A Grim Prognosis

Two recent occurrences have me in a pessimistic mood. The first is the Sean Bell case. The second is the continuing furor surrounding the statements and attitudes of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. For those who don't know the deal, Sean Bell was killed by three undercover New York City police officers on his wedding day. Bell was at a strip club for his bachelor party, allegedly got involved in an altercation, and was gunned down by the officers who thought he was armed. Wright, meanwhile, has made a number of controversial statements, suggesting that god should damn America for its crimes and that the policies of the government were responsible for 9/11. What links these two events? For me, it is the wholly unbridgeable gulf between the people on either side of these issues. To some, the Bell slaying is the height of injustice, yet another case of unwarranted police aggression towards blacks. To others, what happened that night was tragic, yet justified. The officers did the best they could under the circumstances. And besides, Bell and his friends were 'thugs' with criminal records. Similarly, some see Wright's statements as indicative of a man who hates America and represents all that is wrong with the stereotypical angry black man. Others, though, understand where he is coming from and the anger he feels at the actions of the government.
Unfortunately, there is no Platonic justice or truth to be had. There is no way that those on opposite sides of this divide can be convinced through reflection or rational argument of the validity of their opponents' position. The sad fact is that while we are quick to become indignant at injustices we perceive to have perpetrated upon us, we have little empathy for those who accuse us of injustice towards them. Our self-centered and self-interested notions of truth and justice, it seems to me, doom us to a perpetual combativeness, a society that will always be divided into two camps. And so politics in its most base form will endure.