Chief Justice Taney,
Bill Cosby and the Verdict From Ferguson
The world waits for the decision from the Grand jury in Ferguson.
Many of us will interpret the Grand jury decision as an answer to
the question: Is it still okay for a white man to shoot down and kill a
black man, without provocation, in cold blood?
Chief Justice Taney declared in 1856 (Dred Scott Decision) that
African Heritage people “…had no rights or privileges but such as those who
held power and the government might choose to grant them”. In other
words, Black people had no rights that white people needed to respect.
They had neither the right to life, to liberty or to the pursuit of
happiness.
One hundred fifty-eight years later, 20 minutes from the steps of
the courthouse where Taney delivered his fateful decision, the Missouri
Governor mobilizes the National Guard, the local police organize with terrorist
gear, and the world goes on stand by to wait for the verdict. Will the
white man who shot unarmed Mike Brown down in the street be held
accountable? Will he be brought to trial?
The common discourse that frames this watching and waiting has
many historical parallels. One historical parrallel is the narrative that Black folks lives don’t
matter, and can be taken by a white man at will.
Another historical parrallel is that Black men are monsters and must be
treated as such.
The media is consumed at the moment with accusations of rape
leveled toward Bill Cosby. I question what this particular
manipulation of public opinion, consciously or unconsciously, aims to
accomplish. How does this manipulation of public opinion coincide with
and support the historic view that Black lives don't matter, and that Black men
are monsters and must be treated as such?
Can it be that this media obsession is not, as some have
suggested, “about the media … trying to assassinate another Black man [‘s] character”?
Might it be that the project in this case is larger and more far-reaching?
Might this be part of the centuries old project of manipulating the public mind
to create an image of Black men in general as “depraved, animalistic, and to be
feared”? The Bill Cosby mess has apparently been 16 to 20 years or more
in the making. Why did it explode just days before the Grand Jury is
expected to deliver a verdict in Ferguson?
Might it be that if the dominant discourse serves to reinforce a
fearful image of Black men in the eyes and minds of white people, then the
killing of Mike Brown, and other young Black men, can be perceived as
completely justifiable? The media might not consciously aim to destroy
Bill Cosby. It doesn't have to. Cosby might be collateral damage in
a larger matter. The media is doing what it has always done,
orchestrating public opinion. If the lesson is learned that any
Black man, even jello-eating Father Huxtable, is to be feared (who wouldn’t
fear a serial rapist?), and should be destroyed, then wouldn't it be the case
that white men (the shooters have mostly been men), especially those who wear
badges, have a right - even an obligation - to shoot Black men when they get
them in their line of sight? Why should a policeman in Ferguson be brought to
task for doing what any scared white person would do? Why should that
policeman in Ferguson be punished for doing what common discourse requires of him?
Cosby participated in fostering the narrative that the lives of
young Black men are without value, that they should be blamed for the
difficulties that they show, and that they need to be brought to heel.
The current discourse might establish whether or not Cosby is a rapist.
Certainly any rapist should be exposed and punished. Whether Bill Cosby
is a rapist or not deserves to be investigated. Might it be, however, that Bill
Cosby is being brought to heel at this particular moment (he escaped this level
of scrutiny for 16 plus years) to serve the larger purpose of bolstering a
public image of Black men as fearful, King Kong like, and deserving to be
struck down.
If this image of Black men is sufficiently established in the
minds of the white public, and others who have internalized the narrative that
black men are to be feared and their lives don't matter, then they can
properly believe that the killing of Mike Brown was justified. Might this
media frenzy be about preparing the public for a possible failure to indict?
Meanwhile, the world waits for the verdict from Ferguson.
