Thursday, November 27, 2014

In Defense of "Thugs"

I am not here to demonize Darren Wilson. I have many former students, and people I coached who are police officers and when tragedies like this happen, I prefer to focus on how police are being deployed, trained and instructed to perform rather than an individual officer's actions.

However, I am beyond ENRAGED by the campaign of demonization directed at Michael Brown. This so-called "thug" was no different from hundreds of thousands of young men playing high school and college football, no different from scores of young men I coached, and not much different from what I was like at his age. The chances were excellent, given his family and his future college plans, that he would lead a productive life, like millions of other so called "thugs" before him. Like my players. Like my students. Like me

.His death was an unspeakable tragedy. A waste of talent and potential. And a terrible blow to the prospects of unity and understanding in our divided nation.

Until we learn to love and protect our Michael Browns, we are descending into a very deep hole, one our history has prepared for us, but
from which we still have time to escape.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Why would he have had to "calm down"? So as to satisfy the white liberal definition of a "productive life"? Sounds like taking the knowing of his place to the next level!

Mark Naison said...

Point taken. Note change in the text

Unknown said...

So you know lot's of kids who attack white cops?

Unknown said...

We need to protect the Michael Browns? So now your saying that it's ok that Mike Brown robbed a store and attacked a cop? That's ok but it's not ok for the cop who has a family to defend himself. What you are saying is that it's ok to beat a cop as long as you stand down before he shoots you. What you are saying is that it's ok for Black men to attack white men because as white men we just don't understand the emotions of being black and wanting to steal cigars. Your right about that last one.

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