When the grand jury was convened, I thought sure there would be an indictment. There was not. Obviously, I did not hear the evidence, but this much is clear: Michael Brown, an unarmed black youth, was shot dead by a police officer.
Nothing that Michael did or said on that fateful day could justify his death. I look at events like this and feel that the young man got a death sentence. No matter what the grand jury heard, Michael didn’t do anything that deserved a death sentence.
Having lost a child myself, I grieve for his parents. I grieve for our country.
I grieve even more for Michael, who lost his life in an altercation with a police officer. Does it seem too much to expect the police to protect us, not to harm us? Michael was owed as much protection as I hope for and expect. The police should be our guardians. I don’t have any answers. Just a deep sense that a terrible injustice was done.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you Diane. You speak for many of us in this eloquent and sad post.
Deadly force should not be permitted when there is probable cause to believe that a *nonviolent* crime was committed. When you are in a car (a potentially deadly weapon in its own right) and have a gun, who has the upper hand? If this very same scenario had unfolded in the suburbs with a young white man, I promise this would have had a quite different ending. That is the problem, the rotten systemic disease of inequity which permeates our educational, tax, justice, economic, and political systems. Heart-breaking.
Amen…this is a sad time in our history.
I grieve today for our society that is so broken, I fear it’s beyond fixing. Will it take a complete implosion to start over again? I don’t think that Michael Brown deserved to die, but I also understand that the police are there to keep order. When kids fail to comply to police commands, they take their lives in their hands, and it doesn’t matter what color they are or where they live. There is no black and white in this issue, in the matters of race or morality. There is a terribly sick society in which the people on all sides are hurting and confused.
There’s no law that says anyone has to comply with everything a police officer orders you to do. Brown was walking in the street right in front of his house. Any reasonable person, being ordered onto the sidewalk like that, would have questioned the officer as to why and why the attitude? It’s an officer’s job to *de-escalate* any and all situations to the best of their ability, never to escalate them.
If Michael Brown were your son, you’d be singing a different song.
When a police officer orders me to get out of the street, I get to the sidewalk asap, and I advise my kids to do the same. The worst possible response in that situation is to question the order or the officer’s attitude.
Obviously, this is totally separate from the issue of the officer’s own conduct.
I would just remind anyone, that the jurors heard and reviewed so much more than any of us have read. When I served on a Grand Jury, there were black jurors as well. We came to be in agreement with each other more often than not. We do not know if their walking in the street blocked traffic or not. The police officer received a radio call at the same time about someone described as Brown as stealing and strong arming an employee in the store. If the suspects had been white, Hispanic, or Asian, it is probably the officer would have spoken to them to get on the sidewalk as well, and then hearing the call about the robbery would have acted in the same way. Behavior, not race, may have been the issue. Teachers in the urban middle and high schools are well acquainted with the behavior, disrespect, and sometimes violence of some of their students.
Helen, I understand that adolescents can be difficult, but nothing that Michael Brown did deserved the death penalty.
Diane, I agree and said that. So did others who are on the side of the law. But situations escalate and get out of hand, go awry, and even become fatal for someone. For those of us who weren’t there, it’s difficult to judge what all transpired so quickly. St. Louis is experiencing so much crime, murders of young people by young people. Unless someone has been presented as much evidence and testimony that the grand jurors received, it’s difficult to make a judgment call. Had illegalities both in a store and in the street not occurred, none of this would have happened. But we can’t turn back the clock or the calendar. Justice is to be obtained not only for the victim but also for the other party involved. It’s very difficult, complex, and tragic. But we need to stop accusing everyone else involved; in this case, especially the citizens who served as jurors, in my opinion.
I have no idea what race you are, FLERP!, but I can assure you that many, many white people, especially affluent ones, would look at a cop yelling at them to get on the sidewalk like he was on crack and would, indeed, refuse to do so, at least without the officer dialing it back a notch and turning it into a polite request. And I’m not aware of any who have been shot for doing so.
Not that this sort of thing ever happens in places where affluent whites live.
I’m white. Maybe I’m unusually spineless or unusually sensible, although I tend to think I’m pretty typical. Regardless, I reiterate that it is a *terrible* idea to refuse to comply with an order like this. People, and especially teens, should understand that their #1 goal when interacting with police is to not end up in police custody (or, God forbid, worse).
My humble thanks to the owner of this blog for this posting.
I agree with Dienne and dianeravitch.
Michael Brown did not have to die.
That said, I appreciate the commenters on this thread for having a go at what can be a very difficult, uncomfortable and easy-to-be-misunderstood discussion.
At the risk of being misunderstood myself, I will only add that I deeply feel that police officers should be held to a higher standard because they literally have the power of life and death over us. And I will add that in conversations with some police officers and members of families that have police officers, I have heard the same.
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I agree. Michael Brown did not deserve to die. Something went awry; the question is how did that impact a tragic outcome?
I apologize for not making my last observation clear.
In speaking about police officers and members of families with police officers, I was not referring to conversations about the shooting death of Michael Brown. These were conversations about other incidents involving police officers and the use of force, including deadly force.
BTW, yes, it does seem to matter what color they are and where they live. Tell me that things would have played out this way had Michael Brown been a white kid in, say, Lake Forest, Illinois?
I think you are right, Dienne. A white teenager acting stupid, especially boys (I raised three of them) may end up in a little more trouble than they expected, but they are not going to end up dead.
If you hit an officer, attempt to grab his firearm, and then charge at him, it doesn’t matter what race you are (or what race the officer is); the outcome is not going to be good for you.
Sue Corbin – I was taught (50 yrs ago) re the law to respond with respect, absence of any attitude, & self-preservation/ conflict-avoidance. As a mom of teen boys in recent years, in an affluent mostly white town whose police dept routinely steps over the line with regard to young men, we had to teach them not to trust policemen, to learn the details of their rights, & to carry a criminal lawyer’s card in their wallets.
Along with that, any good defense attorney will tell you not to talk to the police whether you’re innocent or guilty. This is a little longish, but it has some great points: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE
very well said. The current policy of police to shoot first with intent to kill is leading to far too many cases of young people, even children, being killed. More training? Hiring fewer military trained vets? No answers. One thing, the media needs to stick to facts, not speculation and sensationalism. It will be hard to ever regain trust in govt and police unless we get a responsible media.
Daniel Pink’s book, “Blink,” has some interesting observations about snap judgements and knee jerk reactions in high adrenalin situations.
Cx: Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Blink.” I am reading Daniel Pink now.
Any loss of an innocent life due to human error is a tragedy; however, nothing justifies the unmitigated violence and destruction of property–I am horrified at the crowd’s response.
