What are white people allowed to say?
I invite you to compare the following excerpts from,
first, a news story in the Washington Post Metro section, and
second, an Op-Ed opinion column by their very senior African-American columnist, Colbert I. King.
The emphasis in the first story is added.
replaced with mixed-used community
by Luz Lazo
Washington Post Metro Section, 2014-10-18
On Tuesday,
crews worked on demolishing 49 run-down apartment buildings
[the Glenarden Apartments]
off Landover Road in Glenarden, just down the road from FedEx Field,
while dignitaries and former tenants looked on.
The old low-income housing complex is slated to become
a new mixed-use community,
with housing for seniors and low- and moderate-income residents,
along with market-value townhouses, retail and commercial space.
The 573 units
of what were once garden-style subsidized apartments on 27 acres
have been empty since 2012,
when hundreds of families were displaced after decades in which
the complex was poorly managed,
failed to meet housing and safety codes
and became a haven for crime and drug activity.
“It had really been a bad place and a nuisance,”
said Eric C. Brown, director of housing and community development for Prince George’s County.
“The community is really excited about seeing this troubled property being demolished,
and something new and exciting coming out of it.”
...
Glenarden Mayor Dennis Smith said the complex’s history
cast a pall over the city
and that the redevelopment will help Glenarden move forward.
“I am glad for this day because it signifies the end of an era and
a housing project where drug addiction was rampant,
an era where
a housing project had an intolerable crime rate,
an era where
children of the housing project were not advancing academically [along with] the other kids
because of intolerable living conditions,” Smith said Tuesday.
...
Homeowners across the street
couldn’t keep their lawn mowers in their yards
because they would be stolen,
recalled state Sen. Joanne C. Benson (D-Prince George’s), who represents the area.
...
By Colbert I. King, who writes a regular Saturday opinion column for the Post
Washington Post Op-Ed, 2014-11-28
[So far as I know Mr. King has not complained about the characterization of the Glenarden Apartments in the above Post news article.
But he sure does find objectionable some statements by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson
that seem to me to be not too different from the above characterizations,
but of course to a different set of apartments.
To wit, here is (part of) what Mr. King wrote:]
...
Listen to [Ferguson police officer Darren] Wilson’s grand jury testimony,
in which he characterizes the Ferguson community that he patrolled:
Wilson: “It is an antipolice area for sure.”
Prosecutor: “And when you say antipolice, tell me more?
Wilson: “There’s a lot of gangs that reside or associate with that area.
There’s a lot of violence in that area,
there’s a lot of gun activity, drug activity,
it is just not a very well-liked community.
That community doesn’t like the police.”
Prosecutor: “Were you pretty much on high alert being in that community by yourself,
especially when Michael Brown said, ‘[expletive] what you say,’ I think he said?”
Wilson: “Yes.”
Prosecutor: “You were on pretty high alert at that point
knowing the vicinity and the area that you’re in?”
Wilson: “Yes, that’s not an area where you can take anything really.
Like I said, it is a hostile environment.”
We are in a bad place.
[I totally fail to see a problem, just based on those statements.
The issue, to me, is:
How accurate were those sentiments?
If they were accurate, then Officer Wilson was totally justified in both holding them,
and stating that he held them.
Should he lie and say that a crime-ridden, hostile-to-police area wasn't that?
If they were inaccurate, then it is up to Mr. King to demonstrate
why Officer Wilson was mistaken in those sentiments.
But columnist King makes not the slightest effort to refute those sentiments.
What he does do, just before the excerpt from his column above,
is give a quotation from the 1940s, from Gunnar Myrdal:]
“The white policeman in the Negro community . . . feels himself in danger.”
Written in the 1940s.
[Obviously a generalization.
Surely sometimes true and sometimes false.
But in any case, so what?
Are white police officers not allowed, in Mr. King's desired world,
to hold and express the sentiments Officer Wilson did above?
Does Mr. King believe that any holding such sentiments are,
mistaken, deluded, racist, or something else, Mr. King?
Then there is also the following brief passage from the New York Times:]
By MONICA DAVEY, MICHAEL WINES, ERIK ECKHOLM and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
New York Times, 2014-11-30 (Sunday)
[This is a long article,
describing the various issues the grand jury had to sort through.
The only part that is relevant to this particular post is the next to last paragraph:]
Another witness [before the grand jury],
who said Mr. Brown should not have been shot so many times,
said she had agonized over the shooting.
[Well, Mr. King,
why is it okay for this witness, very likely an African-American,
to say the area "was too dangerous",
but when Officer Wilson made similar comments,
that, in your words, meant "We are in a bad place"?????
Can it be that you are one of the anti-white bigots?
Note added on 2015-08-21:
For further honest, objective, accurate information about
the "environment" in which Darren Wilson fired his shots in self-defense,
see "After gunfire kills 9-year-old, a Ferguson officer grieves".
Sounds to me like Darren Wilson described the environment rather accurately.
One must really wonder about the honesty of those who criticize ex-officer Wilson.
It seems to me that a real black mark against America
is that he has been unable to continue his police career,
due to unfair and unjust attacks on his actions.
But hey, this is the new PC America.]
first, a news story in the Washington Post Metro section, and
second, an Op-Ed opinion column by their very senior African-American columnist, Colbert I. King.
The emphasis in the first story is added.
