Punkonomics (@DearBalak)

Ferguson and what it means to be Black

By Geert Dhondt

“But what is this group; and how do you differentiate it; and how can you call it ‘black’ when you admit it is not black?”  I recognize it quite easily and with full legal sanction; the black man is a person who must ride “Jim Crow” in Georgia.

—W.E.B. Du Bois, Dusk of Down: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept. (1940)

In the United States there are currently 1213 endangered species (US Fish and Wildlife Service), a 164 million pets (2012), and 67.8 million pigs (2007).  We also know that 82 police officers have died so far this year in the line of duty.  This includes 33 cops who were killed in or by cars and motorcycles, 1 drowned, and 8 died of a heart attack.  Thirty-eight died by gunfire (including accidental). Yet we have no…