarding his innocence. I still cringe at the now grainy images of blacks celebrating the O.J. Simpson verdict, a legal triumph of transforming O.J. from a multimillionaire golden boy celebrity into an oppressed black man railroaded by a racist criminal justice system. Today, I am baffled by the smugness some whites are displaying while justifying the killing of young Michael Brown.
Americans are hooked on keeping score in matters between the races. No pun intended, we tend see issues of race in terms of black and white. We don’t want a drop of grey to seep into our perceptions of reality, banded with insulation to keep contradictions out. But only through contradictions can we grow and learn.
We have more in common than we are willing to admit. We have the same physical design, emotional make-up and physiological processes. We all feel pain, joy, fear and love, our color notwithstanding. We must internalize the fact that our color is secondary to our humanity.
Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “The doors of hell are locked from the inside.” Let’s open these doors by respecting the value of each human life and abandoning the scorekeeping mentality that racial hatred requires. Let’s show love, not fear, toward one another.
Michael Brown Jr. did not plan that morning to confront a white policeman. Moreover, I cannot imagine that Darren Wilson’s to-do list included killing an unarmed black teenager. I believe, deep in my heart, that this confrontation should not have risen to the level of lethal force being used on a busy street. We need an open proceeding so that we all can learn from this tragedy.
To be found not guilty is not to be found innocent. For us to become so numb to the loss of human life for the sake of winning an argument is barbaric. I know we Americans are better than this.
Kwame S. Salter, an Oak Park resident, is president of the Salter Consulting Group LLC.