I’m going to make this brief because the matter at hand speaks for itself, and I need not be exhaustive in driving the point home. In case any of you are still questioning the existence of ‘white privilege,’ I direct you to exhibit A, Jacob Chansley, AKA Jake Angeli.
Chansley became one of the hit memes from Donald Trump’s abhorrent insurrection at the Capitol last Wednesday, January 6th. The event will forever go down as a day of infamy, encouraged by Trump, threatening our Congress members’ lives and leaving six people dead, including one Capitol police officer who was bludgeoned to death by the angry mob with a fire extinguisher.
As the FBI began its arrest round-up in the days following the deadly riots, Chansley, an easily identifiable presence in the hideous display, was located and taken into police custody where he was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Then, within 48 hours, just like clockwork, Chansley’s instinctive white privilege kicked-in. It’s the same white privilege that got him in trouble in the first place, by which he and thousands of his brethren feared no repercussion from law enforcement as they riotously ascended onto our nation’s capital city and into the halls of Congress.
However, despite the existence of overwhelmingly obvious video evidence, Chansley did not throw himself at the mercy of the court apologetically or ask for forgiveness. Nope, instead, he made a plea to his mother that he was hungry. The hunger was not by fault of the detention center that held him, though. The choice to be hungry was his own as the Q-anon, self-appointed Shaman, refused to eat the jail food because it was not organic.
Taking it further, he demanded organic food be served and threatened a hunger strike unless he got it.
Martha Chansley, mother of the accused, immediately took to Twitter to express concern that her son was going to starve without his fresh organic food, telling ABC 15 in Phoenix,
“He hasn’t eaten since Friday, and he gets very sick if he doesn’t eat organic food – literally, will get physically sick.”
And poof! Just like that, a judge ordered a special organic menu for the suspected domestic terrorist.
Well, speaking of getting “physically sick,” I am nauseated by this story.
We have just witnessed one of the most violent insurrection acts in this country since the Civil War, and Chansley was a willing participant. It is unconscionable that America refuses to take responsibility for its rampant, systemic racial injustices against unarmed African Americans, while this spear-wielding guy, arrested as part of a vicious anarchist group, gets to order the grass-fed beef filet, kale salad with fresh pecans, cranberries and balsamic vinaigrette.
Ok, I made up that menu, but you get my point.
But seriously, what’s next? Taking a 15-year-old white boy to Burger King for lunch after he bursts into a black church murdering people in the congregation? Oh wait, that can’t be next because THAT already happened in a Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, when Dylann Roof shot up the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, killing 9 African American people during the service.
Meanwhile, by contrast, on May 25th, 2020, Geoge Floyd got a knee to the neck and was murdered by a cop for allegedly passing a fake $20 bill, that as it turned out, was not counterfeit.
Meanwhile, by contrast, on July 17th, 2014, Eric Garner died in New York City after officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him for selling loose cigarettes on the street.
Meanwhile, by contrast, in Texas on July 13, 2015, unarmed Sandra Bland was arrested for a minor traffic violation only to be found hanging by her neck in a jail cell hours later. To date, nobody in the police station has been charged.
But, back to the attack in our nation’s capital last week. I implore every American to look at how very differently the angry white mob, attempting a coup was treated by law enforcement as it attacked America’s very democracy, in contrast to the thousands of national guards that assembled in a standoff, assaulting a crowd of mostly peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters in the summer of 2020.
That should be enough for you to finally see and accept there are two different justice systems in America; one for black people and one for white. Now, apparently, there is a third – one for those who will only eat organic, and THAT level of caucasity REALLY takes the cake (but a cake made of whole, organic, vegan flour of course!)
Read full story at MSN
This piece is an opinion piece by one Contributing Writer for Instinct Magazine and may not reflect the opinion of the magazine or other Contributing Writers.
