Monday, November 07, 2005

Stealing the language of the dispossessed

It's amazing how fast the "rioters" have picked up the language of oppression. Check this from the AP:

They complained that police manhandle them during identity card checks, even claiming that some officers plant hashish on them as a pretext for arrests, and that they regularly fire off rubber pellets during sweeps.

"You wear these clothes, with this color skin and you're automatically a target for police," said Ahmed, 18, pointing to his mates in Izod polo shirts, Nike sneakers and San Antonio Spurs T-shirts.
Oh, okay, you're guilty of "Driving While Black" or some such nonsense. And I suppose police everywhere engage in racial profiling to some degree and that there are always a few shitheads that see themselves as stormtroopers whose only job is the keep "the riff raff" (meaning minorities they don't like) "in their place". But these neighborhoods are always referred to as "no go" areas, where police don't bother to venture. Earlier in the piece, there's this little nugget:
None of the youths said they have participated in arson attacks, but their sympathies are clearly with the rioters who have shaken France to its core in the nights of mayhem that spread across the country from tough Paris projects like Les Tilleuls.
Okay, again, none of these youths did anything. I'll take them at the word. Then who's throwing the gasoline bombs? Professionals, maybe?


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