We have just received news that a young black man, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, has reportedly shot and killed two New York cops in revenge for the police murder of Eric Garner. This will make a bad situation worse.

The forces of “law and order” have increasingly been put on the defensive. From President Obama to the editors of the Wall Street Journal — all the nonsense about respecting our legal process had been silenced as more and more comes out about how District Attorney Bob McCullough in Ferguson acted as the defense attorney for the accused rather than as the prosecutor. He has recently even admitted that he put a witness up on the stand who he knew was lying. This was a witness who testified that everything that Wilson claimed had happened was true. But it had become clear that she was a lying bigot who wasn’t even in Ferguson at the time. There is actually grounds to bar McCullough from practicing law for allowing false evidence to be entered into the proceedings. Even the mass, corporate media was starting to report on this sort of cover-up.

Now, that will be overwhelmed with condemnation of the killing of the two cops, with praise for what wonderful and dedicated officers of the law they are, etc. etc.

There will be claims that the protesters created the atmosphere that allowed this killing of the cops. This, along with the natural inclinations of the cops themselves, will lead them to crack down even harder on protesters as well as to be even more vicious in their behavior in the black community.

Then there is the issue that Brinsley reportedly was studying Arabic and was studying Islam. This will give the criminal (in)justice system even further justification for internet spying.

In the late ’90s and the first year of the new century, a movement was building world-wide against “globalization.” First the youth and then layers of workers were starting to organize. Capitalism was on the defensive. Then 9/11 happened and it transformed the mood and the political atmosphere. In fact, it is only in the last few years that we are starting to recover from that. This killing will not have anywhere near that same effect, but it will be in a similar direction, especially if more follow.

At this time, it does not seem that Brinsley (assuming he was, in fact, the shooter) did this as part of any larger group. In fact, it seems that he was one more young black man, hopeless for a future in this hellhole that is US capitalism, a young man filled with anger and hopelessness. All the appeals to being nice, all the appeals for peace, are as useful as appealing to the forces of nature to turn off the rain in a hurricane. Only a stronger movement can provide an alternative. This means a movement that really reaches down to the most downtrodden and really encourages their political activity and helps them organize to fight politically for a real future.