I remember flying home on leave from military service in the
1960s and watching Detroit burn through the plane window down below during the
race riots. It was an eerie sight then and a disturbing sight to watch the same
happening in Ferguson, Missouri.
The national and international spotlight is on the area and
CNN is reporting nothing but what is happening in the town on a minute by
minute basis which to me, only adds to the problems there as people are now
fully aware they are playing to a much larger audience.
This intense scrutiny by the media is bringing out all those
who see this as an opportunity whether for good or bad but mostly to serve
their own interests before such a huge audience; their 15 minutes of fame.
It is obvious that the police in Ferguson have made some
mistakes. Ferguson is a small town and the police force does not appear to have
a public relations officer with the expertise to handle such matters and direct
the police chief in what steps are advisable and which steps are absolutely
wrong.
Not meeting with the family in a timely manner was
definitely a huge oversight. Not releasing the name of the officer involved in
the shooting served no purpose and only exacerbated the tension already
building since it appeared to many that the police chief was somehow covering
up and protecting the officer.
A huge mistake was releasing the video of Michael Brown
robbing a store and manhandling the clerk that confronted him while at the same
time finally releasing the officer’s name. To me as to many other people, it
appeared that the police were trying to link the two as in the officer was
merely confronting the robber when the officer did not know at the time that
Brown was a robbery suspect.
People have a right to protest the shooting of an unarmed
teenager (6 bullet holes) when it appears that there was no apparent cause for
it…that is yet to be determined but the looting and violence that started as
night fell was absolutely inexcusable and should not have been allowed.
Many now realize that there are the legitimate peaceful
protesters during the day and the hooligan element that see all this as a license
to cause mayhem by looting and destroying property in their own neighborhood
and attacking the police (Molotov Cocktails). A Gerbil or hamster in a cage
knows not to shit where they sleep; people are not that smart.
The police are in a damn if you do and damn if you don’t
situation. Order has to be maintained and people and property have to be
protected; it is their job. The police are being accused of overstepping their
authority by using military force; now they are being criticized for under
stepping and not protecting people and property; the National Guard has been
called out just like in Detroit.
We all know that this shooting case has to be investigated
and our legal system has to be allowed to work. Demanding immediate action is
just plain stupid and harkens to the old lynch mob mentality and authorities
cannot play to that mentality but need to process this case through legal
channels and procedures.
Let’s be very clear about this case, a case we really don’t
know all the details about. There is absolutely no justification for shooting
let alone killing an unarmed man unless that man was about to do great bodily
harm to you. Police are professionally trained to respond to many different
situations without having to use deadly force. This is true even if the person
being confronted is a criminal or committing a criminal act; arrest him and
take him to jail.
There is the real possibility of a pretty big backlash
against the protesters as well as the black community in Ferguson. Michael
Brown was not just a typical 19 year-old looking forward to going to college as
his parents have stated. As the store robbery video shows, he was a big man who
had no problem with openly stealing from a store and then pushing and shoving
the poor clerk that tried to confront him.
He was also walking with his buddy down the middle of a
street and therefore blocking traffic an action that speaks to the devil may
care attitude of Brown and his total disregard for rules and laws of a law
abiding society; it will be hard to portray him as an innocent youth shot by a
deranged racist police officer for doing nothing.
A grand jury is being convened to see if the officer, Darren
Wilson, has broken any laws and needs to stand trial. The officer will have to
prove that he fired because he feared for his life and the autopsy showed that
the bullet that killed Brown entered at the top of his head which indicates
that Brown either bowed his head in surrender or was charging the officer with
his head lowered.
Police in this country do not have a good reputation
historically when it comes to killing unarmed men who posed no credible threat
to their lives and this fact will loom large in this case.
What needs to happen quickly in this case is for law and
order to be restored in the community and for people to go back to their homes,
remain calm and let the legal process begin; after all, we are a nation of
laws.
The media and especially CNN will make sure that this case
will be prosecuted properly by analyzing ever minutiae of this case for the
foreseeable future.
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