Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
In Democratic Baltimore, Black Lives Don’t Matter

In Democratic Baltimore, Black Lives Don’t Matter

Last updated on: July 28, 2016 at 10:05 am by Tom Swiss

In Democratic Baltimore, Black Lives Don’t Matter 2016-07-28T10:05:21-04:00 Tom Swiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

After three acquittals and one hung jury, all remaining charges against the six Baltimore police officers who killed Freddie Gray with their direct actions and their negligence have been dropped. The deadly cops have all been reinstated on the city payroll.

Image by Alex Lozupone, via Wikimedia commons. CC BY-SA 4.0

At a press conference City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby spoke of the obstacles to prosecution, how she and those working for her had been “physically and professional threatened, mocked, ridiculed, harassed and even sued.” She described the lack of accountably for police who commit crimes against the people they are supposed to protect:

Unlike with other cases where prosecutors work closely with the police to investigate what actually occurred, what we realized very early on in this case was police investigating police, whether they’re friends or merely their colleagues, was problematic. There was a reluctance and an obvious bias that was consistently exemplified not by the entire Baltimore police department, but by individuals within the police department in every state of the investigation which became blatantly apparent in the subsequent trials.

Sadly, none of this is unexpected to those who have been paying attention. It’s entirely consistent with other recent cases in which police were exonerated after killing innocent people (especially African-American people) and also with the history of the Baltimore City Police Department — a force whose baseless arrests and harassment of citizens (especially African-American citizens) was decried by a grand jury a decade ago.

And in this election year, it’s worth noting that all this has happened in a city that is throughly under Democratic control, in a deep blue state with a Democratically-controlled legislature and which has had Democratic governors for 42 of the past 48 years. And for the past eight years it’s happened with a Democrat in the White House.

This is important because backers of Hillary Clinton would like us to believe that if Donald Trump wins the presidential election, poor and African-American citizens will be imperiled. But when we look at the policies that have most harmed these constituencies, the War on (Some) Drugs and mass incarceration and so-called welfare “reform”, we find bipartisan support and sometimes direct Democratic responsibility.

It’s no wonder that #BlackLivesMatter protesters were shouting out over a speech at the Democratic National Convention by Cory Booker in which he called for “more respect…more support, more cooperation and love” for the police forces that act like occupying armies in poor neighborhoods.

I’m reminded of an exchange in the 1998 political comedy Bulworth:

Black woman: Are you saying the Democratic Party don’t care about the African-American community?
Bulworth: Isn’t that obvious? You’ve got half your kids out of work and the other half are in jail. Do you see any Democrat doing anything about it? Certainly not me! So what’re you gonna do, vote Republican? Come on! Come on, you’re not gonna vote Republican!

And certainly with Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket, making Nixonian appeals to law-and-order and inviting Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke to give a speech demonizing the #BlackLivesMatter movement and praising the acquittal of Freddie Gray’s killers, few African-Americans are going to vote Republican any time soon.

And this illustrates why the most urgent matter in 2016 is not to put Clinton or Trump in the White House, or to block Trump or Clinton from winning — it will make precious little difference at the bottom. The important thing is to break open the two-party system, so that we might be able to create a space for solutions.

This is the year the American political system hits bottom. We can start the recovery and healing, but only if we first admit how our behavior has led us to ruin and vow to take positive steps to reform:

Stop viewing the Democratic Party as protectors of the downtrodden. It’s factually untrue. Stop viewing the Republican Party as protectors of so-called “ordinary Americans”, i.e. the white working class. It’s factually untrue. Both parties are machines for getting more Democrats or Republicans into office, that’s all.
Assert your political independence, your dedication to rationality and fact over party identity. Critical thinking is hard but tribalism is easy, so don’t make it easy for yourself to fall back on tribalism. It’s best to disaffiliate from all political parties, but if you’re stuck with a closed primary system and choose to remain a member of a party to avoid disenfranchisement don’t let that draw you into thinking of yourself as a Democrat or Republican — or a Green or a Libertarian. Back individual candidates, never a party. (Though some strategic voting may be necessary until smaller parties have obtained the equality they are due under the law.)
Avoid blanket condemnation of other parties or ideological groups, e.g. “Rethuglican” or “libtards”. A lot of people have a lot of bad ideas (I’m looking at most Americans there, honestly) but we’re all in this together and cannot afford us-vs-them. Again, that feeds tribalism. Criticize specific ideas, policies, and when appropriate candidates; but when you denigrate an entire party you close yourself off to good ideas they may offer — however occasionally.
Pledge to withhold your vote from any candidate who does not promise to work to open the system to independent and third-party candidates, who doesn’t back at least some measures like opening publicly-funded primaries to all of the public, ballot access for all, or instant run-off voting.
Look to solutions outside the state. People in poor minority neighborhoods already know that the police aren’t there for them, as Hector Luis Alamo recently wrote:

Growing up in a heavily segregated suburb of Chicago — where all the poor people of color and immigrants lived on one side of town, while the well-off white people lived on the other side — my friends and I knew never to call the police, even in times of need. I vividly recall arguing with two girls from the other side of town when they suggested I call the police to report a crime committed against me. As much as I wanted justice, I feared the cops more, and knew without pause that the police would treat me as the other criminal in the case. There are no police for blacks and Latinos, especially boys. The police belong to other people.

Can we help those people find community-based ways to prevent violence and theft?

We need to stop big business from exploiting workers and consumers and polluting the planet, but regulation is often corrupt and often works more to interfere with the small local entrepreneur than to leash large concerns that actually have to power to do harm. Consider, for example, how Utah has laws requiring a cosmetology license — nearly two years of school and $16,000 in tuition — to braid hair, while in the same state companies get away with dynamiting bedrock for gravel and mining oil sands without appropriate permits.

Can we use new information technology to organize workers and consumers to take direct action with boycotts and strikes?

Building non-state solutions doesn’t mean immediately abolishing the police or ending business regulation, or letting up on pressure for better government. It means empowering citizens to practice democracy at the most direct level, leaving us less reliant on bureaucrats and elected representatives — and thus leaving less motive and room for corruption.

You can keep up with “The Zen Pagan” by subscribing via RSS or e-mail.

I’ve got a new book! What Does It Mean For The Gods To Exist? and other essays collects my run on the Patheos Agora blog plus a few bonus pieces.

If you do Facebook, you might choose to join a group on “Zen Paganism” I’ve set up there. And don’t forget to “like” Patheos Pagan and/or The Zen Pagan over there,
too.

Previous Post

July 14, 2016

Discordianism Through Its Literature

Next Post

July 29, 2016 Lammas Reflections

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2017 52 Makeup 2020 52 Makeup Always Roaming With A Hungry Heart Art Because I Could Not Stop For Death Caught On Video COVID-19 Culture Discordianism Ethics, Virtue, and Right Living History Magic(k), Ritual, and Mysticism My Blogging Life and Times Philosophy Podcast Poetry Random Wednesdays Religion & Politics Seasonal Musings Techno-Pagan Theology Uncategorized Warrior Path Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 September 2024 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 June 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the primary construction in Biblical times?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bronze chisel Iron hammer Stone hammer Wooden mallet