“This idea that every time a black person does something, they automatically become a ‘thug worthy of their own death?’ We don’t own drug crimes. We’re not the only ones that sell and do drugs all the time, we’re not the only ones who steal, we’re not the only ones who talk crazy to cops. There’s a complete double standard and a complete different experience that a certain element of this country has the privilege of being treated as human beings. And the rest of us are not being treated like human beings. Period. And that needs to be discussed, that is the story…we’re not making this up.”7 Cynical Ways Police and Media have smeared Micheal Brown and the Black People of Ferguson
The unrest and protests following Brown’s killing have put the militarization of local police forces in the national spotlight, especially as police who look like soldiers are facing down protesters on Ferguson’s streets. But the most important issue that’s not getting widely discussed transcends the horrible specifics of Michael Brown’s death: the continuing trend of police officers shooting and killing black men, instead of using other tactics to deal with confrontations.Thank you social media for being the kind of media we wish we had, instead of the media we have.
(On Tuesday, St. Louis police shot and killed another man, apparently wielding a knife, several miles from Ferguson.)
We ARE the media. We are in the middle of the second Information Revolution. The people with satellite uplinks and klieg lights will still have their place. But they will not be the main witnesses. All of us can hold power to account. And we must, if we are to have any kind of decent life.
Mike Brown should never have been killed. His young life was snuffed out for no good reason. But the reaction to his murder is proof that humans still strive for justice, still strive for freedom, despite what those in authority will.
Walter Cronkite narrated the Civil Rights struggle for middle American homes in the Sixties. Today, it could be me. It could be you. And that is power.
#Ferguson
33 comments:
The more facts that come in is showing that the officer was justified. There have been BLACK witnesses that have the same story as the officer. There is a video of two black men talking and giving play by play and it is exactly like the officer said.Brown beat him, broke his eye socket and when told to stop he charged the officer all 6'4" and 250 plus pounds!The witness with him who said he was shot in the back has been proven a LIAR!!
What will those in the black community do if facts prove the officer was justified? I say they still will act the same way or worse!
Also why did Obama apologize to the Brown family when the facts are not in? THAT IS STUPID AND TAKING SIDES!
Do you think Obama will apologize to Dillon Taylor's family before the facts come out? Will Holder go to Salt Lake City? Will Al, Jessie go to Salt Lake City? Will whites come from other areas and loot,steal and commit other crimes? Will a white pastor come in to the town and create a racial divide?
The kkk is WRONG! they are going to stir up racial tension just like Al. The kkk and Al should be in jail for it too.
Although did you see the peaceful protestors that were there supporting the officer? They had to be taken away by police before they got attacked. Why can't they have an opinion to? MANY only see one side. No matter if the facts show the officer had every reason to shoot MANY will still not believe the facts!!!
BTW did you see the peaceful protestors that were there in support of Mike Brown? They had tanks, assault rifles, tear gas, and fogs turned on them by police.
Yes and that was wrong. I never said it was not but lets not say ALL police are bad. They are not! Like protesters all are not bad!
I do however strongly disagree with convicting the officer without all the facts like many have done. The POTUS, the Miss. Gov. as well as Holder have made statements that should NEVER have been made until the facts are in!!!
Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown at least 6 times.
Micheal Brown was unarmed.
Micheal Brown is dead.
Those are the FACTS.
You do not have to be unarmed to be a threat. There was a gun in the fight and if Brown would have gotten it would he kill the officer? He already showed disrespect for the store owner/clerk by intimidating him with his size. It seems he did that with the officer as well. He was 6'4" 250-300 pounds. A BIG man that could easily over take the officer and take his gun!He chose his own path with his actions. EVERYONE with COMMON SENSE knows that you DO NOT attack the police. Comply then go to Internal Affairs if the officer was wrong! Again Brown was the catalyst in his death!!
I meant you do not have to have a weapon to be a threat!
Everyone with common sense knows you don't gun down unarmed teens in the street like an animal. If Officer Darren Wilson was intimated by Mike Brown's size he chose the wrong profession.
And we don't know all the facts. Yet protesters want Darren Wilson dead. They have already convicted him of murder.
