The Vigil

Published by

Clarissa

December 3, 2014

This is the longest day of the semester for me. I have a meeting, my office hours, three overview lectures, and then the presentations of my research students that will go on until at least 7 pm. So I decided to do something for myself and went to a vigil in honor of Michael Brown.

At the vigil, we stand in silence for 4.5 minutes, which, of course, symbolizes the 4 and a half hours that Michael’s body was left lying in the street after Michael was murdered. We are gathering to do this every day this week. There were only 12 of us there today, and there was a moment when we were approached by a belligerent student who wanted to express his disagreement. However, the belligerent student soon got so impressed by our dedication to the cause (it is quite cold and windy outside) that he bought cookies for us and distributed them among the group.

And then I went back to class with my “Black Lives Matter” badge on my chest. I don’t think this can be considered a political opinion because it isn’t like there is a political party in this country that espouses the belief that black lives don’t matter. Right?

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20 responses to “The Vigil”

el

December 3, 2014

\\ I don’t think this can be considered a political opinion

I think it can. Because everybody understands the connection to Michael’s case.

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1. Clarissa
  
  December 3, 2014
  
  “I think it can. Because everybody understands the connection to Michael’s case.”
  
  – On this blog, I simply posted the response I prepared in case anybody asks me about the badge. I think it’s a good response. 🙂
  
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Evelina Anville

December 3, 2014

“it isn’t like there is a political party in this country that espouses the belief that black lives don’t matter.”

Sadly I was just made privy to the most horrible student rant. The student suggested that Michael Brown’s death was an “unfortunate error” and that he couldn’t understand “what the big deal was.” He also wondered why people would riot over something “minor” when there are “real problems”– like high tuition in this country.

I am truly not sure that Black lives matter to everyone. It was very disheartening to me to hear this rant. I was functioning under the illusion that my students were disgusted or unaware—not actively supporting the idea that Michael Brown deserved to die. 😦

On a different note, I think the vigil you attended sounds really important and meaningful.

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1. Shakti
  
  December 3, 2014
  
  This reminds me of Huckleberry Finn.
  
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2. Clarissa
  
  December 3, 2014
  
  We will now be organizing a series of talks and film viewings to keep the discussion going.
  
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Kyle

December 5, 2014

Michael Brown wasn’t murdered. He attacked a police officer and got shot in the process. That is what the evidence clearly shows.

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1. ladyleahjane
  
  December 5, 2014
  
  Ugh, not you again. Haven’t you had enough of Clarissa showing what an ignorant fool you are every time you try to argue with her about racism, the Soviet Union, or literally anything else you think you know more about than the people who actually experience(d) it?
  
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  1. Kyle
    
    December 5, 2014
    
    The people who actually experienced it at the ones whose testimonies showed what complete nonsense the whole claim about Michael Brown being murdered are. The testimonies claiming that he was executed were all inconsistent and essentially all fell apart upon scrutiny. Also, never have debated with Clarissa about racism. On other issues, we have had disagreements of opinion.
    
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  2. Kyle
    
    December 5, 2014
    
    Also Clarissa and I do not debate solely on issues relating to who has more personal experience.
    
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  3. Clarissa
    
    December 5, 2014
    
    “Ugh, not you again. Haven’t you had enough of Clarissa showing what an ignorant fool you are every time you try to argue with her about racism, the Soviet Union, or literally anything else you think you know more about than the people who actually experience(d) it?”
    
    – I gave Kyle a lot of leeway because I kept thinking, “He’s autistic, it’s important to be understanding with his difficulties in communication.” But now it has become obvious that this isn’t about autism. Saying that people deserve to be killed is not evidence of autism. It’s evidence of being a sick fuck.
    
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ladyleahjane

December 5, 2014

“– I gave Kyle a lot of leeway because I kept thinking, “He’s autistic, it’s important to be understanding with his difficulties in communication.” But now it has become obvious that this isn’t about autism. Saying that people deserve to be killed is not evidence of autism. It’s evidence of being a sick fuck.”
That’s a lot of compassion. More compassion than I’ve seen from any sick fuck suggesting that young black men deserve the death penalty for supposedly stealing, or smoking weed, or for the ill-defined alleged crime of being a “thug”.

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1. Clarissa
  
  December 5, 2014
  
  “More compassion than I’ve seen from any sick fuck suggesting that young black men deserve the death penalty for supposedly stealing, or smoking weed, or for the ill-defined alleged crime of being a “thug”.”
  
