[Xmca-l] Re: NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent

[Bill Kerr]

The David Brooks article doesn't connect very well with the known facts of
the killing of Michael Brown, namely:

It is now clear 12 shots were fired by Officer Wilson, the last of which
struck Mr Brown in the top of the head. He was hit 7 times. The deadly
encounter started while Officer Wilson was seated in his police cruiser.
The first two shots were fired by the officer while still in the car. Most
witnesses said that at that time, Mr Brown was leaning through the driver’s
side window. The victim’s blood was found inside and outside the car and on
the officer’s clothing. A bullet was lodged in the armrest. ...

Ten of the twelve shots were fired after Officer Wilson got out of his
cruiser. Mr Brown’s body was found 153 feet away. All the fatal shots were
fired when Mr Brown was away from the police car. While some witnesses said
he was fleeing the car when they were fired, a greater number of witnesses
said they came as the victim was moving towards the officer, McCulloch said
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michael-brown-shooting-ten-things-we-know--or-know-better-now-the-ferguson-grand-jurys-work-is-over-9881046.html

The claim that there is a shift in our understanding of race and class does
not seem all that relevant to the particularity of this case IMO.

On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> wrote:

> Hello esteemed discussants,
>
>
> I am not normally a fan of David Brooks of the New York Times, but
> sometimes he really surprises me. This is one of those times:
>
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html
> <
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&contentCollection=opinion&action=click&module=NextInCollection&region=Footer&pgtype=article
> >
>
>
> It has been my sense that we (as a culture, i.e., my American culture to
> which he refers) are more afraid to discuss class then we are to discuss
> race, and now it has become even harder, apparently.
>
>
> I particularly took to this paragraph:
>
>
> "Widening class distances produce class prejudice, classism. This is a
> prejudice based on visceral attitudes about competence. People in the
> "respectable" class have meritocratic virtues: executive function, grit, a
> capacity for delayed gratification. The view about those in the untouchable
> world is that they are short on these things. They are disorganized. They
> are violent and scary. This belief has some grains of truth because of
> childhood trauma, the stress of poverty and other things. But this view
> metastasizes into a vicious, intellectually lazy stereotype. Before long,
> animalistic imagery is used to describe these human beings."
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> Annalisa
>
>