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† Criminal InJustice is a weekly series devoted to taking action against inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system. Nancy A. Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Race/Ethnicity, is the Editor of CI. Kay Whitlock, co-author of Queer (In)Justice, is contributing editor of CI. Criminal Injustice is published every Wednesday at 6 pm.
Beyond Words
by nancy a heitzeg
How many words have been written of Mike Brown? of Ferguson? How many more will come — Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Darrien Hunt, Vonderitt Myers, Kajieme Powell, Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley, one every 28 hours?
We’ve written many ourselves — some here, here, here, here, and here – but now, what new words are there? Suspended for the moment – like an ant in ancient amber– I can only return again to the first words on Ferguson, written before we even knew Darren Wilson’s name… Back to the beginning, to August 13, to Jelani Cobb in The Anger in Ferguson:
“The hazard of engaging with the history of race in the United States is the difficulty of distinguishing the past from the news of the day….The truth is that you’ve read this… so often that the race-tinged death story has become a genre itself, the details plugged into a grim template of social conflict.”
In this spectacle and script, all that has changed are the names. What it is left to say?
So no words now. The bodies in the street, the die-ins on the freeways, the symbolic protests will carry us through. And the artists will give us strength to fight another day.
h/t @Luvvie, Luvvie’s Lane
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