Wrongly Accused Cyclist Executed For Revenge Killings
There are three lessons, I think, to this whole saga in China:
- Don’t falsely accuse, arrest, and beat (allegedly) people. It’s incredibly humiliating to the victim, as I implied in an earlier post. The victim’s rights are violated and it can lead to all sorts of unforseen circumstances. This case was a bit extreme, but I think it might go to show the power of what it might be like to get one’s rights violated. In my opinion, those of us who enjoy white skin privilege have a particular moral obligation to make sure that non-whites are not discriminated against.
- We, as Americans, have an incredible amount of freedom to advocate for change. There is very little chance that our mothers will be ‘disappeared’ by US authorities just because we show up to a town hall meeting and tell our betters that, “We want some #$%^#$%### bike infrastructure now!” At least right now, we don’t have to worry about anything like this happening:
A day after Mr. Yang was accused of killing the officers, his mother, Wang Jingmei, was detained in Beijing and sent to a local mental hospital. Her family said they were never told where she was held or by whom; they knew only that she had disappeared. She was released last Sunday, they said, and allowed to visit her son on Monday.
So, let’s use some of that beautiful freedom.
- China has state media — we have corporate media — probably some differences there, both are pretty limited. But in most cases, it’s not easy for the US government to shut us down, so we should continue to use the internet to speak freely. We can use blogs and websites to communicate, organize, inspire. More and more-varied voices - young and old - black and white - male and female — the more the merrier.
[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
