You reap what you sow

What did you expect? Are you really surprised? I won’t call him a hero, Micah, though I’m sure many will. What he did was adventurist and provocative, and has put other lives, especially black lives, in serious danger as the police get set to overreact.

Trayvon Martin = No conviction

Sandra Bland = No conviction
Kathryn Johnson = No conviction         
Sean Bell = No conviction
Eric Garner = No conviction
Rekia Boyd = No conviction
Amadou Diallo = No conviction
Mike Brown = No conviction
Junabu Gray = No conviction
Kenneth Chamberlain = No conviction
Travares McGill = No conviction        
Tamir Rice = No conviction
Aiyana Stanley-Jones  = No conviction
Freddie Grey = No conviction

Maybe Johnson’s action will make the police think about what makes people so angry at them. More likely, the organized white supremacists, including much of the police,  will see this action as the Gulf of Tonkien, Remember the Maine, 9/11, and declare war on Black people. Oh, wait, they've already done that (see above list). Significantly escalate the war on Black people then. The white supremacist movement is armed and organized. Is it really time for gun control? When they disarm the police and the armed forces, I'll be in favor of the people giving up their weapons.

That white supremacist movement could be on the brink of taking over the presidency of the United States. Far too many people who call themselves “left” think this might be a good thing. “Worse is better” –  an outlook which mercifully died with the rise of Hitler. What was the score in that game in 1932, again? Oh yeah, Nazis 33% of the vote, Social Democrats (Bernieites) 21%, Communists 17%. Let me add that up for you. Trump 33%, Democrats 21%, Bernie Sanders independent/Green 17%. Or Hitler 33, Anti-Hitler 38. And of course our anti-hero Micah gave Trump a marvelous gift. False flag? I doubt it. But who the f knows? After this disappointing performance in 1932 – they did better in previous elections – the Nazis just took power in January of 1933, without a single nod to political correctness, democracy, or lawfulness. Indeed the very fluid nature of Trump’s campaign, his lack of strategy is a big advantage. All he has to do is ride the zeitgeist.

Black Lives Matter has been telling us for several years now that there is a war on Black people, led by the police, in this country. One Black person decided it was time to hit the police back in kind. Maybe more people will come to realize that this is a war. It is critical that we stay fully nonviolent for as long as we possibly can. I hope for instance that the Sanders Campaign has developed an army of demonstration monitors that can interrupt any police agents – witting or unwitting – trying to provoke violence in Philly. We'll need trained squads of four to lovingly surround our comrades when we see them picking up a rock or lighting fire to an oily rag. 

And how about that robot??? Peter Weller (Robocop)? Arnold Schwarzenegger? I'm not looking forward to the day when an armed drone is following me everywhere, even to the bathroom.