Vicious Cycle

David Simon on the Zimmerman verdict:

Behold, the lewd, pornographic embrace of two great American pathologies: Race and guns, both of which have conspired not only to take the life of a teenager, but to make that killing entirely permissible. I can’t look an African-American parent in the eye for thinking about what they must tell their sons about what can happen to them on the streets of their country. Tonight, anyone who truly understands what justice is and what it requires of a society is ashamed to call himself an American.

It is worth listening to Mr. Simon because he has documented the ongoing shame of what is happening in urban America in The Wire. The truth, as Anthony Hamilton says, "Ain't nobody worryin" about all that.



Except for when vigilantes appropriate this reality to justify arming themselves to racially profile any black teen who dares to invade the sanctity of their gated communities. And when an innocent teenager winds up dead and his killer acquitted, all of a sudden it becomes a justification...something "they" should be worryin about. Its a vicious cycle that locks the privileged out of responsibility for any of it.

One more quote from Mr. Simon:

The Wire is certainly an angry show. It’s about the idea that we are worth less. And that is an unreasonable thing to contemplate for all of us. It is unacceptable. And none of us wants to be part of a world that is going to do that to human beings...

Everywhere we have created an alternate America of haves and have-nots. At some point, either more of us are going to find our conscience or we’re not.