The crowd response was far less than I expected. The conduct of the criminal justice procedure here– as well as the timing/ manner of the announcement of grand jury decision to the public– seemed calculated as a bald show of power.
If the media would stop covering the mayhem, the trouble makers would have no audience.
As I was watching the 3 businesses burning last night, the first thing that came to mind was “what an opportunity for an unhappy owner to collect a fat insurance check and move on”.
Are you kidding? I’m sure there are those who would react that way, but watching your business go up in flames typically would elicit a less cynical response.
This kind of event demeans everyone, police, victims, the general public. I remember when the video of Rodney King made the news. My father, a retired state police officer was so disgusted by the actions of those officers. He said it belittles the job they are set to do, protect the public. My father is no friend to black people, either. He has a core of racism that really bothers me. But he looked past that to the truth, we are supposed to trust the police, not look at them as bullies and killers.
If we can’t trust those we hire to protect us, then who is left to trust?
I am sorry, Sue; I beg to differ. As a suburban white woman whose daughter has been at parties where the police were called and found white kids smoking marijuana and did nothing about it, just gave a warning, there is absolutely, positively a difference between the way white youthful transgressions are handled and those of minority youth. This includes shoplifting. Denial will get us nowhere; after all, it has gotten us here.
Dr. Ravitch, if you ever served on a Grand Jury, as I have, you would know the jurors thoughtfully came to their decision as to probable cause. The young man might have ended up the same eventually due to his criminal activity and bullying of another person smaller than him — both in the store he robbed and with the police officer he attacked. There are consequences to our actions, and some become very tragic. He didn’t deserve to die, but he played an important role in why he died. With the high rate of murders in the St. Louis area over car jackings, random shootings, or deliberate acts of violence against innocent people, he might have also been killed by one of his own. Nonetheless, be assured that the Grand Jury did not passively accept everything but probably challenged it and labored and grieved over their decision.
Nice victim-blaming.
wow Helen I pray you never loose a child if you have any smdh
And I pray you never serve on a jury where you have to weigh everything. Parents of murderers, rapists, and thieves lose children too. But they recognize their child’s role in what transpired. There was a violent altercation involved and from there, it went awry.
Everyone on the side of the officer has been preaching…..let’s wait until all the evidence is in……..I know it is not supposed to be allowed, but it would be helpful to know……just what the tallies were among the five charges, with 6 white men, 3 white women, 2 black women and one black man voting. I would bet a lot will leak out about that. The polling showed that there was an exaggerated split in opinions between the races about this case…….would anyone be shocked, if there was also an exaggerated split among the jurors, lining up racially? The “prosecutor” knew this going in……the low bar of getting an indictment was a better bet to protect the officer than the high bar of a trial where he would be innocent until proven guilty….simply based on the makeup of the grand jury. The way it was handled from the start…..down to the last detail of making a big production at 8:20 in st. Louis, by the prosecutor who helped get rid of the black county commissioner….drawing showy, self-destructive violence as soon as he announced the expected results…..the prosecutor is a much smoother speaker than the governor, (speaking of low bars), and he is a much smoother operator in other ways, too.
I respectfully disagree with you Joe Pritchard. You are assuming and presuming everything about the jurors, Bob McCullough, et al. The straw man argument may work for you, but it doesn’t work for everyone.
Did it occur to you that they may have an agenda or don’t know how grand juries in the St. Louis area work. If anything, this grand jury went beyond what grand juries do in order to be as fair and just as possible.
BTW, this is the story the grand jury believed: http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/darrien-wilson-told-this-story-with-a-straight-face-and-the-grand-jury-said-they-believed-it/
Forgive me if I don’t believe that they really dedicated their hearts and souls to this “thoughtful” decision.
Dienne, after months, weeks, days, hours of receiving evidence, testimonies, etc., do you really think that is all the jurors believed? Be careful of what you read and who posts it. I’m not sure any grand juror could comment on “what they believed” due to their oath. Once again, having served three months on a grand jury in St. Louis, I find some of the comments and postings in social media incredulous.
BTW…here is the poll Helen either does not believe, or does not believe is relevant,due to her sanctimonious reverence for white guys serving more than a half year on a grand jury….Washington (CNN) — Americans are sharply divided along racial lines as to whether Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson should be charged with murder in the shooting death of Michael Brown, a new CNN/ORC poll out Monday finds.
Fifty-four percent of nonwhites — including blacks, Latinos and Asians — say Wilson should be charged with murder, while just 23% of whites agree. And 38% of whites say Wilson should be charged with no crime at all, while just 15% of nonwhites hold that position.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/24/politics/ferguson-wilson-cnn-poll/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Talk about sanctimonious, Joe Prichard, you might want to parse some of your comments to see who comes across sanctimonious.
I am making assumptions and presumptions? Which one of us is making the wilder speculations? Race might or might not have affected the voting, or my speculation is about a straw man, compared to your……true in the opposite way you meant “this grand jury went beyond what grand juries do…….”
I recommend people read Matt Taibbi’s “The Dvide”. It will open your eyes about the very different systems of justice not just for different races but for different classes of Americans.
And Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow”. Every every elected official in America should read this book. Every person, really.
Lisa “The New Jim Crow” very good book!
The Overclass knows full well where their policies of privatization, deregulation, looting of the public sphere, intensifying inequality in economics and the legal system, and large-scale displacement (otherwise known as gentrification) must lead. Venal and vicious though the system may be, it is overseen by intelligent, well-compensated people totally lacking a moral core. It’s a technocracy of oppression and wealth extraction.
Thus, the militarization of law enforcement and it’s use an an occupying army to intimidate a population that is seen as nothing more than a profit center from which wealth is to be extracted by any means necessary.
Whatever the tragedies of life – crime, illness, inequality, endemic racism – they are all potential profit centers to be monetized, rather than remedied or ameliorated.
Given that racism is the default program in US society, and that class conflict often speaks in the language of race, these events are grotesquely common and to be expected, unless and until there is enough pushback from The Many to force concessions from The Few.
This.
Does anyone deserve to die by a police shooting and then for the body to be left in the street for four and one half hours?
The rage and outrage is not just at the shooting.
Laura, evidently you haven’t kept up with all the facts as to what hindered taking the body away–a dangerous and unruly mob. Just as armchair travelers miss out on the real experience, many of us in the public are missing out on all the facts, evidence, and testimonies. For me, that’s enough to remain nonjudgmental.
That is so not true! Pants on fire! There was no “mob” while Brown’s body lay in the street for four hours.
Guess we know enough about you now.
Were you there? The man assigned to pick up the body was told to stay back because it was dangerous.
