Fifty-foot Riverine Command Boats are far less dangerous than an unarmed Black man running away.
Conspicuously, the right wing freak-out over the sixteen-hour capture and detention of ten US sailors, who admittedly strayed into Iran waters, is as predictable as blaming Black unarmed police shooting victims, for their deaths. How dare the Iranian government stop and question a group of US service men over two Navy vessels with the capabilities of machine gun fire and grenade launching. Although, most Americans believe that there is some sort of mysticism associated with Islam, and that should have allowed the Iranian forces to realize the American intrusion was a navigational snafu, fear is an equal opportunity emotion. Imagine an Iranian small armed transport vessel veering into American waters without a thorough examination into their intentions. Last time that happened a group of would-be, Saudi Arabian, perspective pilots, wanted to learn how to take off and fly a plane without bothering to learn to land.
Walter Scott of South Carolina, Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr of Atlanta, Georgia. Two-men and one teen aged boy, all unarmed, all shot by cowards. Walter Scott, we are told was combative and in his haste to leave the scene of a traffic stop for a brake light violation, was shot in the back at a distance of 10 to 15 feet, five times. Had he only cooperated, we are to believe, he’d be alive today. Trayvon Martin was shot by a self-aggrandizing neighborhood watch patrolman, his crime being an American without permission and exercising his right to pick up a few snacks from a local convenience store. Pursued and surveilled by George Zimmerman, who was armed with a handgun, Martin stood his ground and is now dead. The excuse, if he had just cooperated he’d be alive today. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. cooperated and waited for the long arc of the moral universe to bend toward justice, and was gunned down by a racist who thought somehow the death of one Black man would be the death of all Black men. My grandmother use to say, “James Earl Ray was as wrong as two left shoes.” The sailors, Secretary Kerry and President Obama, did what conservatives say they want, cooperation, but they are calling the President an appeaser for not bringing the full weight and power of the US military down on Iran. Ted Cruz says, fighting back and attempting to survive is sometimes the right thing to do. Today we remember Mr. King, with fondness’ and reverence but let’s not forget the struggle is ongoing and only those not willing to hide behind the perception of a post-racial America will ever solve the problem.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”– Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.