When You’ve Lost…

So this afternoon I was at the YMCA, managing affairs in the men’s locker room.  There’s a large TV in this particular locker room, and a gaggle of older white men had gathered about it.  This scene is exactly as you would imagine, and as you’ve undoubtedly seen if you’ve ever spent any time in a men’s locker room; four or five old, mostly naked white men standing around, talking politics or sports, utterly oblivious to the absurdity of the situation.  I join them (I am only a few short years from joining this demographic, after all), and note that the subject of attention is CNN’s discussion of the Laquan McDonald shooting. CNN plays the video, with the anchor explaining the Chicago PD’s account of what happened, which is that McDonald, on the ground, already shot several times, was nevertheless lunging at the firing officers.

The old white dude collective, not a demographic normally known for its anti-police radicalism, reacted to this claim with a degree of incredulity that should make Rahm shudder.  ‘Twas mildly heartening that even this demographic reacted poorly to the flat-out massacre of a young black man by the police, and it’s hopefully indicative that BLM is making some headway.