Who is an “Outside Agitator”?
The media bashing of “outside agitators” in Ferguson plays into the hands of the Right.
In Ferguson, Missouri, there are “outside agitators.” On this, the reactionaries and liberals agree.
Of course, there are all sorts of racialized rumors flying around in the guise of reporting about what is taking place in Ferguson. We are well used to this — we remember Hurricane Katrina. There will be time to properly sift through and catalog all that. For now, I simply want to ask a quick question: what is an “outside agitator”?
The metaphor of exteriority, of being outside, has two important connotations. First, one is transgressing the spatial ordering of the state. States constitute social spaces like districts, wards, and counties — a process that is historically far from racially innocent in the US.
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