We have been told that the police interviewed at least 12 witnesses that backed Darren Wilson's story.
The autopsy released by the family contradicts the story that was told by Mike Brown's friend Dorian Johnson that Mike Brown was shot in the back.
If Darren Wilson had to go to the hospital, it explains why he wasn't at the scene of the shooting for that long.
You think Wilson wanted to shoot Brown? NO he did not. Wilson has a family as well and he had to make a split second decision. His profession is not full of 6'4" 250 pound plus karate, mma experts nor are they required to be. Brown is was a BIG MAN and there is no way you go toe to toe with a man that just broke your eye socket, tried to take your gun when there is 1 gun involved in that fight and that BIG MAN already tried to take the gun.Why did he try to take it? Was his intent to kill the officer? Why not take the baton? BECAUSE in my opinion he would have used the gun on the officer and as an officer Wilson can not let that happen! If it did that could be Wilson that is dead.
Brian:
We know enough facts.
Protestors do not want Darren Wilson dead, protestors want Darren Wilson arrested, charged, and tried in a court of law, not the court of public opinion.
You have been told by an unidentified source at least 12 witnesses backed Darren Wilson's story, what ever his story is. Told by whom? What is Darren Wilson's story? That's why he needs to be charged, so he can tell his story in court and not via some ghosts.
You say you want facts, the autopsy released by the family contains scientific facts,not a story made up by some unidentified friend of Darren Wilson's.
We don't know if, or when Darren Wilson went to the hospital.
We do know for a fact Mike Brown's dead body went to morgue.
DARYAL Pinchon:
I know Officer Darren Wilson got out of his car and shot Mike Brown at least 6 times.
I know Mike Brown was running away from Darren Wilson at the time he was shot and killed.
There is no evidence Mike Brown tried to take Officer Darren Wilson's gun. Why would he?
This is your brain on right wing news.
Keeping the misinformed, unformed.
They are doing a good job.
So when they chanted
"Who do we want? Darren Wilson! How do we want him? DEAD!"
it was code for Arrest Him?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJrG2AMghw
Why would Officer Wilson try to pull Mike Brown into his car? It is what is claimed happened by Dorian Johnson (the friend Mike Brown was walking with).
Why would Officer Wilson shoot somebody surrendering in broad daylight in a very public area?
It does not make any sense to try and pull somebody into your car, especially through the driver's window. It makes even less sense to execute somebody in broad daylight in an area that there could be any number of witnesses.
Not even all the eyewitness stories agree.
Piaget Crenshaw said on August 10th that Mike Brown was shot in the back as he ran. But on August 18th after the autopsy was released, her story changed to that none of the shots hit but maybe on of them grazed his arm.
Dorian Johnson's account is the only one that states that Mike Brown said "I don't have a gun. Stop shooting!".
They don't even agree on whether or not Mike Brown raised his hands. Michael Brady's account has Mike Brown's arms under his stomach.
At the same time, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Christine Byers reports that she has been told by the police that there are over a dozen witnesses that support the officer's version of events.
All the eye witnesses "agree" Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Mike Brown.
All the eye witnesses "agree" Mike Brown was unarmed.
All the eye witnesses "agree" Mike Brown is dead.
Yes all eye witness do agree on the points you listed. But not all eye witnesses agree on whether or not it is a murder or a justified shooting.
When the witness accounts don't line up, it creates reasonable doubt that the rest of the statement is trustworthy. When the witness's account changes, it makes you wonder if they actually were a witness or what what else might change.
And if protesters don't want Darren Wilson dead, why did they chant that they want him dead?
The majority of the protestors, not to be confused with the ones on your little your tube clip, want justice, not vengeance. I know that's hard for someone who tries to justify the indefensible killing of an unarmed teen because of the color of his skin. It's a shame those in positions of influence power share your point of view.
First, we don't know it is indefensible. You want to believe Mike Brown is innocent, but there are witness out there that are backing Darren Wilson. The Mike Brown did get into a confrontation with Darren Wilson and that Mike Brown did charge Darren Wilson.
