Prophets Of Rage - Public Enemy

So the Kelly Thomas verdict came in yesterday. I'm sure you've heard or read all about it, and I'm sure you all have your opinions on it too. As someone who grew up in the Fullerton area and hung out there quite a bit (my Pops worked on Gilbert St. in Fullerton) I can tell you that this is action by the Police is nothing new. As someone who used to frequent places in Fullerton like Big Johns or the Galaxy Roller Rink to see all those classic Punk bands I grew up with play those places, I can tell you that the action of those in control are nothing new. Granted, not to this extreme, of course, but the Fullerton Police department have always had the worst reputation for abusing their Power and just beating the shit out of Punx every chance they got. I think it's funny that in this PC golden age love your fellow man hippy bullshit Beardcore times we live in now that people actually thought the problem had went away or that it didn't exist anymore. No, it wasn't that the problem went away - it's that you moved away to hide from it, to get away from it, to pretend that it no longer existed. The problem is real. It's always existed. Always has, always will.

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And where's all the umbrage at? Where's the rage? Say what you will, but after the Rodney King verdict, people affected by the decision, or even those who just felt that it was a huge injustice, took to the streets and let their dissatisfaction with the verdict be known! Colored people rioted. White people in Long Beach looted and wrote shitty songs about it. Pathetic and it figures. And what did I see after the Kelly Thomas verdict went public? Nothing, that's what. No public outrage, no riots in the street. Nothing. A black guy gets beat up by the Police, not even to the extent that Kelly Thomas was beaten, and people lose their shit. A white guy gets killed by the Police, and not a single fuck is given, except from the safety of the Internet, of course. My Facebook feed was overwhelmed with postings and comments from a bunch of PC pussy armchair warriors pontificating on how wrong and fucked up this was, screaming about what an injustice this was, looking for others to agree with them and pat them on that back and validate their miserable existence somehow. Gotta get those precious "Likes' on Facebook, right? Fuck. Look, I'm no better, and I, like the rest of you, didn't do shit about it, but I didn't do shit about it because I wasn't surprised by the verdict. I don't forget where I come from. I've never forgotten that All Cops Are Bastards. The Cops have never been my Friends. Nope. All Policeman suck. Yup. And to remind you all of that fact, here's a video of a song by a band that was singing about the abuse of Police power all the way back in 1982. Seems a shame that all of you seem to have forgotten the message. No wonder Punk Rock Posing is so well attended...