racism and rhetoric, from ferguson to palestine

8/9/2019 Racism and Rhetoric, From Ferguson to Palestine

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Racism and rhetoric, from Ferguson to Palestine

Heike Schottenon January 28, 2015

Mondoweissn the !nited States, "Ferguson# $ the name of the to%n %here unarmed &lack teenager

'ichael (ro%n %as shot to death &y a )olice officer last *ugust $ has &ecome a shorthand

name for the free reign gi+en to )olice to murder &lack )eo)le in the streets and)arks, stores,

e+en their o%n homes- %ith im)unity.

*t the same time as (ro%n %as murdered, the %orld %atched as srael %as gi+en free reign to

murder Palestinian )eo)le in the streets of the /aa Stri) and&eaches, cafes, hos)itals, e+en

their o%n homes- %ith im)unity.

ne commonality faced &y folks in struggle from Ferguson to Palestine is the alltoofre3uentrefusal to recognie their o))ression as o))ression.

For e4am)le, in )u&lic discourse, ha+e noticed a consistent rhetorical )ositioning of )olice

officers and srael $ rather than unarmed &lack )eo)le and Palestinians $ as the real +ictims

of &rutality and +iolence.

first struggled %ith this rhetorical casuistry during sraels )eration 6ast 7ead, &ack in 2008
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/01/rhetoric-ferguson-palestinehttp://mondoweiss.net/author/heike-schottenhttp://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7275297/tamir-rice-police-shootinghttp://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/justice/walmart-shooting-john-crawford/http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/exclusive-texted-union-rep-akai-gurley-lay-dying-article-1.2034219http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/07/16/dispatch-israeli-strike-kills-four-children-at-a-gaza-beach/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/07/16/dispatch-israeli-strike-kills-four-children-at-a-gaza-beach/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelgaza-crisis-eight-killed-in-gaza-strip-cafe-while-watching-world-cup-semifinal-9598542.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/israel-bombs-hit-centre-disabled-gaza-201471274035753506.htmlhttp://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/032/2014/en/613926df-68c4-47bb-b587-00975f014e4b/mde150322014en.pdfhttp://mondoweiss.net/author/heike-schottenhttp://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7275297/tamir-rice-police-shootinghttp://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/justice/walmart-shooting-john-crawford/http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/exclusive-texted-union-rep-akai-gurley-lay-dying-article-1.2034219http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/07/16/dispatch-israeli-strike-kills-four-children-at-a-gaza-beach/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelgaza-crisis-eight-killed-in-gaza-strip-cafe-while-watching-world-cup-semifinal-9598542.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/israel-bombs-hit-centre-disabled-gaza-201471274035753506.htmlhttp://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/032/2014/en/613926df-68c4-47bb-b587-00975f014e4b/mde150322014en.pdfhttp://mondoweiss.net/2015/01/rhetoric-ferguson-palestine


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0. n those days, any criticism of sraels actions $ %hich includedkilling almost 1500Palestinians, le+eling /aas ci+ilian infrastructure and residences, and unleashing illegal

chemical %ea)onson noncom&atants, amongst other atrocities $ %as met %ith the unmo+ed

re)ly, "(ut %hat a&out the rockets9#

:his )ast summer, as srael re+isitedgenocidalterror on the /aa Stri) for the third time,

";hat a&out the rockets9# %as u)dated to "(ut %hat a&out Hamas9# *lternati+e +ersions ofthis 3uestion include the demand that anyone %ho criticies srael affirmthat Hamas is

a terrorist organiation.-

*n echo of sraels e4)licit rationaliation of )eration Protecti+e th anni+ersary of the o)ening of the )rison at /uant?namo (ay and read the

com)letely unsur)rising if ne+ertheless still shocking Senate :orture Re)ort, one shudders tothink %hat *mericans must deser+e for ha+ing t%ice elected /eorge ;. (ush into office $

much less (arack &ama, drone %ar trail&laer e4traordinaire.-

Further )roof that /aans deser+e the ha+oc and destruction +isited u)on them is the s)ecious

claim that they use children as human shields. :o this day un)ro+en, the human shields

argument )ro+ided ideological co+er for sraels killing of more than 500 children during this

%ar and solidified the em)ireser+ing)ro)agandathat Palestinians dont +alue life, much less

the li+es of their children, the same %ay ci+ilied sraelis do.

:he human shields argument had )articular resonance in the !S, %here it trickled do%n tostreet le+el )rotest. n (oston, @ionist counter)rotesters assem&led at e+ery antiProtecti+e


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For e4am)le, in res)onse to the chant, "Hands !) Iont ShootA,# a nation%ide refrain of

G(lack 7i+es 'atter demonstrations across the country and an in+ocation of (ro%n, %ho %as

shot dead &y fficer Iarren ;ilson %ith his hands in the air in the uni+ersal sign of surrender-,

counter)rotesters yelled &ack in res)onse "Hands !) Iont 7ootA#

Further in+estigation on :%itter re+ealed an e+en more +icious +ersionof this re)ur)osedchant "Pants !) Iont 7ootA#

:hese streetle+el counter)rotesters %ere matched &y the higheru)s, most )rominently former

Ee% ork 6ity mayor Rudy /iuliani, %ho gra&&ed media attention &y in+okingthe s)ecter of

"&lack on &lack# crime. Sideste))ing the fact that Ferguson raises the issue of

unaccounta&le state +iolence against &lack )eo)le, /iuliani changed the su&=ect to focus instead

on the criminal and dysfunctional nature of &lack )eo)le themsel+es incidentally casting

himself as a great sa+iorof &lack li+es along the %ay-.

ndeed, remem&er the s)inning of 'ichael (ro%n as "no angel# in the immediate aftermath ofhis murder9 ;ithout e+en a mention of the officer %ho killed him, the Ferguson )olice

de)artment )roceeded to release sur+eillance +ideo of (ro%n stealing cigarillos from a

con+enience store and accused him of smoking mari=uana.

