The police were the gangs.

This is a picture of Lexington Avenue in 1863, when 30 or so - mostly immigrant, mostly poor, all-white gangs of New York burned down a Black orphanage and lynched Black men in the streets. Where were the police? They WERE the gangs. - the poice, fire fighter, militia - Irish immigrant working menial jobs. Poor. Pissed about being drafted to fight in the Civil War . Seeking to kill any Black person they could find. True story.

They were used by politicians and rich folks to fight - classic ethnic antagonism - and SO they burned down NYC and viciously attacked innocent Black men, women and children.

What's happening today in major urban cities ar peaceful protests. The Draft Riots were riots. In five days, hundreds were killed, 11 Black men were mob-lynched and thousands were injured.

The conversation today is NOT about police brutality. That's too small. It's about the tragic and historic ethnic antagonism between the poor and the poorer for the absolute profit of the 1%. (Tea Party: Classic pawns.) It's about the capitalist machine that fuels our politics, keeps our kids dumb and fills our prisons.

This is about historic and systemic injustice that started for me the day my 7th great-grandmother Cethe Woodyard was auctioned off at a port in Baltimore - her free labor to fuel the American economy for 4 generations.

It affects me every time a person I love acts out in absolute resistance to being trapped. Some do it with drugs, others are intoxicated by the freedom and power of crime. My smartest students in Atlanta sold drugs - they figured it was better odds than college. They were right. But sadly, 1 out of 9 of the boys will be imprisoned for profit in America. It's a fact.

We better know our history and stop bullshitting with these small conversations. I don't know the answer but I that it begins with truthful conversations about race, class, history, profit and politics. (And yes I'm pissed. A white woman ran away from me at the park today. Clearly, I was going to attack her with my poodle.)