It's Because of Race or Something

Ferguson. I'm sure we've all heard about it recently: on the news, from our friends, whilst eavesdropping on that antisemitic guy a few cubicles over. The point is we've all heard it, and we're all angry.

Unless you're like me and don't really know where Ferguson is.

It's right there, on the chef's nipple.

With that now out of the way, we can be angry. But about what? I don't know about you guys, but I'm just picking up on everyone's latent anger and allowing myself to succumb to the herd. Mmm, Hivemind, you feel so good. Makin' thinkin' so simple and easy.

What's happened 

Thankfully, Wikipedia already has a page devoted to just this subject, so my job is easier. I'll just give a quick rundown so we're all on the same page.

• Ferguson, Missouri, August 9th
• Black guy, Michael Brown, is alive
• Cop, Darren Wilson, also alive
• Guy and cop begin arguing over something stupid (walking down the middle of the street)
• RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE
• Gun discharged, guy runs
• Cop pops a cap in guy. Then does it five more times.
• Everyone else learns about it.
• RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE
• People believe Brown was actually surrendering and cop still popped caps
• I don't know what happened since I wasn't there (thankfully?)
• Lots of riots everywhere, thank you Hivemind
• Race gets mixed into it because of course it does
• Cops v Everyone else
• It's like Mortal Kombat in Ferguson
• Tear gas, SWAT gear, looting (why are we looting, exactly?)
• Things calm down a little
• Pretty much everyone forgets (or at least I did)
• Cop goes before Grand Jury
• Justice, right?
• lolno
• Grand Jury doesn't indict
• People mad, riots break out again
• Because the justice system isn't justice enough? I'm not actually sure. And this is the part where I get to toss my opinion around

Opinions, WOO

There are two problems I have with the recent riots.

Race is still an issue.

That single sentence produced 1.21 jiggawatts of privilege.

And that the prescribed justice apparently isn't justice-y enough.

I don't understand it, but I'm angry anyway

I've made sure to polish and reinforce my angry-word armor, so if you simply must share with me your thoughts on the above matter, then go for it. Little ol' Kyle may be a beautiful flower, but you won't be his first thunderstorm. 

Race Baiting

I want to be surprised that race is still an issue. I want to, but I'm not. Look, maybe the cop did shoot the guy because he was black; I don't know. Yes, statistically, blacks aren't held as equals to whites (or other races, since other races are less equal). But that's not my point.

My point is that race is still the headlining issue in this.

It's that race, before everything else, seems to be the sole reason for the riots, protests, angry words, etc. Maybe as a white dude, I just can't understand anything because my privilege glasses tint everything to look more white dude-ish. Or maybe, just maybe, this isn't a race issue. No, at heart, to me, this transcends racial lines. It's a blackness so black that neither Al Sharpton nor Jesse Jackson will get mad at me for calling it black: corruption.

DAMN YOU, CHAOS

Yes, my friends, this shooting only shows the corruption in the police force that we've all known about. It's a recent (or maybe not so recent) fling down Brutality Lane that everyone, regardless of color, has been experiencing. 

White folk.

Brown folk.

Black folk.

Hell, even rainbow folk if you count Russia.

The protesters and rioters had a beautiful, beautiful chance to unify the entire country against a corrupt police force. After all, everyone loves to stick it to The Man, and when The Man thinks he's big and tough, it just makes toppling and subsequently tea bagging him all the more fun. You know who really doesn't like brutal police taking their property for arbitrary reasons?

These guys. 

Don't get it? Check out their version of funny maymays:

No caption could distract you from how scarily well-armed these guys are.

In case the above image makes it seem like they're bad people or something, they aren't. They're dudes and chicks who really like the Constitution and the part that lets them own all those cool ass firearms. And from my observations and interactions, most of them are white.

"But Kyle!" The SJW inside you leaps to the keyboard to begin typing your counter-thesis, "White people can't understand! And guns are scary! And also peaceful protests!"

To address your well-thought concerns in order: 1) Well damn, I guess alienating members of the social majority is a good idea. 2) Only if you don't know how to use them (like the police, who... nobody actually knows how many people cops kill with firearms). And 3) Peaceful my ass.

I'm not advocating bringing more force to level with the police or powers-that-be; that'd only continue this perpetuating cycle of angry buttfuckery. But words are much more persuasive when you have force to back it, and 3%'ers provide that force, because that is their God given right. 

AMEN!

That's just one group of whiteys. Going out on a limb, I'm willing to bet most whiteys don't like a brutal, arbitrary group of power roving the streets like a pack of wild dogs, out to destroy people not wearing their colors.

I just described a street gang. It's that bad.

There are, of course, people of every other color living in 'Murrica. So why focus only on blacks and their plight? Why continue this shooting as just a problem for blacks when it should be a problem for everybody?! Maybe I can't understand because I'm white, but holy hell, can't we be the single human race instead of whatever-color-your-skin-is-race?

God bless this woman.

But there's more!

Unfair justice is bad justice. Fair justice is good justice. Unless you don't think the fair justice was good justice, in which case, it's bad justice.

To quote a certain me:

And 3) Peaceful my ass.

People are going around all a-lootin' and a-pliagin' like they're some goddamn vikings and the world is their British coast. Why?

Why?

Why?

How does that help anything?! It's a Hitler logic of "if we commit crime to erase crime, we didn't commit crime!" Alright, maybe that's just an exaggeration that I needed to meet my Hitler quota for the day, but that's not the point. Committing acts of crime and violence, especially against innocent people, solves Dimma-damn all.

Pictured: looters

That's not even all of it, though. Yesterday, November 24, Darren Wilson went before a Grand Jury to face his charges. Grand juries are like if juries stopped being little pussies and started to mainline anabolic steroids. Or something to that effect. Either way, these are the guys that got a final say in whether Mr. 5-0 up there went away for a long time. Their decision?

He wasn't indicted of his charges, meaning that they found a probable cause for the defendant's (Wilson) actions.

That is not to say he didn't shoot Brown. He most certainly did. But the Grand Jury decided that his reasons, the evidence, testimonies, and so on were good enough to not convict him of the crimes. Justice, right? We might not like the decision, but the legal systems we choose to vest ourselves in made the decision and we sorta have to respect those decisions, even if we don't like them.

Maybe there's corruption in the legal system too? I don't know. But the point to a court hearing isn't to make you feel better, or to make judgments based on "Well, I think..." but to make a judgement based upon the letter of the law. I'm not a fancy pants legal man, but if the jurors didn't find the evidence compelling enough to indict him, I pretty much have to respect their decision. He can't be tried again for the charges, so unless new ones materialize (something police are actually pretty good at) he can't be tried again.

But breaking laws does not fix other ones. It's like with the Zimmerman trial. Florida has some fucked up laws - hell, it's a trope - but breaking into stores to steal televisions doesn't help to ammend or fix said fucked up laws.

I fear for us.

This will ruffle some feathers, I'm sure, and by all means, if you feel compelled to do so, then tell me off. But have some sound backing to it, otherwise you just look like an angry Muppet who learned to type.