I have nothing interesting to say about Ferguson. But this image

calls to mind these lines:

It was the fourth day after Christmas in the Year of our Lord 1890. When the first torn and bleeding bodies were carried into the candlelit church, those who were conscious could see Christmas greenery hanging from the open rafters. Across the chancel front above the pulpit was strung a crudely lettered banner: PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO MEN.

Some of you will recognize that as a passage from Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. I’m reminded this morning that the American past and present are shot through with painful and often unrecognized ironies — not that this is even a little bit revelatory.