Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani responded to the killing of Michael Brown by labeling it a significant exception and wondering why werent talking about black on black crime. Giuliani was not out on a limb. The charge of insufficient outrage over black on black crime has been endorsed, at varying points, by everyone from the NAACP to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson to Giulianis archenemy Al Sharpton. Implicit in this notion is that outrage over killings by the police should not be any greater than killings by ordinary criminals. But when it comes to outrage over killings of the police, the standard is different. Ismaaiyl Brinsley began his rampage by shooting his girlfriend—an act of both black-on-black crime and domestic violence. On Saturday, Officers Liu and Ramos were almost certainly joined in death by some tragic number of black people who were shot down by their neighbors in the street. The killings of Officers Liu and Ramos prompt national comment. The killings of black civilians do not. When it is convenient to award qualitative value to murder, we do so. When it isnt, we do not - Ta-Nehisi Coates
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 18:08:33 +0000
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