MJ was right. They Don’t Care About Us.
95% of people who have access to some kind of electronic device or at the very least have some semblance of a social life has heard of the United Airlines incident so I don’t feel a strong need to recap it. I can sum it up in 3 short sentences. United Airlines staff members discovered flight was overbooked with all passengers already seated. No “voluntary” passengers offered to give up the seat they paid for (imagine that). Asian man gets violently removed from seat and other passengers had camera phones, the rest is history.
I had read many types of commentary, analysis, and social media feedback on this scandal but I appreciated this article that I came across on Medium because it offered a different perspective on this issue.
Paul Constant (political writer for the blog Civic Skunk Works) used the different lenses that certain sectors of society viewed the incident in and efficiently tied them in to his main point. Comparing the jokes and memes posted on social media, the news stories published that advised people to use any privileges available to them (AKA stop being poor, just buy a first class ticket), and last but not least the way Wall Street was raising its eyebrows at the financial success of United being overbooked. His point being corporations put their bottom line ahead of the safety and wellbeing of their consumers and working class people especially. I totally agree with him on various points, but especially on the issue of leaders in big business manipulating low and working class people to vote for policies that would only be beneficial for the rich people at the top. This was top highlight in his piece and for good reason.
Here’s the thing: when you support trickle-down economic policies that put profits before people, this is what you get. Low-wage jobs, deregulation, and tax cuts for huge corporations result in a culture in which businesses enjoy a tremendous amount of power over ordinary citizens.
Ever notice that when white people commit a crime, they’re just a person?
In another episode of What in the actual f*ck.
The New York Post continued forging their legacy in the kingdom of trash “news” outlets by posting this crock of crap on March 22, 2017. I mean where to start?
Do I start with the fact that the idiot who wrote this decided to highlight the fact that a PSYCHOPATH that killed an innocent old man was well dressed?
Do I start with the fact that he chose to use the phrase “surrenders to cops” in order to elicit sympathy and show that he eventually did the right thing?
Do I start with the fact that he blatantly lied by saying that him and Timothy Caughman were in a fight before he stabbed him, as if this was some act of self defense and not a hate crime, when he said his self that he came to New York specifically to kill black people?
Or maybe I should start with the fact that he decided the victim’s name wasn’t important enough to mention it until the second to last paragraph?
I could clearly go on about this for a while so I’ll try to get to the real reason I’m supposed to be here.
I read about this event last week like everyone else so when I came across this blog post written by a fellow by the name of Benjamin YoungSavage. The name of this post is “A Tale of Two Vigils”. His use of imagery with small sentence and paragraph captions to compare the first vigil for Caughman in Hampden to a second vigil held in Mount Vernon by Tariq Touré told the story beautifully and creatively. The first was filled with white (literally there was only one black family there) Hampden sympathizers pretending to care about Caughman and movements like Black Lives Matter, but were only there to defend the obviously untrue sentiment that “Hampden isn’t racist!” I liked that he included a video of a wonderful young woman named Megan Kenny who was giving them their lives child! Giving all the receipts unabashedly like YES.
The second vigil was described as more reflective and somber, less fragile. They respected the fact that this man was a human, a family member gone too soon. I’m glad that this blogger decided to dedicate this post to him because he didn’t deserve that. No one does.
I thought I would close with this quote from his blog, just some food for thought.
Tariq Touré closes with a few thoughts: “Freddie Gray had a knife on him, and he’s no longer with us. Timothy Caughman’s killer had a damn SWORD and was taken into custody safely.
On my way here, a white couple moved to the opposite side of the sidewalk. This happens all the time, just being a Black man.
But given the history, Timothy should have been freaked out at the mere sight of a white man, let alone one with a sword.
I know you feel uncomfortable talking with your families about racism. But if you don’t, we’re going to continue to have more Timothy’s.”
http://nypost.com/2017/03/22/well-dressed-suspect-in-fatal-stabbing-surrenders-to-cops/
