For a while, I was really inclined to give Van Jones the benefit of the doubt. He behaves civilly on panels with conservatives. I have even aligned with some of his observations in recent times.
But he slammed it into reverse with his chiming-in on the Memphis beating death of Tyre Nichols by five police officers. He went to the most vulgar, Kendi-esque level, and left himself open to the charge of lobbing a cheap shot by saying "it could be a factor."
It? Come on, you know damn good and well what "it" is:
. . . racial animus can still be a factor, even when the perpetrators are all Black. And that’s especially true if these actions are a part of a broader pattern and practice within the Memphis Police Department.
It’s a sad fact, but one that’s old as time itself: People often oppress people who look just like them. The vast majority of human rights abuses are committed by people who look exactly like the people they are abusing.
Thomas Chatterton Williams gets right to the heart of what is so poisonous about such brazen speculation:
Thomas Chatterton Williams
@thomaschattwill
What if, stay with me, these five men were actually agents responsible for their own reprehensible actions and not merely hapless puppets being manipulated by the invisible hand of inescapable and omnipotent white supremacy?
Exactly.
An arrested suspect in a reckless-driving incident died and the five police officers who handled the incident are under arrest for second-degree murder.
Any further prattle about what happened is a naked attempt to foment societal trouble in order to increase the chances for influence and power among those doing the prattling.
And it reduces all those involved to the status of agency-deprived individuals. Distilled to its essence, it's feigned pity, calculated to perpetuate the racialist sludge in which certain elements want to see us permanently mired.
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