Jon Stewart Vidwrap: Brown, Garner, and Race
1) Go on a Daily Show binge.
2) Write about it on your blog, because sometimes, Jon Stewart is damn well on point.
3) Maybe add some other links as well?
4) I dunno; I actually have no words here. Have some from some other people. (Post title is misleading; there's non-Daily Show links below the three videos linked.)
(This is a one-off post; generic weekly linkwrap service returns tomorrow.)
On the St. Louis Rams "Hands Up"
edit: These videos were originally embedded, but then they started auto-playing
...joining in a common signal of solidarity, like that Hunger Games Katniss three-finger salute. Of course, obviously, the District Eleven residents who held up their hands like that were immediately attacked by the police, which is where our metaphor...uh...um...alright.
(related: Salon | Mockingjay's eerie echoes of Ferguson: Our real dystopian nightmare)
Larry Wilmore: "We're race-aholics. We'll always be in recovery, and the best we can hope for is to manage it."
Stewart: Larry, if I may, there's been some talk that none of the events of these past few weeks have actually been about race. (clips roll) What do you say to those people?
Wilmore: Oh, I don't know, Jon...I would say that they should probably go fuck themselves?
and:
Stewart: You don't think a conversation about black-on-black crime should be happening now?
Wilmore: It is, Jon, but it's a black-on-black conversation. Just becaue you're not hearing it doesn't mean it's not happening -- go to any black church on a Sunday!
On the Staten Island Decision
If comedy is tragedy plus time, then I need more fucking time, but I would really settle for less tragedy, to be honest with you.
I think what is so utterly depressing is that none of the ambiguities that exist in the Ferguson case exist in the Staten Island case. And yet the outcome is exactly the same: no crime, no trial, all harm, no foul...The coroner called it a homicide, the guy isn't acting threatening, and we know that not through witness testimony from unreliable bystanders but because we are fucking watching it. Someone taped it.
and:
We are definitely not living in a post-racial society, and I can imagine there are a lot of people wondering how much of a society we're living in at all.
and:
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! FUCK!
Yeah, me too, Jon.
Here, have two more links from the land of satire:
President Obama Proposes Funding for 50,000 Police Navi
The fairies, which will manifest as winged balls of glowing light, have been designed to prevent instances of police brutality by hovering over officers’ shoulders and shouting “Hey! Listen! Hey! Due process!” when they appear ready to use excessive force.
Obama Calls For Turret-Mounted Video Cameras On All Police Tanks
"This initiative will ensure that police officers across the country will be held accountable for their actions as they pour out of an 18-ton combat vehicle in response to a routine call," said Obama, who announced a detailed plan to allocate funding to equip every single armored personnel carrier, landmine-resistant SWAT van, and battle-ready half-track with an onboard camcorder to monitor police conduct.
And one honest one, a commentary on police militarization written by a combat veteran: Soldiers? Marines? Nope -- that's police officers on patrol in Ferguson
That's a no-no, officer -- unless you're about to shoot someone.
Generally, we refrain from this in actual war-zones. Because we know that pointing guns at people not posing a threat will bite us in the ass later. This is how you inspire an insurgency.