Actually, I think you are saying more about yourself. Do you live in the area where this took place? I do and watched the news coverage and read the newspaper reports from day 1.
You mean the same reports you told everyone else to be careful of what they read, interesting….
No, the interview with the man who was assigned to pick up the body. He and his wife had to wait. Veronica, are you willing or even open to believe that the citizens randomly chosen months before the incident were intent on seeking justice?
If they have your thought patterns, NO!
Then there’s nothing to discuss, is there? I guess my vocal participation in the civil rights struggle, accepting being called a “nigger lover,” attempts to contribute toward genuine and equal justice for African Americans and others, writing letters of recommendation for honor for African American friends as well involve questionable thought patterns. I’ve lived in France and North Africa. I’ve worked with and lived with men and women of various races (Middle Eastern, African, European, Asian), including African Americans, and they never questioned my thought patterns. But that’s okay. I’ll leave you with your assumptions.
Helen come let’s be serious, we all can see from your comments. Your not a “nigger lover”
Evidently some thought so, even in my family. But I guess we’ll have to accept the fact that you are omniscient and know everything about others, who their friends are, how they treat people, how they’ve written articles on various subjects that have been published in national newspapers (including black-owned newspapers) and Christian magazines, to whom they left their property if they died (surprisingly, to an African American friend), who worked in a majority black-school district and for African American supervisors who loved her and became close friends. But I acquiesce to your perfect judgment.
So only people who live in the area could watch news reports? If that’s all you did, you did no more than anyone else. Apparently you weren’t there either.
Dienne, I said I remain nonjudgmental because I didn’t see or hear all that the jurors heard or saw. Did you?
Thanks.
You’re not being non-judgmental (which isn’t possible anyway) – you’re saying that Michael Brown’s actions caused his death. The only way you can say that Wilson shouldn’t be prosecuted is to say that Brown was the guilty party. Brown, however, is no longer around to defend himself, so somehow people think that means we have to default to believing the nonsense that Wilson is spinning.
Dienne, have you taken a test for reading comprehension. That’s not what I said. Try again. Interpretation does not equal meaning.
Why don’t you go check out your twitter account or facebook and put hashtag #Ferguson, if you insist you have plenty of evidence to prove your point–which I think is quite contrary.
Here’s exactly what you said, Helen: “The young man might have ended up the same eventually due to his criminal activity and bullying of another person smaller than him — both in the store he robbed and with the police officer he attacked. There are consequences to our actions, and some become very tragic.”
Tell me how I’m supposed to interpret that other than, “Michael Brown’s actions caused his death”?
Here’s exactly what you said, Helen: “The young man might have ended up the same eventually due to his criminal activity and bullying of another person smaller than him — both in the store he robbed and with the police officer he attacked. There are consequences to our actions, and some become very tragic.”
Look at the word “may” and then “some.” There is no direct statement saying what you are trying to make it say. These are statements of possibility, not statements as to fact. The same statements could apply to anyone. If I were to slap someone or trip someone, I might pay some unexpected consequences.
Exactly Dienne and she claims to be for human rights HA!
Yes, Veronica, I’m for human rights. So what do you think were the human rights of the storekeeper whose goods were stolen, or the clerk who was shoved into a rack, or a police officer who was hit in the face? When does one’s human rights to harm others take precedence over the other person’s human rights? Someone posted a neighbor’s testimony of how bad it is in that neighborhood, an African American’s testimony. You mustn’t be of the age where we were taught to respect the rights of others. Most of my African American friends are of that age too. They are retired educators who left because they couldn’t stand the youth’s disrespect and violence in the classroom. It’s difficult to find a speck of decency in you from your comments that completely dismiss bullying and violent behavior.
I find it interesting that you claim to fight for black rights but you have constantly put them down on this blog WOW I wouldn’t want you fighting for me! And if you think that is a bruise on the officer’s face you have a great deal to learn. Do yourself a favor read the “New Jim Crow” and maybe that will help you understand about government. You also said the town of Ferguson was so bad people left, question why only 4 black cops??? Are they the only ones capable of gunning down unarmed blacks???
Quote me as to putting blacks down in this blog.
WHO DESERVES OUR PRAYERS NOW IN ST. LOUIS?
· Michael Brown’s family
· Darren Wilson’s family
· Unjustly harmed innocent shopkeepers and employees of looted and burned businesses
· Law enforcement officers and their families
· Robert McCullough, St. Louis County Prosecutor
· Ms. Kathi Alizadeh and Ms. Sheila Whirley, St. Louis County Prosecutors
· Citizens of Ferguson, Clayton, and St. Louis City
· Grand Jury jurors
Please note the last ones mentioned. They may be last, but are not least. These citizens faced months of grueling toil to serve justice and their community. They did so under so much heat and duress from the media, social media, and many individuals. They faithfully expended time, energy, emotion, intelligence, and rational thinking. The decisions facing them were complex, heavy, and trying. They labored and deliberated as individuals and a group. They came to a very difficult and controversial decision. What is their reward? They have been thanklessly denounced, maligned, and slandered by so many who do not know them personally nor anything of what they have endured to seek justice. Who can say they don’t deserve our prayers too? Some, if not all, may be hurting deeply from so much mistrust in their sense of fairness, justice, and duty.
Let’s include them in our prayers to as we remember what the Apostle Peter wrote for all of us to believe and practice: 1 Peter 2:1 “ So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.”
Let me repeat your words one more time (I’ll type slowly this time): “There are consequences to our actions, and some become very tragic.” You are saying that Michael Brown reaped the consequence of his actions. There is no other way to interpret that. If you’d like to retract that statement or claim that you misspoke, I’m all ears. But as written, it’s not my interpretation, it’s what you wrote.
Dienne, read again. His name isn’t mentioned once. There is a generalization statement referring to “our actions” and “some . . .” “Our” includes you and me and anyone else, and “some” doesn’t mean all. It could apply or not apply to Michael Brown. It’s up to the reader to decide, but no direct statement was made. Some might call it a rhetorical statement. Such statements cover a broad spectrum of possibilities. Your interpretation is yours, but it’s not mine or perhaps that of everyone else.
Example: “You reap what you sow.” Many do, but not all–at least in this life. It is simply a speech mechanism to get across a potential possibility, but it’s not a definite this will happen.
Give it up, Dienne. I don’t agree with your interpretation of what I wrote and meant. I am a freelance writer, and I do apply figures of speech and speech mechanisms where appropriate.
Could all of you just stop? What are you proving? On this blog today I have read so many disgusting hateful things – I have despite my bad eyes even read the words “nigger lover” … are you kidding me?