  – I shared the story of Kyle’s inhuman idiocy with a colleague. She told me that in her classroom a student suggested that “some women deserve to be raped.” These sickos are everywhere. And I hope they notice that I’m not suggesting that they deserve for any harm to come to them. If their non-existent brains can make such complex connections.
  
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2. Kyle
  
  December 5, 2014
  
  ladyleahjane also I do not think read my original argument and thus has a warped understanding of what my original argument was, even if she disagrees with it. I am fine if she disagrees with my saying Michael Brown deserved what he got for attacking a police officer, but I do not like that she thinks I am arguing he deserved the death penalty for robbing a store, smoking weed, or any such thing.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    December 5, 2014
    
    “ladyleahjane also I do not think read my original argument and thus has a warped understanding of what my original argument was, even if she disagrees with it. I am fine if she disagrees with my saying Michael Brown deserved what he got for attacking a police officer, but I do not like that she thinks I am arguing he deserved the death penalty for robbing a store, smoking weed, or any such thing.”
    
    – Kyle: stop posting all these comments. You are not a poor, misunderstood victim here. Saying that people “deserve to die” for absolutely bloody what so fucking ever reason that you dreamt up at some weird point in your warped existence is horrible. And “what he got” is death. He is dead. Lying in the ground. Dead. Got it?
    
    Now raise your eyes and look at the post’s title. Have you no shame at all?
    
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  2. Kyle
    
    December 5, 2014
    
    Not trying to portray myself as any victim, just I do not want my position to be misunderstood. I do not see why your find it so terrible to say that some people deserve to die. I can understand disagreement with the death penalty, but I do no think belief in it makes one a sick person.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      December 5, 2014
      
      “I do not see why your find it so terrible to say that some people deserve to die.”
      
      – Please go away until you do understand.
      
      Vigil: “watch or vigil held over the body of a dead person before burial and sometimes accompanied by festivity; also, in England, a vigil kept in commemoration of the dedication of the parish church. The latter type of wake consisted of an all-night service of prayer and meditation in the church. These services, officially termed Vigiliae by the church, appear to have existed from the earliest days of Anglo-Saxon Christianity.”
      
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ladyleahjane

December 5, 2014

” I do not see why your find it so terrible to say that some people deserve to die. I can understand disagreement with the death penalty, but I do no think belief in it makes one a sick person.”
You’re seriously sick. Seek help, stop seeking weird thrills every few months by crawling onto this blog and spewing your brainless vomit.

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1. Clarissa
  
  December 5, 2014
  
  “You’re seriously sick. Seek help, stop seeking weird thrills every few months by crawling onto this blog and spewing your brainless vomit.”
  
  – Some people are just the limit. The post is titled “The Vigil” and narrates the activities of people who grieve over somebody’s death. The author of the post is one of the grieving people. I find it incomprehensible how anybody can irrupt into this kind of a solemn thread to share their beliefs as to who “deserves to die.”
  
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  1. ladyleahjane
    
    December 5, 2014
    
    I’m reading a story right now about four New York Rabbis being arrested while reciting Kaddish (the MOURNER’S PRAYER) at another vigil for another black man cruelly murdered by the police, proclaiming that “Rabbis and all Jews need to stand up and say that every single person is a creation in the divine image — that black lives matter. We put our bodies on the line to show how crucial it is that the systems meant to protect us do protect all of us.”
    Do people like Kyle think that they’re on the right side of history calling it a “debate” to cheerfully claim that some people are beneath the right to human dignity and life?
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      December 5, 2014
      
      “Do people like Kyle think that they’re on the right side of history calling it a “debate” to cheerfully claim that some people are beneath the right to human dignity and life?”
      
      – I have already spammed at least a dozen of posts from him where he tries to explain how misunderstood he is. It’s good to know who the real victim here is: Kyle!
      
      “I’m reading a story right now about four New York Rabbis being arrested while reciting Kaddish (the MOURNER’S PRAYER) at another vigil for another black man cruelly murdered by the police, proclaiming that “Rabbis and all Jews need to stand up and say that every single person is a creation in the divine image — that black lives matter. We put our bodies on the line to show how crucial it is that the systems meant to protect us do protect all of us.”
      
      – It’s good to know there are normal people in the world.
      
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