Mob justice is often indistinguishable from vengeance. Right now that is one reason for witnesses that disagree with the mob's point of view to be kept secret. They will be made public in due time when cooler heads have prevailed. The DA is vetting them, seeing how credible each witness is and how strong a case he can make. Screw it up, and you get an acquittal, like Casey Anthony, like George Zimmerman. Move to fast and all you do is make it more likely that a screw up will occur. But the protesters in Ferguson are already calling for the DA to be replace. They seem to be more interested in quick justice.
Don't undersell the minority that was chanting for Darren Wilson's death. Westboro Baptist church is a very small minority, ISIS is a minority, Al-queda is a minority. But a motivated minority can do a lot of damage.
First if you don't think it is indefensible to execute an unarmed teen in the middle of the street in broad daylight I feel sorry for you.
Second I know Mike Brown is not only innocent, he is dead because Officer Darren Wilson shot him at least 6 times from a distance of at least 25 feet away.
The only thing Mike Brown was guilty of is being a black male in America. And the only mob I saw had tanks, tear gas, dogs and assault rifles.
I agree with you on one thing, never estimate the power of stupid people in small groups.
According to one set of witnesses some of whom stories have holes in them.
You assume Mike Brown was not guilty of anything else.
Yes, yes, police using equipment other than a basic car and a handgun is wrong. Maybe we should take away their guns and they stop crime with love and good intentions.
No officer Darren Wilson assumed Mike Brown was "guilty of something else" because of the color of his skin so he became the judge, jury, and the executioner.
You are assuming Darren Wilson was assuming something about Mike Brown. You are assuming that Darren Wilson shot Mike Brown because of the color of his skin.
There is a saying that there are three sides to every story, yours, mine, and the truth. We have a third hand account of Darren Wilson which I have doubts about. We have a couple of eye witnesses that try to paint Darren Wilson as a murderer. But one witness changed her story after the autopsy came out. Another has Mike Brown not raising his arms. And most of them state that Darren Wilson shot Mike Brown in the back which the autopsy showed did not happen. I do believe all but the most incompetent of medical examiners can determine an entry wound and an exit wound and figure out what direction the bullet was traveling.
We know that Darren Wilson shot Mike Brown. We need to give the DA time to build his case. Rushing to charge Darren Wilson right now could lead to an acquittal and the double jeopardy (part of the 5th amendment) clause preventing a retrial.
I am not defending Darren Wilson. If he murdered Mike Brown, he deserves to go to jail. I don't want to believe that in this day and age that we have people that could execute somebody in broad daylight and not have any previous incidents. It's hard to believe anybody could be that stupid and that hateful and this is the first time that they acted on their feelings.
If Darren Wilson didn't shoot Mike Brown because of the color of his skin why did he shot and kill him? Mike Brown was at least 25 feet away from Darren Wilson. Which means he was fleeing not advancing.
You are too defending Darren Wilson by asking others to give him the benefit of the doubt he certainly didn't give to Mike Brown. Why aren't you willing to give the same presumption of innocence to Mikr Brown instead of assuming he must be guilty of something because of the color of his skin?
I don't defend him just as you don't condone the looting but you do understand it. Some would say if you understand it, you are condoning it on some level.
Some witnesses say Mike went 25 feet stop and turn around and surrender. Others say he charged.
You can't understand why he would charge. I have a hard time understanding how an officer of the law could do what some eye witnesses said he did and there be no warning signs that he would do something like this.
But then again, not much about this case make too much sense. I don't have a problem with the protesters protesting. I do have a problem when they ignore lawful orders from there police to allow a street to be reopened to traffic.
If Darren Wilson it's guilty of Dorian Johnson said he did, I want to see him tried and found guilty. But if he is innocent, he should be able to move on his life. To many people are seeing one side of the story and they are not even willing to consider that the truth is most likely in the middle of the two stories somewhere.
I will never, I repeat never, understand or condone the execution of an unarmed teen. You got that?
How many people died because protestors defied a "lawful" order to clear the streets?
The problem I have is there are way too many people on positions of power and influence who think like you and your pal DARYAL Pinchon.
Typo should read: The problem I have is there are way too many people in positions of power and influence who think like you and your pal DARYAL Pinchon.
What did I say in my comment that made it worthy of deletion?
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