An article from Aljazeera bearing the title above raised some eyebrows, but enticed my head to slowly nod. Feel free to peruse the article in its entirety, but one particular quote hit a chord with me about the tragedy:
“After all, we live in an age where many Americans will gleefully dump ice water on their heads in front of a video camera, but become angry the moment someone brings up the possibility that Brown’s case might have been mishandled. In other words, a sizable portion of the population would rather risk hypothermia, heart arrhythmia, and death than endure the emotional discomfort of considering blacks as humans.
Instead, Americans prefer to consider blacks as fantasy characters, because this makes our expectations of them seem reasonable. We adore them as entertainers, but despise them as neighbours. We want them to sing loudly, but die quietly.”
Yes, I agree. Dumping water also takes far less effort and accountability. It is easy and we like things that are easy. Could the path of least resistance be hurting us? It just might be.