Mike Mike : Murder By Police, Part 3
Mike-Mike
In the previous blog I tried to point out the strange relationship between the popular fictions being presented these days with the less than celebrated reality down on the streets and in the halls of the golden tower….so many people it would seem prefer the sweet emptiness of not being well informed at all about what is going on. They read nothing. They watch nothing. They see what is behind them more often than what is in front of them…..people turn off their senses. Poor people do it from the stress and longing for a better future. The rich do it so they will not hear the voice of the poor or the envy of their neighbors. Because they are afraid.
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| ©2014. Turtle Heart Chaco Canyon |
Honestly. As an American, I am ashamed. When I travel I tell people, “No. I am not an American. I am an American Indian”. I am ashamed of my country, deeply and without a shred of satisfaction. The political right has become so inhuman, it has become almost impossible to stay calm when American GOP voices speak. And it seems for every vile act of obstruction or hateful comment made by the GOP, there are a dozen silent voices on the other side. Sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode when I even see John McCain or Mitch McConnell, or see the droopy-eyed dog’s as face of Paul Ryan.
The howling dogs at FOX news, truly some of the dullest, most insipid human beings ever to appear in public service in history, define the information agenda every day. Every day the FOX spewing heads talk and all the other media outlets tell us in painful detail what they said, instead of telling their own stories. The outrage, so they say in their headlines, of the progressive media to what FOX has said today fuels them to amplify and repeat over and over the very arguments that outrage them. You never have to watch FOX news yourself, just listen to what all the other media outlets do to spread their words under the guise of “outrage”. It is a very strange problem.
Yet, in studying the faces and expressions of people in the news all around the world, it is surprising how few people know who their political leaders are, what their police are doing, or what is happening in the world. It is not just Americans who refuse to know their world. Why is it so hard?
On Al Jazeera English, just now when I was writing this, a news segment came on showing how the middle class white people were reacting to the murder of Mike-Mike by a white police officer. To those white people it was a big yawn. Most of the anglos the reporter talked to showed only the most basic, and generally incorrect, awareness of what was happening just a few miles away. They looked like nice people. People completely unaware of what is going on around them. Life in a Bubble. This is the new reality. Yes, I watch Al Jazeera English a little every week in my time I spend watching the news of the world. It can be very interesting to see your country’s actions being described by an unsympathetic foreign country. Having watched in detail the events of the aftermath of the murder of Mike-Mike, which was heart-breaking and wrenching, and then see the camera shift over to the white indifference just a few neighborhoods away created a deeply unsettling sensation in my spirit. Unsettling and shame.
And now we know officer “wilson”, a suspected murderer, who gunned down Mike-Mike, has “supporters” who have donated nearly $300,000 to help him out. A dollar number that is growing every day. To be sure, people who want to help the family of Mike-Mike are donating money as well, but not nearly so much (so far). And this fact brings up a new contest between which camp will raise the most money I guess.
Murdered American Indians
There are hundreds of murdered American Indians. Tens of thousands of raped American Indian women. The criminals who killed, abused, raped and robbed are rarely found, rarely brought into the courts. The police rarely investigate the killing of an American Indian. There are over 600 unsolved murders in South Dakota alone. The Indians are invisible.
There are a large number of American Indians in the Ferguson area. Invisible people. Ten times more likely to be killed. 100 times more likely to be abused. 1000 times more likely to be arrested. 10,000 times more likely to get long sentences. 100,000 times more likely to be forgotten and ignored. By the justice system. By the government. By the police. By their own leadership. By you.
Yet I feel really affected by the murder of Mike-Mike. Even though I am an American Indian. Even though I live on a little island in the Mediterranean. I am a human being who cares about his country. A human being who wants to be proud of his country. A human being who can see the rage and inhumanity of a stupid, poorly trained, uneducated white police officer murdering a young black child, from a troubled and oppressed neighborhood and the protection of that corrupt police officer by a clueless, detached, inept local government. A babbling, timid, spineless and bubblehead governor. A democrat of all things. Missouri. North America.
Heart of Shame.
Pantelleria Island
