Class Prejudice Resurgent

by David Brooks

DEC. 1, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html?comments#permid=13473389

The Ferguson tragedy has been misappropriated, primarily by the media and some among African American leaders, to stoke the still very real racial divides, especially black-white, in the US.

I agree with Mr. Brooks that this racial tension is, at it's base, a socio-economic divide, which accentuates the racial divide. At some level both the racial and the socio-economic divide will always exist. There are many, many social and political policies to be discussed and implemented which could mitigate these divides (most of them, btw, vehemently opposed by the GOP). Inciting and organizing witch hunts against police officers, as in Ferguson, fueled by ignorance and willful misinformation, is NOT a useful policy in this regard, indeed is counter productive, like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Most police shootings occur in conjunction with the police protecting the poor and disadvantaged (disproportionally black) from other poor and disadvantaged (disproportionately black). Our veneer of "civilized society" is very thin indeed, and as we see in Ferguson, can quickly degenerate into anarchy, with looting and arson. Wholesale demonizing of the police, that thin blue line between a semblance of order and complete anarchy, especially in poor and disadvantaged areas, is completely counter productive, especially for the disadvantaged. 

Identifying and rooting out the few bad cops is absolutely necessary, but officer Wilson was NOT one of the bad cops.