I'm (We're) Obviously Not Outraged By Michael Brown's Death

I'm not outraged by Michael Brown's death.  Don't get me wrong, I definitely recognize his death as an atrocity. I am ashamed of its occurrence in my country by my government.  I would much rather that it hadn't happened, and that things like it wouldn't happen in the future.  However, I'm definitely not outraged.  I probably said, on hearing the news, that I was outraged, but it wasn't true.  If I were outraged, I probably would have written and published something in the first few hours of hearing about it before looking around for something else more substantial I could do.  It's been a year now, and I'm finally getting around to finishing this draft I last edited 8/16/14.

That's not what outrage looks like. It's horrible, really, when you think of how many high profile names I could have used for this title, in just the past couple of years, and how many low profile names I could probably find if I looked. It's also horrible that Black people have to keep dying for me to remain focused on the topic of changing the system that's killing them. That wouldn't be the case if I were outraged; I'd be thinking about it all the time, not just when I read about another execution-without-trial in the news, or see another anniversary roll by without any substantial changes to prevent it happening again.

If I am being honest, for me it is merely a shame. A damned shame. Much like if I heard of a lion being poached. That's in contrast to somebody who, for instance, has to wonder every time they drive a car, shop for s'mores, call the police for protection, call for an ambulance, share a home, be out near other Black people, (to name but a few activities) whether an encounter with the police could prove ultimately fatal. For me to claim outrage would be an attempt at appropriating the moral high ground of being opposed to an injustice without either facing its effects myself or actively attempting to undo it. Exaggerating my feelings about it to position myself as "one of the good ones" cheapens the impact of everyone whose outrage is authentic.

I know I'm not alone, here.  The fact that police really only gear up to contain protests in Black neighborhoods after they shoot an innocent Black person proves that nobody else must be truly outraged.  The fact that even our "Progressive" politicians typically ignore the Black Lives Matter campaign shows that we don't even prioritize it on an intellectual basis.  It's not something we're going to disrupt our own lives to try to change; expect no uprising from us.  We know what the police do is wrong, but we have also been so successfully distanced from the people being oppressed that it doesn't register to us as our problem.  We believe so firmly that this could never happen to us that we won't risk anything to protest to enforce the rule of law and the constitutional rights of Black citizens. We allow the rule of law to decay and the application of "justice" to become arbitrary and excessive because we believe ourselves unlikely to be personally harmed.  Unlawful police killings of Black Americans are outrageous, but I'm not outraged.  I'm complacent at best, complicit at worst.

So unless and until I actually do something that takes real commitment, I'm not going to say I'm outraged anymore even though I know I should be, and I don't think anyone else who isn't being targeted should either. Let me be clear: I'm not saying I want everyone to stop saying they're outraged; what I want is for everyone to demonstrate their outrage through action (pun definitely intended). Imagine, for instance, if everyone who says they're outraged when these atrocities occur actually took to the streets to demand national changes in police policies and additional constitutional protections.  If everyone called up their congressmen with the same message.  If everyone attended meetings of their political party primary to demand it be a top agenda item (Oh, or maybe something like this?). If everyone researched judges, District attorneys, police chiefs, sheriffs, and any other elected law enforcement VIPs to change police policies in their own localities.

But most of us are not outraged.  Perhaps if we stop saying we are without accompanying action, we'll remember that we need to contribute more than words and really get involved in bringing social justice. It doesn't matter what I feel or think about racism; all that matters is what I do. May this serve as a reminder, to me more than anyone, that it's time to get outraged; it's time to do something, and then another thing, and then another thing, and then another thing, until #BlackLivesMatter to our society.