Ferguson

[Content Note: Police brutality; racism.]

Last week, the grand jury convened to decide whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown returned their decision: No indictment. Though the decision came early in the day, the announcement was scheduled for prime time, and, after a delay past its scheduled start, St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch gave a long, incredibly defensive, and totally inappropriate statement, essentially explaining the shitty and insufficient case he brought before the grand jury.

By way of reminder, McCulloch could have simply opted to indict Wilson. And there is no double jeopardy attached to convening a second grand jury in order to try to secure an indictment. This was not a trial. But the entire thing was a farce, designed specifically to absolve Wilson as thoroughly as possible.

Protests ensued. And continue, throughout the country.

The response to the failure to indict and the ongoing protests, especially among white people, has been predictably heinous.

Following days in which he refused to apologize to Michael Brown's family, and asserted he would not do anything differently given the chance, Wilson finally, begrudgingly, resigned. He will not get a severance package. Except, of course, for the $400,000 raised on his behalf by his supporters.

I've been commenting on these developments over the last week on Twitter. For those who don't follow me on Twitter, here is a collection of highlights of my tweets and retweets.

My tweeting has been visceral, reactive, angry. I want to let that stand as my primary commentary. I don't feel inclined to write a pallid thinkpiece, my rage carefully edited out to make it more palatable. On the other hand, as a white woman, the rage that I feel shouldn't be centered in this moment. This is a moment for listening.

There are pieces of recommended reading written by black women and men linked in the Storify. Read them.

And listen to Jay Smooth, who is brilliant as always:


Transcript here.
And, as always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share links to other pieces in comments.

This is, for white people, a moment to listen to black people. And it is a moment in which we are obliged to speak to one another. To challenge each other. To communicate, unequivocally, that we have a zero tolerance policy on racist rhetoric and behavior. To take the time, when we see opportunities and openings, to educate other white people, or at least give it a good goddamn try. To step up.

This is not the time (it never is) to be a bully under the guise of being an ally. To tone police black people. To mount bitter complaints about #BlackLivesMatter, because "all lives matter." To distance ourselves from white privilege, or to pretend that saying, "I would never behave that way" is a statement of solidarity and not a selfish petition to be recognized as "one of the Good Ones."

To paraphrase an old post, this is the time to stop obliging black people to reassure you that you're one of the Good Ones, and just start being one of them.

This is the time for white people who agree that #BlackLivesMatter to make sure it is not just a statement of fact, but an action we take every day.