Views from Baltimore

Lots of people today are thinking about Baltimore given the recent news reports. I developed a fondness for that city during the years that the regional office of my employer, the American Friends Service Committee, was located there. Not to mention The Wire...

Anyhow, today I want to give a shout out to my colleagues in Baltimore who are doing their best to make real peace and struggle for justice there. They are living pretty close to the bone these days. I wish them and that city all the best.

Thinking of friends

My thoughts go out tonight to the city of Baltimore and my friends and co-workers there who are and have been putting their bodies on the line trying to keep the peace while at the same time asserting in an unmistakable way that black lives matter.

ON THAT NOTE, here is a link to one story about a colleague and one interesting statement to come out of the tumult.

Ferguson

Robert Reich had this to say on Facebook about the situation in Ferguson after last night's announcement that there would be no indictment in the Michael Brown killing:

When St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch announced last night that no charges will be brought against Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, McCulloch lashed out at the media for the unrest in Ferguson, blaming its “24-hour-news cycle.” He’s wrong. The real culprit is the 24-hour racism that still pervades our system of criminal justice. Wilson shot Brown six times. Witness reports differed as to whether and when Brown had his hands raised and whether he was moving toward Wilson when the final shots were fired. Why shouldn’t these questions and inconsistencies be aired at a trial?  

The New York Times had a pretty insightful editorial as well. Check it out here.

Meanwhile, a number of civil rights groups had these recommendations to prevent more tragedies like this.

"Fear of the black body"

First word today goes to New York Times columnist Charles Blow for his op-ed titled "Michael Brown and Black Men." The recent police killing in Missouri is just one example of something that happens all too frequently.

CAN YOU SAY "DIVERSIFICATION? At least one WV politician used the D word.

HIGH HOPES, LOW MEANS. Here's economist Dean Baker on some of the whacky ways opponents of the Affordable Care Act want to kill it.