From the floor of the House of Representatives to the field of the corporate-named football stadium in St. Louis, people are protesting injustice, inequality and the way African-Americans are treating by putting their hands up in a don’t shoot kind of way.
Yesterday, students and workers all over the nation walked out of classes and workplaces to make a statement, as CBS News reported,
The pose has come to symbolize a movement, even though witnesses offered conflicting accounts of whether 18-year-old Michael Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in August.
The power of the symbol was evident again Monday. Protesters across the country walked off the job or away from class in support of the Ferguson protesters. Walkouts took place in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere.
Even members of the Congressional Black Caucus joined the St. Louis Rams in this statement of solidarity.
But all of this is just too much for lily-white Joe Scarborough to handle! Somehow Joe Scarborough missed the day in law school when they learned what a Grand Jury is, what it isn’t, and how they are supposed to operate.
Instead, Jerk Scar is under the serious misconception that a Grand Jury led by a “prosecutor” to find no probable cause for a trial means that the shooter has been cleared of all wrongdoing. Wrong! It simply means that, in that one Grand Jury proceeding, that Grand Jury did exactly what the “prosecutor” (who, in this case, was acting as the defense attorney for the accused) wanted them to do- protect the cop.
Here’s a little bit of the Jerk’s idiotic reasoning:
What did Joke Scarborough claim was a lie? That Michael Brown had his hands up in a “Don’t Shoot” stance when Officer Darren Wilson shot him dead? Scar claims that was a lie because the Grand Jury didn’t indict him?
Once again, let me point you toward the chart that PBS NewsHour so beautifully put together which shows that when asked “Did Michael Brown put his hands up when fired upon?” most of the witnesses said YES.
That question is the second from the right. To make it easier for you, I’ll do the counting…
Out of all the witnesses who were asked that question, two responded in the negative, that Michael Brown did not raise his hands. Sixteen said he did have his hands up! None of them who testified multiple times changed their answers. Sixteen said Brown’s hands were up, two said they weren’t.
Who’s lying Scarborough? Better question is Why does Joe Scarborough still have a show on MSNBC?
To try to understand what so much of the country – actually, the world- is thinking, I called on the always insightful Tim Wise, who returned to the show this morning. Tim’s written six books on racism in America
Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority (City Lights Open Media)
White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male
Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama
with a seventh on the way. In the wake of the Grand Jury announcement, a couple of his essays are certainly worth reading, from Most White People in America Are Completely Oblivious to Far More Than Anecdote: Quantifying Racism and White Privilege in the Criminal Justice System – and everything else he’s written!
To be continued….
In the second hour, it was our regular Tuesday morning gathering with GottaLaff. In addition to talking the Ferguson fallout, I asked her about a conundrum I’m struggling with. My daughter’s 10th grade English class has been reading Stephen King’s The Green Mile.
Her teacher gave them a page of Bible verses with the assignment to read them and note where in the book a character or situation relates to the Bible passages. I was a bit taken aback. Actually, I was pissed! Separation of church and state and all that!
I had a conversation with the teacher this morning, and asked her to send me a copy of the assignment. She insists that she’s not teaching religion; I offered that if Alison was taking a Bible as Literature class that it might be appropriate, but I still object to this lesson.
Tomorrow, I’ll post the actual lesson and we’ll take it from there… Susie Madrak will join me, and I’m sure she’ll have an opinion on the matter, radio or not!
