Cop Killer, Christopher Dorner, and "John Brown's Body"

The murderously insane and quixotic quest that Christopher Dorner has embarked upon will mark him in history alongside a number of erstwhile madmen.  So, while I'm tracking the media...and the media are tracking the police...who are chaotically tracking Dorner, a melodic tune is echoing through my mind.  It's the well known tune, "Battle Hymn of the Republic."  But, the lyrics I hear are not those I so proudly and dutifully memorized in grade school.  The words are strangely different:

 

"Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,

While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;

But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,

His soul is marching on."

Unknown to many, the tune now known as the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was born "John Brown's Body" during the Civil War as a Union Army marching song.  In later years, the melody remained the same but the lyrics were changed to strike a more patriotic and conciliatory tone. It became President Lincoln's favorite song. But, history strongly suggests that the original song was meant to honor the "maniacal madman," John Brown.

On October 16, 1859, Brown, a white abolistionist, led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. However, his plan to incite a slave revolt by arming them with weapons was thwarted by local farmers, militiamen, and U.S. Marines. Within a few days of the attack, most of Brown's men had been killed or captured.

Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer and commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, appears to be on a similarly horrific hazard to avenge the "racism" and "corruption" he alleges is rampant in the LAPD.

In a final "manifesto" published on Facebook prior to his killing spree, Dorner stated that the LAPD fired him in retaliation for protesting "racist" and "corrupt" departmental practices.  He alleges to have witnessed, reported and resisted practices of excessive use of force, use of the word, "nigger," abuse of the mentally ill, and the singing of "nazi youth songs." The LAPD repaid his good deeds, he says, by labeling him a "bully" and starting an internal affairs investigation of him.  Dorner states the only way to reclaim his reputation is by executing those who dispossessed him of it. So, he's killed three Los Angeles police officers...and counting.

Of course, this "manifesto" may simply be the mad ravings of a deranged and psychopathic killer attempting to rationalize his uncivilized behavior. But, the same was said of old John Brown.

Make no mistake, from what we know, John Brown's quest to free enslaved Africans was immensely more noble than Dorner's narcissistic quest for personal redemption. But, Dorner has couched his assailable adventure in the struggle for "justice." Justice, he says, for himself and other Los Angelenos who must submit to the authority of a "corrupt" police department.  In that VERY narrow sense alone, Dorner and Brown may occupy the same cabin on the train of justice. But, can such malodorous means ever justify the ends of justice....an eternal question? I believe the killing of innocent victims can seldom, if ever, be justified.

Could rapper "Ice T," a product of the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, have envisioned Christoper Dorner when recording his prophetic and controversial cut, "Cop Killer?" "Hip-hop heads" and "hip-hopologist" alike are quizzically musing as the drama unfolds. Was the great Gil Scott-Heron visionary when he depicted cops "striding the city streets like robot gunslingers with gun butts and police shields?" Or, are America's PTSD stricken "chickens" limping home to lay a few rotten eggs? Another professional killer, trained by America, has come home to menace and stalk the streets of America.

.....John Brown was wounded, captured, moved to Charlestown, Virginia, tried and convicted of treason. Prior to sentencing, Brown addressed the court and said, ". . . . I believe to have interfered as I have done, . . . in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it be deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done."

John Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859.

His hanging popularized the phrase, "I'll be John Browned!"  I remember hearing my older relatives use that phrase.  The phrase means, "I'll be damned!" in recognition of Brown's certain damnation, or alternatively, to exclaim astonishment or amazement. For sure, Christopher Dorner will be "John Browned" in the most dire sense of the word.  Maybe by lethal injection, or by gas chamber, or by electric chair, or at the hands of the LAPD.  The point is, he WILL be "John Browned"....but, I won't be John Browned...not in the least.

While pondering the lyrics to "John Brown's Body," I'm saddened at the death of innocents and I grieve with their families.  And, upon his death, Dorner will surely be lip synching the Julia Ward Howe written lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "He hath sounded forth the trumpet which shall never call retreat...." the VIOLENCE IS MARCHING ON!!!!

Until we rendezvous...

Peace!!