Nothing is more contemptuous than allowing the body of a black kid to lie in the street for over fours, bleeding out. Instead of an ambulance picking up the body of Mike Brown to take his remains to the medical examiner, his lifeless body was hauled away in a police SUV. These powerful images quickly went viral as did the message: black life is worthless.
All the white men in charge, from the governor on down to the mayor, appeared to have no problem with this scenario. There was no rise of indignation, no empathy with the righteous anger from citizens – only cover up and justification.
We now find out that Gov. Jay Nixon went about his regular duties after the shooting, implying the death of an unarmed, black kid is no big deal. According to documents acquired by the Associated Press, the governor’s schedule included “announcing grants to preschools and visiting the State Fair.” It wasn’t until the fifth day of Ferguson going up in smoke that the governor turned his full attention to the volatile situation. Apparently, the black folks who have the governor’s ear were also sleep at the wheel.
This level of indifference and insensitivity takes me back to another man in high authority who had to be told to put on his human cap and respond to the suffering and deaths of black folks during Hurricane Katrina. It is unclear whether these people can be sufficiently humanized to accept the fact that black people are human beings with inalienable rights. Still, black people and other people of color must stand their ground and demand their civil and human rights.
Nixon is also at the center of the lethal injection scandal where the state has been fast-tracking executions, regardless of pending court rulings, circumstances or newly discovered evidence. He has gotten Attorney General Chris Koster and the General Assembly to help hide the state’s execution methods.
On the eve of the execution of a black man named Earl Ringo, National Public Radio has discovered the Missouri Corrections Director George Lombardi has lied under oath about the drugs being administered to death row inmates. The governor has the power to say let’s halt executions until we get it right. In my opinion, you can never get the death penalty right, but Missouri’s veil of secrecy has to be fully yanked off to see what else is behind that sinister curtain.
We keep getting droplets of the immoral, unethical and now illegal execution process. I was furious to find out that the state has administered the illegal drug midazolam before the execution warrant of Michael Taylor had even been completed. What is up with this haste to kill black men?
Ferguson must become a very different place, valuing the participation of black folks at many levels. As America’s racial and ethnic demographics change, attempts to maintain white supremacy cannot be tolerated. White men in power can chose to be leaders in the healing and empowerment of the Ferguson community.
Every time a decision is made to casually end a black life, a reaction can be expected. What we say and how we treat people who don’t look like us can have consequences – or could move us into a place of justice and peaceful co-existence.