So in all of your hateful back and forth, in all of your attempts to be right – have you fixed society for even one person? Have you figured out how to fix anything?
I have … a blog that I have loved, that has shed so much light on issues surrounding education and our society and has called many to stand up and say no more … I will no longer follow.
Divert their attention, make them bicker amongst themselves about rhetoric even when they all essentially believe the same thing – who won?
Our society may really be beyond repair.
Best wishes to all of you in your fight for the title of “Right all the time”.
I think we are running into a situation where online communication just doesn’t cut it. It is so hard to share honest feelings that are not intended to offend but inevitably do, especially when individuals are coming from very different backgrounds and draw on very different experiences. I was a new, white teacher coming from outside into a lower socioeconomic minority/majority community; it took time to get to know and understand each other. It was awhile before my students (and my more savvy colleagues) trusted me. My students took me under their wing and educated me when I needed it, and I did the same for them. I hope we all learned to see that people could see the same situation differently and yet intend no ill will. Case in point, a white teacher came into my room and said something that to one of my students and an adult TA found disrespectful. I was clueless, but after sharing viewpoints all of us could see why we reacted differently. In that instance, they ended up accepting my take on the situation since I knew this teacher better than they did. Usually it was my students who set “miss” straight.
Michelle, you can’t fix stupid. Well, you can try…..
My husband is a retired police officer – he gave up a full retirement when he retired a year shy of his full 20 years due to an evaluation system that forced him into not being able to police the way he knew it needed to be done. (Sound familiar) I am not going to comment on the police bashing anymore than I will engage in teacher bashing. What I know is this … police officers in this country are evaluated by number of traffic stops, time spent on a call, number of sick/personal days used (in other words data/numbers) and are governed by councils and politicians that know nothing about policing. Throw in a lot of public ridicule to a system that does not make sense and the really good police officers that believe in social justice and do not police because they are on a power trip leave, only they don’t have blogs and people like Diane Ravitch fighting for them they have former colleagues ridiculing them for leaving.
Blame the police, blame the teachers, blame the politicians, blame whoever you want for this tragedy – and it is a tragedy no matter how you look at it, however until we can get everyone off of the computers and back out into the world interacting with members of society – the lack of hope and opportunity that marginalized people feel in this country is only going to increase.
So instead of replying with political or race anything – could you go buy some winter clothes for some kids that don’t have it (used ones work too), could you go volunteer at a school and read to some kids that may not be read to at home, could you go to a local homeless shelter or food pantry and talk to some of these people that are invisible to most of the world, could you get some of your local police officers to go eat lunch with the kids at your local school or read to the students or how about tutoring kids at your local high school, could you go help one person that is unemployed or underemployed find suitable employment, could you stop donating campaign money to politicians (including judges) that are elitists no matter their political affiliation – I guarantee you that if you start by building bridges in your communities and taking a stand instead of bickering on a computer we all will have a chance.
Good point Michelle!!!!
The death of anyone is a singular tragedy. Responsibility must be fixed upon the responsible person or persons. Bullets did take this boys life, but what caused the circumstance? Why this happened is more important to our nations future than who fired the pistol. The spin generated by social media is best for vigilante justice. I wish people would remember that it was John Adams who defended the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre (or Incident on King Street) with these words:
“The part I took in defense of captain Preston and the soldiers, procured me anxiety, and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. Judgment of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain upon this country as the executions of the Quakers or witches, anciently.”
If we cannot trust the 12 members of a Grand Jury to adjudicate under the auspices of the Fifth Amendment of our Constitution (especially after an exhaustive and extensive investigation) then we as a Country have lost our grip on liberty.
Mutual mistrust and a lack of respect for life are at the root of this recent tragedy.
Bull. The grand jury was purely a convenient tool to dodge responsibility and protect politicians. Dozens of commentators on several networks, have noted how different this grand jury proceeding was that almost all others.
So you cannot trust our Constitution to work properly?
Dozens of commentators are not the 12 members of the Grand Jury.
The commentators are propagandists telling you “listen to me this is outrageous! Now let’s pause for a commercial break.”
So the British soldiers were obviously guilty and John Adams was just a politician?
Just because something is legal does not make it right. Prime example: slavery. Darren Wilson may have acted “legally” according to Missouri law, and the grand jury reached its conclusions not to charge him under Missouri law. The end result is still unjust, and another young black man has tragically lost his life. As others have said, Missouri law needs to change, our attitudes toward race and class need to change, and our national obsession with guns as a solution to problems needs to change.
And BTW, perhaps we need to respect life more than property. I find all the sanctimonious calls for “calm” by those who have power and privilege too precious by half. If you’re not outraged, then you’re not paying attention. I recommend a rereading of “West India Emancipation” by Frederick Douglass.
Is there something wrong regarding the illegality of stealing, shoving someone into a rack, and walking in the middle of the street where traffic is supposed to be free for cars? Do these equal slavery in their evil?
Obama says, “we are a nation of laws” Which explains why everyone involved in white collar crime in finance and housing is in jail. It seems like enforcement resources are dircted at petty theft by the poor and minorities, while billions go missing with little to no enforcement. That’s an ineffective and unjust system which will erode society.
I’ll repeat,
Mutual mistrust and a lack of respect for life are at the root of this recent tragedy.
False equivalence.
Grand Jury’s decision well illustrates how white privilege and racism are deeply embedded in the structure of capitalism. The United States is a leading country to teach other countries (including the countries of J, SK, PRC) and how to infuse color-stigma to establish racial/ethnic hierarchy in each “unique” cultural system. And encourage each country to MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS(!). So called Race(ism) To The Top(RTTT).
Deserve to die for stealing cigars, walking down the middle of the street and arguing with a cop, no. That said, don’t steal the cigars, rough up an employee and be a badass in the street when the cop pulls you over. This was preventable. Preventable by young Michael Brown. Try being a cop for a day.
So what actually happened? Did they struggle at point blank range? Did the officer order him to the ground and Brown charged him? Where is the logical explanation for use of deadly force? Does the grand jury explain its findings?
The transcript of the proceedings and the exhibits, including the witness interviews, have been released. I recommend reading them. Some witnesses said something along the lines you described consistent with the reasonable use of force. Other testimony supports the case that the shooting was unnecessary.
This slide show is the clearest explanation I’ve seen of the evidence that was presented to the grand jury.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/ferguson-grand-jury-findings/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost
Wilson was in his car and Brown reached into the car to punch him and grab for his gun. (There is forensic evidence for this, Brown was shot in the thumb during this struggle, and his DNA was found inside the police vehicle, and on the exterior of the car door. Plus the pictures of Wilson’s swollen face.) Then Brown started to run, was ordered to halt, and turned towards Wilson, now standing outside his car. Witnesses offered conflicting accounts of whether Brown was “charging” towards Wilson when he was shot.
