The praetorians are way out of control
By ESTHER GOLDBERG
An unarmed 34-year-old woman suffering
from postpartum depression is surrounded by the authorities while sitting in
her car, and gunned down in cold blood. She is blocked in. She cannot move. And
yet she is killed by heavily armed security officers. Her one-year old child
witnesses this from the back seat. Why is this not a national tragedy?
Miriam Carey
was a young African-American woman who wanted to better herself. She went to
college and graduated with a BA degree in health and nutrition science. She
became a dental hygienist. One of her neighbors noted that it was obvious she
was educated. She gave birth to her daughter a year ago and began to suffer
from postpartum depression. She displayed some irrational behavior and was put
on medication.
Thus far
it’s not an uncommon story. About 50% of women who give birth suffer from
postpartum depression. A friend of mine was on medication for more than 8 years
after her daughter was born. This might conceivably happen to my daughter. Or
to one of Obama’s daughters, come to think of it.
Then, on
October 3, Miriam crashed her car into a security barrier near the White House.
She was surrounded by security men shouting at her and pointing high-power
guns. Was it so irrational to try to escape, to protect her daughter from men
pointing pistols at her? A chase ensued, and she then crashed her car into a
median somewhere in the vicinity of the Congress. She was blocked by security
forces from several agencies. She could not move. She was unarmed, and alone
save for her daughter. In her car, unprotected. And then she was killed.
After the
Boston Marathon killings, Boston police spent over 2 hours in a stand-off gun
fight with the surviving bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They threw flash-bang
grenades to disorient him. They brought in a negotiator to talk him into giving
himself up. Eventually he did, and he walked out alive. But Miriam was not
given that chance. She was trapped in her car, just sitting there. And they
killed her. They emptied multiple rounds of ammunition before dragging her body
from the car, her one-year old child witnessing all this from the back seat.
Are we so
dead to any instinct of what is owed a mother that we are not shocked by this?
We have read of police who kill without asking questions, and are inured to it.
But a mother? I would have thought that ordinary Americans would be revolted by
this. And then the murdering police get a standing ovation from the men and
women of the Senate. Yes, kill Miriam. Take no chances. Our lives are precious.
Her life and the life of people like her are not.
And
immediately the sycophantic hangers-on come out to justify the actions of the
police and to slander the poor victim. The newspapers print with absolute
certainty that Miriam was intent on breaking into the White House and then
Congress. Where’s the evidence that would stand up in a court of law? A
lecturer on security from one of our institutions of higher learning says that
this situation was special: the young woman threatened the vital nerve center
of our country, the whole world even. Yes, the nerve center that has been shut
down for the past few days. And a helpful psychologist, who never met Miriam,
pronounces that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis rather than
depression and that such psychosis couldn’t possibly last for a year. I’d
welcome the opportunity to cross-examine him on the witness stand.
The thing
is, the senators are different from you and me. They are part of the ruling
class that has insinuated itself in the folds of a republic where everyone is
said to be created equal. In most states, an ordinary citizen is not permitted
to stand his ground when threatened by thugs. He may not use deadly force to
protect himself from intruders in his own home unless he has no possibility of
escape. Fine for them, but we need special rules for the ruling class. Their
lives are more valuable, and they must be protected at any and all costs. Even
from an unarmed young woman, alone in her car with her young child.
What has
happened to us, that Miriam Carey’s death is not a tragedy? How does a
democracy justify valuing some lives over others?
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