© Black Westchester
As I scrolled through my facebook feed on Monday, I saw a variety of responses to the situation in Baltimore. By and large, most seemed to condemn the 'rioting' which shocked and surprised me. Granted, no one likes a riot - they're dangerous for one, and damage the economic prospects of whatever area they hit for another. What I came to realize was that in America, we have a pervasive attitude of victim-blaming which is likely a trickle-down effect of psychopathic rulers and logic being blasted at us via the mainstream media.
© Gray FamilyFreddie Gray
The original event which sparked the protests was the arrest and murder of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who was arrested for running from the police. He suffered a shattered spine while in police custody and of course no one knows how that happened. I'll proffer a suggestion: the 6 cops involved beat him, they beat him so much that one of strongest bones in the human body was utterly destroyed.
Tuesday night, in a perfect example of blaming the victim,
an anonymous source leaked a police document to the Washington Post that claimed the 2nd prisoner in the van, who was separated from Gray by a metal wall and couldn't see him, heard Gray "banging against the walls" of the vehicle and believed that he "was intentionally trying to injure himself." This same
2nd prisoner is denying that he ever said any such thing (the statements come from a search warrant application, not an affidavit written by the prisoner). He said he heard 'little banging' noises which he presumed was from his lifeless body rolling around untethered.
Initial reports seem to differ as well, stating the complete opposite:
BPD Comm Anthony Batts says 2nd prisoner in van with Freddie Gray reports no erratic driving by van driver and Gray mostly quiet
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 24, 2015
We can all see where this is going: the narrative will be something like he wanted to claim police brutality and as such, injured himself. Perhaps he was just plain crazy. Whatever lie is most convenient toward putting the middle class to sleep will be flung across the mainstream and
privileged white people will continue to have no idea what's really going on. I suggest the curious reader go through that piece, it'll give you a sense of just how out-of-touch most upper-middle-class people really are.
Comment: For another real-world lesson on what happens during an economic collapse listen to the Truth Perspective's interview with Fernando Aguirre.