Thanks for the link. What is the police policy to pursue and subdue, when compliance or deadly force are the only two options for the suspect. Probably the officer was justified in pursuing on foot, knowing he was overpowered except for his ability to deploy deadly force. But still, it would be nice if the policy changed to wait for back-up, use a taser or a net gun or something.
Shame on you Ms. Ravitch. The police officer was only doing his job. Had Michael Brown not assaulted the officer and charged at him after being told to stop, he would have shot dead by this police officer. Actions have consequences and unfortunately and sadly, his actions led to his death. Period.
Shame on the Ferguson Police Department for covering up the incident, delaying apology to the Browns, and ordering the riot police to beat down all of those joining in the protest. They made this country a bad reputation. Period.
One thing we can all do from across the country is support projects in Ferguson classrooms. http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?keywords=63135
Read these documents then form your opinion.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/11/us/ferguson-grand-jury-docs/index.html
Documents from the Ferguson grand jury
Updated 2:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, November 25, 2014
A grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Scores of documents, including testimony from the proceedings as well as reports and interview transcripts considered as evidence, were released by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch. Read the documents below. The documents are also searchable, using the search bar at the top right of each document. Also released: Photos of Officer Wilson after the incident »
Warning: These documents contain strong language.
Grand jury testimony
These documents contain transcripts of testimony provided before the grand jury.
Grand Jury, Volume 1
Grand Jury, Volume 2
Grand Jury, Volume 3
Grand Jury, Volume 4
Grand Jury, Volume 5 – Officer Darren Wilson’s testimony begins on page 195. Full story »
Grand Jury, Volume 6
Grand Jury, Volume 7
Grand Jury, Volume 8
Grand Jury, Volume 9
Grand Jury, Volume 10
Grand Jury, Volume 11
Grand Jury, Volume 12
Grand Jury, Volume 13
Grand Jury, Volume 14
Grand Jury, Volume 15
Grand Jury, Volume 16
Grand Jury, Volume 17
Grand Jury, Volume 18
Grand Jury, Volume 19
Grand Jury, Volume 20
Grand Jury, Volume 21
Grand Jury, Volume 22
Grand Jury, Volume 23
Grand Jury, Volume 24
Additional reports
The various reports and transcripts below were presented as evidence to the grand jury.
Witness 40 Journal Entry
RIOT a Calls
Radio Traffic
Michael Brown Private Autopsy Report
DNA Analysis Report
Darren Wilson Toxicology Report
Darren Wilson Medical Records
Darren Wilson Drug Testing Results
Crime Lab Report
Crime Lab Firearm Evidence
Crime Lab Controlled Substance Report
2014 5143 Supplemental Narrative 01
2014 5143 Summary Sheet 01
2014 5143 Narrative Report 01
2014 5143 Microscopic 02
2014 5143 Microscopic 01
2014 5143 Demographic Face Sheet
2014 5143 Autopsy Report
2014 5143 Toxicology Report
14 43984 CARE Supp 13
14 43984 CARE Main
11 24 14 Letter
Witness interviews
The documents below are records of interviews conducted by law enforcement officials, and presented as evidence to the grand jury for consideration.
Interview PO Darren Wilson
Interview Witness 10
Interview Witness 12 #1
Interview Witness 12 #2
Interview Witness 12 #3
Interview Witness 14 #1
Interview Witness 14 #2
Interview Witness 16
Interview Witness 22
Interview Witness 25
Interview Witness 30
Interview Witness 32
Interview Witness 34
Interview Witness 35
Interview Witness 37
Interview Witness 38
Interview Witness 41 #1
Interview Witness 41 #2
Interview Witness 42
Interview Witness 43
Interview Witness 44
Interview Witness 44 #2
Interview Witness 45
Interview Witness 46
Interview Witness 48 #1
Interview Witness 48 #2 Phone Call
Witness #57 Int #2
Interview Witness 62
Witness #64 Int #2
11-24-14 Letter
FBI Int Witness 16
FED INT Witness 63
Hospital Pictures of Officer Wilson after the arrest
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/24/justice/gallery/darren-wilson/index.html
THE HUNGER GAMES is well and alive in this country.
Actually it’s the works of Orwell and Huxley.
This is one where I completely disagree with you, Diane. What is most disturbing are the arguments that examination of facts are unnecessary when assessing Officer Wilson’s “guilt”. Michael Brown was not shot because of low level youthful indiscretions. He was shot because, in his role of bullying “gangsta” punk, he prevented Wilson from opening his car door, reached inside the car slapping the officer in the face, and appeared to be going for his gun. Brown weighed almost 300 lbs. Minutes before the incident, he was filmed robbing a convenience store. In doing so, he used his physical size to bully and intimidate the store clerk. After leaving the store, he returned for the sheer pleasure of continuing to torment the much smaller man.
I also find the phony emotionalism of the motherhood argument particularly repellant. In my town this month, we buried, and are mourning the loss of, one of our police officers, who was shot and killed in the line of duty. Officer Diamond’s family is every bit as traumatized as the Brown’s.
I think it is arrogant and presumptuous to second guess Wilson’s decision-making, given the circumstances of the altercation. The jury in this case did its job, weighed facts fairly, and made a decision that will probably go against commonly held belief throughout the country. That’s the way our justice system is supposed to work.
Has anyone here addressed the physical aggression of Brown towards the officer? I cannot imagine laying my hands on a police officer, and I cannot imagine my own sons doing so.
This was unfortunate, but avoidable. I see this type of violence toward authority in my MIDDLE school. Where will it lead?
Perhaps after the evidence presented to the grand jury is made public is the time for opinion.
Witness #14 is compelling on a general level.
DET: Okay. Can I and I realize I’m not asking you your, I’m asking you to, to kinda editorialize when I say this okay? But I really want to get your-your view point on this. Now, I’m talking about both individuals I’m talking about the officer I’m talking about Michael Brown.
WITNESS: Right.
DET: What do you think that, what do you think that was done right and what do you think was done wrong?
WITNESS: Right I can’t say anything. One as I said the people in Canfield people in Northwinds we walk up and down this street all the time. I’ve had officers past me, they pass other people walk with their kids in the street, headed to the stores. They never stopped us, they didn’t say get out of the street or anything. They said something to him. Now there also, let me tell you another little back story. I don’t know the young man personally, but I see him, I saw him all the time.
DET: The young man you are referring to.
