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September 16, 2002
Hatred (one)
At this point, I really don't give a fuck if you mean well or not.
Jeanne D'Arc writes:
If you're old enough to remember back to 1989, the story is probably embedded in your memory, with the emotional resonance of a parable or a fairy tale -- a cautionary tale for women, a sign of the brutality of our times for everyone, and, for too many, a justification for racist fears.[. . .] The young woman was white. The boys were black and Hispanic. That shouldn't matter, but of course it always does.
The story confirmed everybody's worst fears about young men, race, class, and urban life. It confirmed something many conservatives wanted to believe and most liberals were doing their damnedest not to allow themselves to believe -- that there were growing numbers of young men (most of them -- oh, God, do we have to admit this -- minorities) who had no moral center whatsoever. Animals.
Thirteen years later, there's one more detail that needs to be added to the story: It was a lie.
Well, we don't know that for certain yet. Certainty may be too much to ask for. It usually is.
Not that any of that was meant for me.
"confirmed everybody's worst fears about young men, race, class, and urban life"
No. Not everybody.
Just the important people.
Moving further from any reality I recocgnize, over at Armed Liberal we find:
My reaction is actually surprisingly different. I’m thrilled. And excited. And proud. I feel bad for the youths wrongly convicted (although my bad feelings are somewhat offset by the admitted fact that they had been wilding…randomly assaulting innocent people in the park…). I’m bothered by the fact that poor kids of color get worse legal representation than rich white guys like Skakel.But none of this changes the fact that I’m proud because we live in a society where we are willing to face up to and admit our mistakes. To correct them where possible. No politically connected prosecutor was able to bury the confession or prevent the DNA testing that ultimately appears to have exonerated them. I’m thrilled that we have been able to take the fruits of our technology and apply them, fairly and objectively to support the interests of people who would normally be beneath consideration. I’m excited because I believe that these tools…the technology and the open legal system…that are the product of this society will be used in the future to prevent bad things from happening…like convicting the wrong people of horrible crimes.
I'm not sure who makes up the "we" the author refers to. Again, it seems to have little to do with me.
Oh, and in other news, Chuck D writes:
Cutting to the chase, in this so called business I've overstood the bullsh#t as much as possible, navigating the lunacy to the masses and cats within. But here’s the deal. MTV standards (whoever this roundtable of culture caretakers are all I got was a cat by the name of Tom Calderone who waffled so much on the issue I swore he was swimming in syrup) has clarified to my people, both at KOCH and SLAMjamz Records, that the ‘Gotta Give The Peeps What They Need’ video would have to delete all affixed logos, in accordance with a policy to not promote gear. Although I’ve long thought this to be ridiculous... but whatever... I’ve conceded that this is their little thing to keep situations from making the money they make and the thing that has me going to war, and that’s to vanish ALL AUDIO AND VISUAL references to Mumia Abu Jamal... the Free Mumia lyric.
Guess I shouldn't mention Mumia -- another case where, again, certainty is elusive -- while people are busy breaking their arms fucking patting themselves on the back, huh?
Whatever.
Update: And just when I think my mood couldn't possibly get worse. . . Metafilter makes the save.
Ended up there by way of Jason and randomWalks, where you'll find some sane commentary on the MTV/Public Enemy thing. Well, and also Oliver at the latter. Finally, Ginger gives this little temper tantrum entirely too much credit. I'm sure when my blood sugar level goes back up, I'll regret writing/posting the whole thing.
Posted by Aaron at September 16, 2002 02:51 PM
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