The Limits of Respectability Politics Con’t

Over on the Toast, Ezekiel Kweku has an sharply incisive piece about Respectability Politics and its implications for the Ferguson and post-Ferguson political moment: 

New regulations to restrict police usage of the paraphernalia of military occupation will not stop them from taking the attitudes of occupiers. The police did not need military weapons to kill Eric Garner. They didn’t even need a gun. Forcing the police to put cameras on their dashes and wear them on their bodies is a good idea, but it will not force them to respect the humanity of black bodies, and it might not even be sufficient to get justice after the fact. Oscar Grant was shot in the back, while lying prone on the pavement, in full view of multiple cameras, and his killer received less than a year in county jail.

It’s a smart, tough piece. Definitely recommended reading.