By D.Large
Jean-Paul Sartre in his preface of Frantz Fannon's book entitled "The Wretched of the Earth," provides a perspective on Fannon's exploration into the racist effects of violence and colonization on the psyche of a nation.Sartre's analysis may be applied to shed some light on why black men like Lovelle Mixon, Charles Monfort and Maurice Clemmons kill cops in cold blood.
Both Cleammons and Mixon died before they could tell their stories. Monfort may be the only survivor to one day share his motivations to explain the "why" for his actions. Until then we are left to surmise what the troubled rationale was for specifically targeting police as their victims.
Sartre suggest that internalized suppressed anger, the result of an oppressed psyche can erupt into an uncontrolled rage.
In the following passage Sartre references to natives is used to describe the original inhabitants of a nation that have been colonized and subject to European rule.
"Yes, terrified; at this fresh stage, colonial aggression turns inward in a current of terror among the natives. By this I do not only mean the fear that they experience when faced with our inexhaustible means of repression but also that which their own fury produces in them. They are cornered between our guns pointed at them and those terrifying compulsions, those desires for murder which spring from the depth of their spirits and which they do not always recognize; for at first it is not their violence, it is ours, which turns back on itself and rends them; and the first action of these oppressed creatures is to bury deep down that hidden anger which their and our moralities condemn and which is however only the last refuge of their humanity. In the period of their helplessness, their mad impulse to murder is the expression of the natives’ collective unconscious."
Mixon and Cleammons were no strangers to the law. They both had criminal histories. It's a fairly easy task to judge and call these men "common criminals" or even "terrorist" as Monfort has been characterized by authorities. The circumstances of their lives that lead these individuals into criminal activity is not clear. Monfort at one time wanted to work in law enforcement. That begs the question, "Why does a man destroy what he once aspired to become?
What we do know about these men is their actions provide a mirror into the nation's violent culture. The hate and anger fused in these men towards the police is systematic of the violent treatment black people have received by the dominant white culture. That violence has never been more evident than in the continued police shootings of unarmed people of color around the country.
In the following passage Sartre references to natives is used to describe the original inhabitants of a nation that have been colonized and subject to European rule.
"Yes, terrified; at this fresh stage, colonial aggression turns inward in a current of terror among the natives. By this I do not only mean the fear that they experience when faced with our inexhaustible means of repression but also that which their own fury produces in them. They are cornered between our guns pointed at them and those terrifying compulsions, those desires for murder which spring from the depth of their spirits and which they do not always recognize; for at first it is not their violence, it is ours, which turns back on itself and rends them; and the first action of these oppressed creatures is to bury deep down that hidden anger which their and our moralities condemn and which is however only the last refuge of their humanity. In the period of their helplessness, their mad impulse to murder is the expression of the natives’ collective unconscious."
Mixon and Cleammons were no strangers to the law. They both had criminal histories. It's a fairly easy task to judge and call these men "common criminals" or even "terrorist" as Monfort has been characterized by authorities. The circumstances of their lives that lead these individuals into criminal activity is not clear. Monfort at one time wanted to work in law enforcement. That begs the question, "Why does a man destroy what he once aspired to become?
What we do know about these men is their actions provide a mirror into the nation's violent culture. The hate and anger fused in these men towards the police is systematic of the violent treatment black people have received by the dominant white culture. That violence has never been more evident than in the continued police shootings of unarmed people of color around the country.
Black males have been dehumanized by a society that shows only contempt and hatred towards their humanity. They have been lifted up like some Greek god, but not to glory, but to the personification of evil in this nation.
As Fannon described the attitude of Europeans towards colonized people he stated,
"The native is declared insensible to ethics; he represents not only the absence of values, but also the negation of values. He is . . . the enemy of values . . the absolute evil."
When Black men have for years have been viewed in this same vain why is the nation so shocked and dismayed when men like Mixon, Monfort and Cleammons turn their violent hatred on the police?
They only chose to release their hostilities on police because as they represent the most visible and symbolic figures of oppression in this society. And through we may speak of the rule of law and the immorality of their actions their violent acts may have their own expression in a deep seated need to convey their humanity to the rest of us.
If they are monsters then they are the nation's monsters.
www.truthatlarge.blogspot.com
WAR INA BABYLON
They only chose to release their hostilities on police because as they represent the most visible and symbolic figures of oppression in this society. And through we may speak of the rule of law and the immorality of their actions their violent acts may have their own expression in a deep seated need to convey their humanity to the rest of us.
If they are monsters then they are the nation's monsters.
www.truthatlarge.blogspot.com
WAR INA BABYLON