Several "conservative" commentators have criticized not just the recent riots in Ferguson, Missouri after a young and (apparently unarmed) black man was shot dead by local police( despite having his hands up!) but the subsequent looting of local businesses(NB they did not criticize the shooting of Michael Brown Jr per se- presumably in addition to DWB- Driving Whilst Black, SWB- Shopping Whilst Black, TWB_ Travelling Whilst Black, we must now add SWDANWB- Shot Whilst Doing Absolutely Nothing Whilst Black!).
First of all Mr Brown's family, despite their understandable anguish,along with local community leaders, Al Sharpton and Barack Obama, have expressly called for calm and decried the looting.
Secondly, this is the just latest in a long line of shootings of young black men by whites(cops and others such as self styled vigilante George Zimmerman)- Sean Bell, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner- you can only push a community so far before it feels the need to lash out(as we saw after 9/11 in America ,7/7 in Britain and the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974.) albeit in a deeply self destructive fashion( pace the recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Britain and Europe in the wake of Israel's assault on Gaza)
To quote Peter Finch's character in the 1976 film "Network"- "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more!"
Anybody think as I do?
Terry
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