In light of last night’s grand jury decision in Ferguson and the initial press coverage, I can’t help but be reminded of Eula Biss’s essay, “Is This Kansas” in her book Notes from No Man’s Land. In this essay, she discusses her days at the University of Iowa, comparing students’ negative and incorrect assumptions about New York City with the denial of how dangerous their own drunken behavior was. Hurricane Katrina happened during that time, as did a tornado in Iowa City. She contrasts the media coverage of looting and violence in these two natural disasters. Here are three of my favorite quotes:
- “When looting broke out in New Orleans, American suddenly became a moral nation..Now while people were waiting in the Superdome for the government to fulfill its most basic duty toward its citizens, everyone from the Associated Press to Fox News was interested in examining the ethics of stealing during a crisis.”
- “Our willingness to imagine our own people as villains, as savages, is not a private problem of unclean thinking. It is an issue of public safety.”
- “Unlike the reports of violence, many of the reports of looting in New Orleans were, in fact, substantiated…The facts of the reports may have been true, but the motives driving the reporting , and the motives behind the public fascination with the story, were based on old lies about who steals from whom in this country. And it was evident from the strange enthusiasm, the eagerness, with which those reports of looting were met that readers were not interested so much in the looting as they were in how well it supported their sickest suspicion of black people. Our willingness to believe the news is, in many cases, not entirely innocent.”
Stayed tuned about an event around No Man’s Land during winter term. Copies of the book are available for checkout in Furman 104.
Today, Ken Winograd invites us to participate in a small demonstration outside Furman, along 15th Street, in response to the recent events in Ferguson. Bring signs to hold for passing vehicles, protesting racism, urging justice, or whatever moves you. Poster paper and markers will be near and around the sitting area outside Room 102 Furman. Action is from around 11:45 to 12:30.
Dominque Austin of the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center and Intercultural Student Services shares that various campus departments are hosting an open-to-all, safe space for processing the shooting of Michael Brown and the current racial tensions in the USA and in our communities. This community dialogue will take place today, Tuesday November 25th, at 3pm in MU 208. As Austin states, “Our hope is to provide a space for student and community members to engage in dialogue about issues that are affecting our community and how we create climate of justice at OSU.” A Facebook event page has been created to promote the dialogue.
