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In A Darkened Stairwell
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According to Time Magazine, a black man was shot in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project by a NYC police officer who had been on the job for a short period of time. The article was on page 15 of the magazine's "Briefings" section, but the article was written in red ink. I commend the magazine for highlighting what the states, the u.s. government, and the police forces of the nation have asked to be kept low keyed. Relegated to a footnote in history, another police shooting, another grieving family.
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Imagine, the economy very poor, the mind of any man in today's USA has enough worries; kids not doing well in school, hating school, fights, the neighborhood not the best, drugs, gangs, schools the worst, no time to learn to read more, too late to learn the new math, rent due, no job or job about to close and move so far away moving is impossible. Lights turned off, no heat in winter. No food again, won't do food stamps for pride. Suicide is not an option according to the preacher. Wife is not happy and always to sick to seek work. Mom is dying, dad left a long time ago. No aunt or uncle can help. The price of gas makes the subway the best way to get around. The bank called again yesterday. Should never have taken out the second mortgage on ma's house. Need new shoes. And here comes a cop. A young one looks like. Lower your head and keep walking.
"Stop!"
"Why?"
"Wrong answer."
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Only the policeman knows what happened that brought his gun from holster and his finger to trigger. I wonder how his fellow officers, especially the black ones, see his act and how well his white and "other" raced officers view him as a human. Will he retire or kill himself or get eaten by the media and the neighborhood. What suburb was he from? We will probably never know the answers to these questions becase as a profession, journalism is the same as fascism and there are no brave reporters working for major corporate run media anymore.
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I want to go find the magazine and post the name of officer and the dead man, but the names change, the actions never end seems. The outcomes are the same, no punishment for the cop in order to keep the authority unsullied and fear in tact. It is, I'm afraid, a tactic that is not only working, it is fermenting hatred among black people at a time when poverty is reaching up to dissolve the black middle class. I wonder if the story would have been buried if the dead man had been the son of a U.S. Senator or an Ambassador? Now that would have sold a few magazines.
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~Star~
02-27-15
1252p
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