:he im)lied conclusion of this line of reasoning is a))arently that sho)lifting and )otsmoking

mean 'ichael (ro%n deser+ed to die. r, more )recisely, that he deser+ed to &e murdered &y

)olice. %onder if the same holds true for /iulianis daughter.-

From Ferguson to Palestine, there are chilling )arallels in these reactionary res)onses. ne is

the claim that the +ery nature of the )eo)le in 3uestion renders them deser+ing targets of state+iolence. Palestinians are terrorists %ho dont lo+e their children. *frican *mericans are lay,

stu)id criminals. :he )roliferation of t%eets under the

hashtag Gf:hey/unned'eIo%nhighlights the rhetorical sleightofhand %here&y &lack

)eo)le are held res)onsi&le for their o%n deaths at the hands of )olice.

*nother )arallel is the suggestion that it is actually the marginalied and o))ressed %ho are

+ictimiing themsel+es.

/iulianis "&lack on &lack crime# talking )oint is not only a thro%&ack to the "culture of

)o+erty# thesis long ago a&andoned &y social science. t also suggests that co)s arent really

killing &lack )eo)le after all. t is actually &lack )eo)le %ho are killing &lack )eo)le.

:his is structurally similar to sraels claim regarding human shields its not srael %ho is

killing Palestinian children. n hiding %ea)ons or fighters in ci+ilian areas, it is actually

Palestinians %ho are killing Palestinian children. Eetanyahu made clear this %as the force ofthe argument %hen he declared that Hamas sought "telegenically dead# Palestinians in order to

score )ity )oints for their cause from the %orld community.


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*frican *mericans deser+e death &ecause of their terrorist andor criminal natures. Killingha))ens &ecause the nature of the murdered in+ites it. n the second, Palestinians and *frican

*mericans are actually the ones doing the killing, not co)s or srael, so theres not really a

)ro&lem %ith state +iolence at all. Killing ha))ens &ecause the murdered are killing

themsel+es.

t doesnt matter that these arguments are inconsistent %ith one another, much less %hich oneof them is, uh, "true.# 7ike a racist shell game, the only thing that matters is that the same thing

comes out on to) namely, that the +ictim gets )ortrayed as the aggressor and the aggressor, the

+ictim.

For /iuliani, Ia+id (rooks, Iarren ;ilson, and the likes of FL Ee%s, it is %hite )eo)le in

general and %hite )olice officers in )articular %ho are the +ictims of demonic, terrifying,

criminal &lack )eo)le. For Eetanyahu, 6harles Krauthammer, and the rest of the @ionist lineu),

it is srael %ho is the +ictim of e+il, terroristic, lifedenying, 'uslim*ra& Palestinians.

n another)lace, ha+e descri&ed arguments like these as a form of sla+e morality. :hey arereactionary attem)ts to )ortray oneself as a +ictim of forces &eyond ones control and a

moraliing =ustification of e4tracting com)ensatory re+enge against them.

:he thing is, %hen it comes to *merican co)s and sraeli soldiers, they are not the %eaker

)o%er. :hey are a+atars of the state $ t%o of the most )o%erful and hea+ily armed states in

the %orld at that. :heir +ictims are the su&ordinated, segregated, and formerly ensla+ed, on the

one hand, and dis)ossessed, indigenous refugees on the other. :o dro) the %hite hankie and

)lay +ictim is fundamentally to o&scure the une3ual relations of )o%er that characterie %hite

su)remacy in *merica and @ionist su)remacy in Palestine.

Object1

f course, the struggles of *frican *mericans and Palestinians are not identical. *frican

*mericans are not occu)ied the same %ay as are Palestinians, %ho are &eing de)ri+ed of their

land as %ell as their rights. :he legacies of chattel sla+ery and colonial dis)ossession, ho%e+er

+ile, are not interchangea&le histories of o))ression.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/opinion/the-cop-mind.html?_r=0http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/read-darren-wilsons-full-grand-jury-testimony/1472/http://www.vox.com/2014/11/25/7283327/michael-brown-racist-stereotypeshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-moral-clarity-in-gaza/2014/07/17/0adabe0c-0de4-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.htmlhttp://works.bepress.com/heike_schotten/4/http://www.amazon.com/Genealogy-Morals-Ecce-Homo/dp/0679724621/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421031478&sr=1-1&keywords=nietzsche+genealogy+of+moralshttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/opinion/the-cop-mind.html?_r=0http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/read-darren-wilsons-full-grand-jury-testimony/1472/http://www.vox.com/2014/11/25/7283327/michael-brown-racist-stereotypeshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-moral-clarity-in-gaza/2014/07/17/0adabe0c-0de4-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.htmlhttp://works.bepress.com/heike_schotten/4/http://www.amazon.com/Genealogy-Morals-Ecce-Homo/dp/0679724621/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421031478&sr=1-1&keywords=nietzsche+genealogy+of+morals


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Ee+ertheless, recently a delegation of !S &lack acti+ists and youth leaders from Ferguson and

&eyond returned from a 10day solidarity tri)to Palestine. n crossing check)oints, they

%ere remindedof !S )risons. n %itnessing Palestinians limited freedom of mo+ement, they

gained ne% insight into a)artheid and the seemingly infinite )ermutations of %hite su)remacy.

*s G(lack7i+es'atter cofounder Patrisse 6ullors recently t%eeted

ngredients to &uilding an em)ire 1. Steal land 2. 6ontrol the ))l >.

racism and rhetoric, from ferguson to palestine

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