WITNESS: Right. He said he has a friend that stays in an apartment just across my parking lot.
DET: Just so I’m clear which young man are you talking about?
WITNESS: Michael.
DET: Okay.
WITNESS: I can count on my hand the amount of young people out there that calls me sir or speaks to me every time they see me. I seen them in Quick Trip, I seen them walking up and down the street. As I’m constantly going back up to the stores and doctors or whatever. But anytime I see that young man and there’s a lady that stays downstairs from me and I met her like sit down and talk, keep an eye on the neighborhood. Anytime he see us, when he come up our driveway he always ‘cause he sees us, speaks how you doing ma’am how you doing sir? He is one of the most respectful guys I ever seen, the young guys out there. The rest of them is they have a saying they call me what’s up o.g.? That’s to me, that’s they think it’s a sign of respect but I would rather have a young man speak to me in that term how you doing sir? And actually ask me how my day is. The rest of them they don’t give a shit. They just acknowledge your presence. They would rather walk through me than around me. Not him. He was always walking back and forth, and he was always pleasant. The lady downstairs knows him and when I showed her his picture she started crying. She said you right that’s the one, oh I know that’s the young yeah that’s the one that always comes up and goes in that apartment building up there. And she broke down crying. She said well it he was such a nice big boy. You know. She’s a few years older than I am, I’m [REDACTED]. And I would rather have a young man speak to me like that because our youth is so screwed up. You know. I have two children very respectful. I have seven grandkids very respectful. Okay. That’s what I want. Our youth today we got babies raising babies. How can you expect these young men out here to be right when they were raised by someone who was not fully mature. Okay. And in the environment that is out there now. A group of girls eight of them got to fighting why ‘cause they were arguing over who’s boyfriend spent the most time in jail and who had the worst crime. And that led to a fight. That’s the environment I live in. And, that’s not the environment I want, that’s not the environment we need to have. I would rather have officers come and talk to these young men, they are so afraid, ‘cause they have nothing to look forward to. They just walk up and down the street. First they don’t even show up half the time. They come up and down the street and our (UI) I can count on my hand how many times I seen him in a week. Just cruising through but out there when they do have (UI) everything goes to Northwinds. I never read about what is going on back in Northwinds. I see’em go back there five to six times in one day. Never hear about it. So if it’s not being reported and it’s not being acknowledged they going to keep on doing it. They were masking last night, excuse me for going off the script here but on my porch we sat out and watched, I watched over a dozen young men t-shirts wrapping around they heads so the only thing you could see was their eyes. I called Ferguson three times, I got it on my phone and they’re aware of it. I said miss how could they be aware of it no one’s ever back here. No one’s come back here. And I, they was growing, they keep growing they was getting agitated more, more, more, I said they getting ready to do something they getting ready to go steal. They getting ready to do it. The next thing though they jumped in about 4 – 5 cars, and what do I hear this morning. They broke into shit. They could have stopped it, if they would have brought they butts back here and checked these boys out. ‘Cause I guarantee you one of them maybe some of them, I maybe wrong, I hope I am but maybe involved in some of those stores being broken in yesterday.
FLERP!—good excerpt from witness testimony.
As I read it, it brought back memories from my childhood—that is, the general tone of it, the attitudes expressed by the man, some of his descriptions of his neighborhood…
Thank you.
😎
Thanks for reading it. I agree, the voice leaps off the page.
I was not there. I do not know what happened. The most intelligent discussion I have heard on the subject was on the Diane Rehm show this morning.
Several items seem pertinent
1. Ferguson has had MANY problems, some discussed here on the D. Ravitch blog.
2. When so MANY black children are gunned down by police in the U. S., when there is such a horrendous history of injustice in this country, understandably emotions run high. It is difficult to be objective under such circumstances.
3. I personally would not wish to be a police officer today. [I gave up teaching 21 years ago because of the politics involved.] This is NOT to condone what happened, merely to try to understand the complexities and to try to address the issues which make things like this happen – over and over again.
4. As has been stated many times. a policeman must make decisions in a matter of seconds.
5. Lastly, I do not know what was in Michael Browns mind at that time. I do not know what was in the police officers mind. Our country is suffering tremendously because of the history of injustice to our friends in both the African American and the Native American communities. It is IMPERATIVE that we address these humongous problems in an intelligent way, set us intelligent discourse, try to see the other person’s point of view – on ALL sides. Until we do, these problems will persist, perhaps grow even worse.
What Michael did was wrong and criminal by robbing the store. What the officer did was to break his code of conduct and commit murder; was unjust, uncivil and uncalled for under any system of fairness.
Diane, when you say you were “sure an indictment was coming”, I have to ask “based on what?” While I walk lock step with you in your stance against common core, I have to say that your statements regarding this verdict threw me for a loop. Such statements lead me to believe that minds were made up from the beginning as to the police officers guilt or innocence long before the facts were gathered and reviewed. How can anyone not sitting on that grand jury have any real sense of what happened other than speculation? You say, this much is clear “an unarmed black youth was shot dead by a police officer”; Well, I have to say “So much more is clear now based on the evidence”. You seem to be looking at the “effect” but turning a blind eye on the “cause, contributing factors and extraneous variables”…all facts of the case that lead to the effect. You say this was an injustice. Isn’t “justice” a promises that the rule of law will be followed? If so, then justice was served. Justice does not mean “getting the verdict one had hoped for”. I think sometimes the two are confused.
As for the others critical of the decision, it saddens me that when a verdict rendered does not meet our “hopes”, that we question the very judicial system that this great nation was founded on. What risk to freedom we face when a society makes assumptions that are not based on fact. Emotionally my heart breaks for ALL involved: Michael, his family, the police officer and his family, the town of Ferguson and our country as a whole. Intellectually, I feel that logic, fact and common sense have been thrown by the wayside.
YES it’s a tragic waste of life and a tragic ending that could have easily ended up resulting in the police officers death.
Of course to err is human but to question that the grand jury did not come to the best possible conclusion for THEM, after 3 months of learning and studying the facts of the case, is a great discredit to their service and to the system. I am certain that each on the grand jury would take great offense to anyone who says they did not serve justice as they were called to do.
Mel R., as I said in my post, I did not sit on the grand jury and hear the evidence. Based on what I knew (a police office shot an unarmed youth) and what I believe (police are not supposed to kill the people they are paid to protect), I expected an indictment.