2014-10-28-WP-glenarden-apts-in-landover-area-to-be-razed
Glenarden Apts. in Landover area to be razed,replaced with mixed-used community
by Luz Lazo
Washington Post Metro Section, 2014-10-18
On Tuesday,
crews worked on demolishing 49 run-down apartment buildings
[the Glenarden Apartments]
off Landover Road in Glenarden, just down the road from FedEx Field,
while dignitaries and former tenants looked on.
The old low-income housing complex is slated to become
a new mixed-use community,
with housing for seniors and low- and moderate-income residents,
along with market-value townhouses, retail and commercial space.
The 573 units
of what were once garden-style subsidized apartments on 27 acres
have been empty since 2012,
when hundreds of families were displaced after decades in which
the complex was poorly managed,
failed to meet housing and safety codes
and became a haven for crime and drug activity.
“It had really been a bad place and a nuisance,”
said Eric C. Brown, director of housing and community development for Prince George’s County.
“The community is really excited about seeing this troubled property being demolished,
and something new and exciting coming out of it.”
...
Glenarden Mayor Dennis Smith said the complex’s history
cast a pall over the city
and that the redevelopment will help Glenarden move forward.
“I am glad for this day because it signifies the end of an era and
a housing project where drug addiction was rampant,
an era where
a housing project had an intolerable crime rate,
an era where
children of the housing project were not advancing academically [along with] the other kids
because of intolerable living conditions,” Smith said Tuesday.
...
Homeowners across the street
couldn’t keep their lawn mowers in their yards
because they would be stolen,
recalled state Sen. Joanne C. Benson (D-Prince George’s), who represents the area.
...
2014-11-28-WP-colbert-king-deep-south-justice-in-ferguson
Deep South justice in FergusonBy Colbert I. King, who writes a regular Saturday opinion column for the Post
Washington Post Op-Ed, 2014-11-28
[So far as I know Mr. King has not complained about the characterization of the Glenarden Apartments in the above Post news article.
But he sure does find objectionable some statements by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson
that seem to me to be not too different from the above characterizations,
but of course to a different set of apartments.
To wit, here is (part of) what Mr. King wrote:]
...
Listen to [Ferguson police officer Darren] Wilson’s grand jury testimony,
in which he characterizes the Ferguson community that he patrolled:
Wilson: “It is an antipolice area for sure.”
Prosecutor: “And when you say antipolice, tell me more?
Wilson: “There’s a lot of gangs that reside or associate with that area.
There’s a lot of violence in that area,
there’s a lot of gun activity, drug activity,
it is just not a very well-liked community.
That community doesn’t like the police.”
Prosecutor: “Were you pretty much on high alert being in that community by yourself,
especially when Michael Brown said, ‘[expletive] what you say,’ I think he said?”
Wilson: “Yes.”
Prosecutor: “You were on pretty high alert at that point
knowing the vicinity and the area that you’re in?”
Wilson: “Yes, that’s not an area where you can take anything really.
Like I said, it is a hostile environment.”
We are in a bad place.
[I totally fail to see a problem, just based on those statements.
The issue, to me, is:
How accurate were those sentiments?
If they were accurate, then Officer Wilson was totally justified in both holding them,
and stating that he held them.
Should he lie and say that a crime-ridden, hostile-to-police area wasn't that?
If they were inaccurate, then it is up to Mr. King to demonstrate
why Officer Wilson was mistaken in those sentiments.
But columnist King makes not the slightest effort to refute those sentiments.
What he does do, just before the excerpt from his column above,
is give a quotation from the 1940s, from Gunnar Myrdal:]
“The white policeman in the Negro community . . . feels himself in danger.”
Written in the 1940s.
[Obviously a generalization.
Surely sometimes true and sometimes false.
But in any case, so what?
Are white police officers not allowed, in Mr. King's desired world,
to hold and express the sentiments Officer Wilson did above?
Does Mr. King believe that any holding such sentiments are,
mistaken, deluded, racist, or something else, Mr. King?
Then there is also the following brief passage from the New York Times:]
2014-11-30-NYT-quote-the-area-was-too-dangerous-unquote
Raised Hands, and the Doubts of a Grand JuryBy MONICA DAVEY, MICHAEL WINES, ERIK ECKHOLM and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
New York Times, 2014-11-30 (Sunday)
[This is a long article,
describing the various issues the grand jury had to sort through.
The only part that is relevant to this particular post is the next to last paragraph:]
Another witness [before the grand jury],
who said Mr. Brown should not have been shot so many times,
said she had agonized over the shooting.
She often warned her son to stay away from the area,
she said, because
it was too dangerous.
[Well, Mr. King,
why is it okay for this witness, very likely an African-American,
to say the area "was too dangerous",
but when Officer Wilson made similar comments,
that, in your words, meant "We are in a bad place"?????
Can it be that you are one of the anti-white bigots?
Note added on 2015-08-21:
For further honest, objective, accurate information about
the "environment" in which Darren Wilson fired his shots in self-defense,
see "After gunfire kills 9-year-old, a Ferguson officer grieves".
Sounds to me like Darren Wilson described the environment rather accurately.
One must really wonder about the honesty of those who criticize ex-officer Wilson.
It seems to me that a real black mark against America
is that he has been unable to continue his police career,
due to unfair and unjust attacks on his actions.
But hey, this is the new PC America.]
posted by KHarbaugh at 18:00
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