They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery
The 1999 documentary by Stanley Earl Nelson Jr., The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords chronicled the story of the unsung heroes of the black press that were in the forefront of the civil rights movement, pen and paper in hand. These journalists of color often risked life and limb to recount and document the black experience in America, from the joyous celebrations of accomplishments to the tumultuous and long-running battles for black rights.
Without these intrepid reporters’ steely determination to expose to the world the inhumane treatment being perpetrated on black folk throughout the South — simply for demanding that America live up to its promise of equality — one has to wonder just how successful the civil rights movement would have been. Their dispatches from the frontline of the battles for dignity and voting rights eventually caught the eyes of white reporters, who then went south and took TV cameramen with them.
Once the evening news showed the world the viciousness of police dogs attacking protestors, and high-pressure fire hoses being used against men, women and children, it was simply a matter of time before the outrage reached such a fever pitch that the federal government was forced to act to protect citizens of color and their supporters. But it was the black scribes that first awakened the world to these gross injustices.
Now Washington Post reporter and Shaker Heights-raised Wesley Lowery has taken on the mantel of his brave predecessors by picking up the sword of his laptop, albeit in other places around the country, but in times that soon might turn as explosive as the 1960s. At the tender age of 26 Lowery has hoisted the investigative journalist’s banner — while going to jail in the process — to become the new standard-bearer in the never-ending quest for racial justice.
He has written a captivating book that chronicles what some would describe as the most important events of the 21st century in this country: The gunning down of black males by white cops, often in acts of violence so casual, careless and seemingly without accountability that some question if the killings are carried out for mere sport — or just as a means of keeping a demographic firmly in its place — to assure that a group long preyed upon by law enforcement and despised by other segments of the majority culture doesn’t get too uppity.
In this in-depth work Lowery gives activists from various parts of the country (those young people who have courageously stepped up to man the ramparts and lead the protests — often at great personal risk) stronger and clearer voices by humanizing them, by introducing these new leaders to the American public as sentient, thoughtful and intelligent individuals hellbent on making America better for everyone. At the same instance he uses his investigative skills to rebuke the urban myths, rumors and outright lies that often pop up amid the fog and confusion of demonstrations — misleading false information that sometimes hurts movements such as Black Lives Matter.
With a keen ear for detail, a journalist’s finely tuned antenna for bullshit and a strong sense of empathy, Lowery listens to all sides of the complicated and often competing arguments. From the family members of those slain in the streets, to the activists protesting the killings, to the spokespersons for law enforcement that oftentimes appear all too willing to incite already angry members of the community, Lowery sorts through the maze of emotions to bring readers as accurate a portrait as can be had in terms of where the country is vis-à-vis inner-city policing at the critical juncture in our nation’s history.
With an astounding political sea change lurking on the horizon, one that puts an administration in charge in Washington that potentially will try to turn the clock back to the bad old days of Richard Nixon (which saw the birth of the “law and order” mantra), Lowery’s insights are more than just timely — they’re critical for anyone seeking to get a better understanding on what could prove to be explosive situations in the coming years. This comprehensive and detailed work frames questions that, if properly understood and answered by those in power, will help to shed much-needed light on our national systemic problem of police brutality and killings.
Lowery (by touching on the fact that more cops are dying in the line of duty than ever before) brings home the unflinching reality that many young people — both black and white — are increasingly disillusioned about their futures, and therefore are dangerous: “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”
Some already mentally fragile souls (often damaged by the untrammeled racism they have to face day to day, but are ill-equipped and prepared to handle) are so devoid of hope they’re increasingly being pushed by their anger to the brink of madness — and murder. As more of their ranks die at the hands of cops, a few more of these tortured souls are going to begin to view the one million-plus blue uniforms in America as targets for retribution, and that’s scary.
They Can’t Kill Us All is a primer on what’s going on wrong in the mean streets of America, and Lowery doesn’t end by offering a pollyannaish view of what the future holds, just a sobering reality of where we could be heading. Increasingly, some young blacks are adopting the attitude that they are ready and willing to die on their feet rather than live on their knees, as long as they take a cop or two along with them. And that’s dangerous.
This ugly potential for a continuous cycle of police killings and sniper retributions cannot be the kind of America any of us want. With this book, Wesley Lowery shines much needed light into the dark corners of our national psyche, light that just might help us to prevent further deaths on both sides of what has become a devastating and deadly battlefield.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com