Dr. Ravitch, I understand your thoughts. Police officers are to protect, but when they are dealing with criminals (Michael Brown was a thief and assaulted someone), and someone who is on a drug such as marijuana as well as someone who disrespects the officer and physically assaults the officer as in this case, the dynamics change fairly quickly. Currently, St. Louis is very high in black on black crime and violent youth behavior. Gang members are killing almost daily and even innocent bystanders. We are living in a critical zone of violence. Some of the middle and high schools are overrun with violence. There are knockout gangs targeting the elderly and weak. Police brutality should never be tolerated, but we must also recognize the dynamics of their job that are very dangerous too. There is such a lack of respect for life.
Thank you, Mel. I believe some very caring and honest citizens have been sadly maligned and slandered. Anyone serving on a Grand Jury, as I have experienced, learns that their fellow jurors, for the most part, desire to do justice and to do it equally to all. The majority of whites are no more prejudiced than the majority of blacks.
Isn’t it true that the decision of the grand jury just means that they did not feel that the prosecution had a case that would lead to a guilty verdict?
If Michael Brown had not had the audacity to go up to a police officer’s car, open it and try to get the gun away from the officer, then beat him in the face, this would not have happened. The officer had the right to defend himself, especially if he feared for his life. And, the people who committed perjury should have to pay for it. Unfortunately, when a person disobeys the laws, he must face the penalty. I totally agree with 4equity2… I would NEVER even dreamed of attacking a police officer. Nor, would I EVER think that one of my children would do the same.
Can you imagine wanting to? Can you imagine feeling enough anger against authority that you would lash out? I don’t have any answers, but I know we need to be looking for them beyond the “should haves.”
Speaking of respect, it is highly doubtful that white police officer deserves one. And certainly not for the Ferguson police for their deliberate cover-up and the department head’s failure to offer apology to the Browns in a timely mannar. Ditto to St Louis mayor and the Missouri state governor who really don’t care how much the city has remained little different from 50 years ago in terms of poverty and segregation. They deserve an F for the consequence of historical indifference and sickening mentality of the public.
Why doesn’t the white officer deserve respect? Because he shot somebody? If you fear for your life, then you are allowed to defend yourself. Brown weight 290 pounds and was 6 foot something. He was no wussy light-weight kid.
With all that said, don’t you think that the people of Ferguson bear some responsbility in trying to better themselves rather than just waiting for the gov’t to do it or for gov’t handouts? Why would you want to destroy any business in your town because you don’t like something. I can only imagine the reasoning…Let’s stick it to the man, he keeps me downtrodden and under his thumb. Man, I sure don’t like that, so I’m going to burn, loot, and pillage. Yeah, that’ll get you far in life.
According to the media, the majority of the businesses were not only looted before they were burned, but also the majority of the businesses were minority owned.
The race baiters and the federal gov’t needed to stay out of this. It was a local crime.
If Michael Brown had been white and shot by a black policeman, you know there would not have been any riots at all, and Al Sharpton would have been nowhere to be found, same with Holder.
As one of the memes for this goes…remember when all the white people rioted in the streets when OJ was convicted? Nope, me neither.
In the grand scheme of things, blame can be assessed all over, but in the end, Michael Brown made his bed. Unfortunately, he will never get out of it.
Keep ranting, man. The fact remains that Ferguson has never changed since 1964 when LBJ signed off the Civil Rights Acts. The city has been neglected in many ways for years.
And, Michelle, I love what you said. You were right on!
Well actually, he attacked the police officer. I don’t think he should have been killed but his actions were irresponsible. I realize this opinion puts me at odds with most of my fellow teachers but then none of my poverty stricken students rob stores and intimidate clerks.
Michael Brown was not an innocent child the race baiters and the media said he was. He is a dead child because he made bad choices. A lot of people make bad choices, some lice to survive them and some don’t. Michael Brown was one of the “don’t”. His bad choices are what got him killed. Perhaps if his parents had taught him right from wrong, if they had taught him to respect authority, and to think before he made the decision rob a party store and beat up the owner, or thought about it before he tried to take the officers gun, he might still be alive today. There were THREE autopsies that said he was not shot in the back or running away. One of those autopsies was at the request of Eric Holder.
This was not a federal offense, This was something that the city should have been able to deal with on a local level. But thanks to the community organizer, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Eric Holder, Ferguson erupted in flames. The timing of the release of non-indictment should have been suspect as well. When you see live crowd shots at 6, there aren’t a lot of people. But there were a whole lot more people there at 9. The timing was planned.
The only reason Michael Brown is dead is because HE made the choice to be a thug.
94% WHITE POLICE FORCE IN A CITY THAT IS 67% AFRICAN-AMERICAN…NO MORE TO SAY EXCEPT I AM WHITE AND VERY
ASHAMED OF ALL OF THIS
Then you are unaware that there aren’t many African Americans who are going into law enforcement. The Ferguson police chief has said they’ve tried to recruit. Police officers aren’t paid well for the risks, and the smaller municipalities cannot compete with the larger ones relative to salaries.
Has it occurred to you to investigate how many African Americans applied for positions as police officers and were turned away?
Just curious.
Much of this comment thread reminds me of the vast gulf between writing and thinking. Many days I realize that I have spent all day writing — constructing arguments and often expressing fairly complex ideas — without having done any “thinking.” So much typing. So much time consuming arguments, revising arguments, maintaining files of arguments. Not enough thinking. Not enough silence.
This has been planted
We need to think beyond the legal minutiae of this case– as to whether, here, for example, responding aggressively to being accosted by police (in the wake of petty thievery accompanied by bullying behavior) could or should result in being shot to death while running [unarmed] from the consequent confrontation. Common sense suggests the outcome, whether or not justified legally, is predictable.
The point to ponder, I think, is that we have many US towns today where, due to downturn in the economy, our traditional racial inequality has more pronounced consequences. We are breeding kids like Michael Brown, who have neither motivation nor means of following a path out of poverty– whose local police force represents a white middle-class majority which is on its knees economically & enthusiastically supports putting an even lower-SES’ back to the wall. It’s partly out of the impulse to stamp out job competition, & partly just to glean some sort of social structure, anti-chaos, in denial of the economic chaos already descending on their own lives.
This is the sort of dog-eat-dog environment created by a lack of hope in the future.
