Saturday, March 07, 2015

the machinery of galactus


theatlantic |  It must noted that the rhetoric "personal responsibility" enjoys not just currency among the white officials of Ferguson, but among many black people ("black-on-black crime!") who believe that white supremacy is a force with which one can negotiate. But white supremacyas evidenced in Fergusonis not ultimately interested in how responsible you are, nor how respectable you look. White supremacy is neither a misunderstanding nor a failure of manners. White supremacy is the machinery of Galactus which allows for the potential devouring of everything you own. White supremacy is the technology, patented in this enlightened era, to ensure that what is yours inevitably becomes mine.

This technology has proven highly effective throughout American history. In 1860 it meant the transformation of black bodies into more wealth than all the productive capacity of this country combined. In the 1930s it meant the erection of our modern middle class. In Ferguson, it meant funding nearly a quarter of the municipal budget:
The City has not yet made public the actual revenue collected that year, although budget documents forecasted lower revenue than 10 was budgeted. Nonetheless, for fiscal year 2015, the City’s budget anticipates fine and fee revenues to account for $3.09 million of a projected $13.26 million in general fund revenues...

In a February 2011 report requested by the City Council at a Financial Planning Session and drafted by Ferguson’s Finance Director with contributions from Chief Jackson, the Finance Director reported on “efforts to increase efficiencies and maximize collection” by the municipal court. The report included an extensive comparison of Ferguson’s fines to those of surrounding municipalities and noted with approval that Ferguson’s fines are “at or near the top of the list....” While the report stated that this recommendation was because of a “large volume of non-compliance,” the recommendation was in fact emphasized as one of several ways that the code enforcement system had been honed to produce more revenue.
The men and women behind this policy did not approach their effort to "produce more revenue" somberly, but lustily. As the fruits of plunder increased, Ferguson officials congratulated and backslapped each other:
In one March 2012 email, the Captain of the Patrol Division reported directly to the City Manager that court collections in February 2012 reached $235,000, and that this was the first month collections ever exceeded $200,000. The Captain noted that “[t]he [court clerk] girls have been swamped all day with a line of people paying off fines today. Since 9:30 this morning there hasn’t been less than 5 people waiting in line and for the last three hours 10 to 15 people at all times.” The City Manager enthusiastically reported the Captain’s email to the City Council and congratulated both police department and court staff on their “great work.”
It is a wonder they did not hand out bonuses. Perhaps they did. The bonus of being white in Ferguson meant nigh-immunity from plunder. The bane of being black in Ferguson meant nigh-inevitable subjugation under plunder. Plunder is neither abstract nor theoretical. Plunder injures, maims, and destroys. Indeed the very same people who were calling on protestors to remain nonviolent were, every hour, partner to brutality committed under the color of law:
We spoke with one African-American man who, in August 2014, had an argument in his apartment to which FPD officers responded, and was immediately pulled out of the apartment by force. After telling the officer, “you don’t have a reason to lock me up,” he claims the officer responded: “N*****, I can find something to lock you up on.” When the man responded, “good luck with that,” the officer slammed his face into the wall, and after the man fell to the floor, the officer said, “don’t pass out motherf****r because I’m not carrying you to my car.”
The residents of Ferguson do not have a police problem. They have a gang problem. That the gang operates under legal sanction makes no difference. It is a gang nonetheless, and there is no other word to describe an armed band of collection agents.

9 comments:

BigDonOne said...

You can't take chances with folks who have "arguments in their apartments to which police respond..."

Domestic violence calls are among the riskiest for police ---> http://www.cbs8.com/story/15312200/domestic-violence-calls-especially-dangerous-for-cops

CNu said...

What does that have to do with the subject of this post?

BigDonOne said...

@CNu -- [Re: second to last paragraph of original post] it goes to why folks, with genetic tendencies toward violence, tend to get their asses kicked by the cops.

rohan said...

Sounds like your little deranged pet Dawn is saying that violent extremism is the only logical and valid response to paramilitarized parasitism. Isn't that one of his persistent themes anyway?

BigDonOne said...

BD thinks y'all oughta go watch a few dozen episodes of COPs and First_48 to get up to speed in Real World degeneracy....

makheru bradley said...

"I came up in the era of Self-Destruction. I wrote a book largely about violence in black communities. The majority of my public experiences today are about addressing violence in black communities. I can not tell you how scared black parents are for their kids, and whatever modest success of my book experienced, most of it hinged on the great worry that black mothers feel for their sons. There is a kind of sincere black person who really would like to see even more outrage about violence in black communities. I don't think outrage will do it at this point, but I respect the sincere feeling. And then there are pundits who write more than they read, and talk more than they listen, and prefer an easy creationism to a Google search." -- Coates
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/why-dont-black-people-protest-black-on-black-violence/255329/

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/08/black-people-are-not-ignoring-black-on-black-crime/378629/

https://storify.com/BaxDashingrod/ta-nehisi-coates-because-black-on-black-crime

CNu said...

a "people" is only respected to the extent that its gangsters are productive and effective. These are low-level, ignorant, street soldati, are not gangsters, and, they're not doing the American people's gangster business productively or effectively. In fact, they're a corrosive influence precipitating anti-American extremism.

Loyal and faithful soldati are required in order for the gang to operate productively and effectively.

BHO is the foremost American Gangster of all time. In fact, he is the quintessential and exemplary American Gangster. Everything else is remedial conversation....,

BigDonOne said...

"...the era of Self-Destruction..."...is alive and well.

One of BD's favorites---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxyYP_bS_6s

rohan said...

lol, Dawn, is darquekyss you secret online nom de blacque?

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