Cameron Todd Willingham

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

I don't much care that the Willingham case won't deep-six Rick Perry. That kind of cynical utilitarianism has never been my bag. Frederick Douglass couldn't stop Jim Crow or achieve universal suffrage either. But we live in Douglass's America, not Bobby Lee's.

In this long battle, in this longer war for a more informed citizenry, and thus a more responsible political class, Willingham should not be forgotten. Activists, agitators, writers and thinkers who measure their efforts by presidential cycles should take up another business. This is no place for fast food intellectuals.

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