The “black and white” thinking of Narcissistic and Borderline behaviors have led to social dysfunction that has manifested in racial terms as well as psychological. This incident should not have been turned into a racial issue, but a mental health issue. Mental health knowledge in this country is as primitive as in the Dark Ages. Most criminals are dealing with mental health issues, and our police are just ramping up to treat them like criminals, and hustle them off to prisons, or allow them to roam the streets as homeless, while our society continues to ignore others who are mentally ill or need help. As long as people in our country continue to function like Adult Children and use denial and avoidance, we can expect more of the same. We need to stop abusing others, especially children, and start learning to respect and trust others. We need to learn how to talk to each other, and use some common sense. In our current state of paranoia and distrust, our police cannot be expected to protect us any more than our “out of control” military will protect us. There is such emotional contagion and lack of leadership in this country (and the world), that any small incident could erupt in outright annihilation. We need to start working on how to talk to each other instead of buying more guns and prepping for the end of the world. We need to put some tax laws into place to take down the billionaires who are running this country and start paying the poor people a decent living wage. We need to start recognizing our own dysfunction and work up from there. We need to find leaders who has some common sense, and can connect and empathize with the human condition of our society, and stop all the bickering children in DC. Sounds impossible, huh?
This was one tragic event, but impulsive reactions by police to “threats” is normal. Police departments, like the military, often recruit young adults who have grown up in abusive families (ACoA Trauma Syndrome) because they dissociate when under stress. Dissociation is a natural conditioned response to fear or threat. This allows them to preform tasks without fear, but it also causes them to be a “reactor” when confronted by surprise. When caught “off guard” they will react with impulsive aggression that allowed them to survive in childhood. So, what causes police and soldiers to be obedient and fearless in their work following orders and performing tasks and responding to crisis, can also cause them to react in a survival mode at times of surprise.
The only solution to this problem is to have a national awareness campaign on the “trauma syndrome” since it has become normal in US society. We need to teach parents, teachers, and communities how to recognize the coping behaviors of Adult Children, and we need to teach everyone the skills to validate children. Otherwise, this will get worse.
You are a psychologist? Then you must know of the many police departments that perform psychological evaluations of applicants. Even so, such sweeping generalizations are, at the least. Irresponsible. You are stereotyping. .
If this posts twice, I am sorry, I have more than one WP account and I think I may have hit the wrong one.
Why doesn’t the white officer deserve respect? Because he shot somebody? If you fear for your life, then you are allowed to defend yourself. Brown weight 290 pounds and was 6 foot something. He was no wussy light-weight kid.
With all that said, don’t you think that the people of Ferguson bear some responsbility in trying to better themselves rather than just waiting for the gov’t to do it or for gov’t handouts? Why would you want to destroy any business in your town because you don’t like something. I can only imagine the reasoning…Let’s stick it to the man, he keeps me downtrodden and under his thumb. Man, I sure don’t like that, so I’m going to burn, loot, and pillage. Yeah, that’ll get you far in life.
According to the media, the majority of the businesses were not only looted before they were burned, but also the majority of the businesses were minority owned.
The race baiters and the federal gov’t needed to stay out of this. It was a local crime.
If Michael Brown had been white and shot by a black policeman, you know there would not have been any riots at all, and Al Sharpton would have been nowhere to be found, same with Holder.
As one of the memes for this goes…remember when all the white people rioted in the streets when OJ was convicted? Nope, me neither.
In the grand scheme of things, blame can be assessed all over, but in the end, Michael Brown made his bed. Unfortunately, he will never get out of it.
“The race baiters and the federal gov’t needed to stay out of this. It was a local crime.”
hmmm “race baiters” do we have a mirror??? and OJ was found not guilty
Sorry, I misquoted the meme. What it actually said whas this: “Remember when the white people rioted when OJ Simpson wasn’t indicted, Me either!”
And yes, race baiters. No mirror needed. Everybody knows that Sharpton, Holder, Jackson, and Obama are pros at getting black people wound up. All you have to do is read any paper or watch any news show and you see the results of their work.
Everybody has the same chance to lift themselves out from their life or their circumstances and better themselves. George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Fredrick Douglass, MLK, Dr. Ben Carson, and scores of others. They didn’t sit around and wait for help or handouts. You have to want to help yourself, not depend on the gov’t to supply your every need.
Since you never been a slave I wouldn’t expect you to understand, enjoy your day!
Gee, Veronica, on what plantation were you enslaved? I don’t mean to be sarcastic. But most African Americans realize they have come some distance from their ancestors. Some of us could go back to where our ancestors were also slaves in other lands. St. Patrick was abducted and lived as a slave for many years in his youth. But he forgave the Irish and went back to share Christ and Christianity with them.
oh you didn’t know this one right here, don’t worry you will be right beside me. and fyi the person addressed people of slavery thank you very much
Seriously Veronica? And you HAVE been a slave? You sound pretty spry for being over 150 years old. MLK was no slave and neither was Dr. Carson. The point I am trying to make is that the above mentioned people and thousands of others from then to now overcame their circumstances. They worked for what they have, they didn’t suck off the gov’t dole or sit there with their hands out, waiting on the gravy train. They made something of themselves. I am sure that a lot of Mexicans, whites and other races also pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and got off the dole. At one time people were ashamed to be caught on the gov’t dole. Now it is almost a badge of honor to brag about all the goodies you get if you are on the gov’t dole.
Something you should remember when you bring up the slavery issue…the Barbary pirates. They were black people who enslaved and sold white people.
but Douglas was and give me a break with the hand out song. how many billionaires and politicians are receiving gov’t handouts??? Learn about the real gov’t!
Much education is needed here. Not only the kind found in the classroom, but the kind found on the streets as well. Many police departments hire young men in their early twenties who haven’t been exposed to many life experiences in learning about other nationalities, races, religions, etc. They are products of their environment. That is not bad, just that they aren’t well rounded yet and now placed in situations where they come into contact with many different kinds of people.
Also the many people in the cities, what ever race, religion, or economic status they are, are also products of their environment.
Police must learn about all the people they are expected to come into contact with and how they think they will react when confronted. This is not to make excuses, the police have a job to do. the people in the cities have to understand that also.
“Walk A Mile I My Shoes” would be an good start for both sides to begin to understand each other.
As a teacher I could get any student in trouble. I am in the powere position and knew what to say to trigger an angry response from any student. The rest was easy. Many students will stand up to you to save face in front of their friends. Confronting them at that time is just wrong. I found the time to talk to them alone and each one of us understood our roles. Then when I needed to confront the student , he/she understood and I had no problem.
We have to be proactive in deveoping relationships. I know it worked for me in the service when a Lt Cmdr. took me aside one day and allowed me to vent. instead of going to the brig, we became friends. Some lessons are priceless.
good advice Bill
I second.
Are we feeding trolls here? I see the numbers of posting here saying 1) MB is held accuntable for attempted assault(which I agree) but not deserve death(agree);2) MB both deserves charge and the consequence(shot dead). I also see people who insinuate those who talk about officer’s(and police department’s) accountability in an attempt to defend “white privilege.” Many of those who come to this blog for the first time on this topic need to know that this is a blog about education–not a trashing site.