Michael Brown Shooting and Civil Unrest III

[Maithanet]

With regards to officer Wilson and the officer with him, I don't hold their stories in much esteem.

I am 99% sure that Wilson was alone when the incident actually occurred, and that there are no officers who can corroborate his story, other than what they learned after the shooting took place.

And I find it pretty sad that three eyewitnesses, two of whom have no stake in the case, could be considered equally credible as one policeman, who is facing a potential murder charge.

[Relic]

i also dont understand why Wilson has not been taken into custody. It's ridiculous.

[Glaurung]

I am 99% sure that Wilson was alone when the incident actually occurred, and that there are no officers who can corroborate his story, other than what they learned after the shooting took place.

And I find it pretty sad that three eyewitnesses, two of whom have no stake in the case, could be considered equally credible as one policeman, who is facing a potential murder charge.

That changes a lot in my mind. I thought there was another officer present as there are two standing around the body in the video. This would be another negative against Wilson.

As for why 3 witnesses would be considered equally credible, that's because the justice system has always preferred the word of a cop over the word of a civilian(particularly a black civilian). I wouldn't say that the witnesses have no stake in the case though. You have to understand the inner workings of what is going on. Cops in many of these neighborhoods are seen as the enemy and this is going to affect biases with regards to witness testimony. Which is why again the physical evidence is going to be so important in determining which stories are the truth. It's not looking good for the cop so far though.

i also dont understand why Wilson has not been taken into custody. It's ridiculous.

It is ridiculous, but these types of things always take a lot of time. And unfortunately officers of the law are given more time and more benefit of doubt than civilians because we're supposed to believe that they're professionals who have good judgement and exceptional character. Which is of course RIDICULOUS.

[TerraPrime]

More Coates

Very similar to the other piece of writing by Greg Howard at deadpsin

By all accounts, Brown was One Of The Good Ones. But laying all this out, explaining all the ways in which he didn't deserve to die like a dog in the street, is in itself disgraceful. Arguing whether Brown was a good kid or not is functionally arguing over whether he specifically deserved to die, a way of acknowledging that some black men ought to be executed.

To even acknowledge this line of debate is to start a larger argument about the worth, the very personhood, of a black man in America. It's to engage in a cost-benefit analysis, weigh probabilities, and gauge the precise odds that Brown's life was worth nothing against the threat he posed to the life of the man who killed him. It's to deny that there are structural reasons why Brown was shot dead while James Eagan Holmes—who on July 20, 2012, walked into a movie theater and fired rounds into an audience, killing 12 and wounding 70 more—was taken alive.

To ascribe this entirely to contempt for black men is to miss an essential variable, though—a very real, American fear of them. They—we—are inexplicably seen as a millions-strong army of potential killers, capable and cold enough that any single one could be a threat to a trained police officer in a bulletproof vest. There are reasons why white gun's rights activists can walk into a Chipotle restaurant with assault rifles and be seen as gauche nuisances while unarmed black men are killed for reaching for their wallets or cell phones, or carrying children's toys. Guns aren't for black people, either.

[DanteGabriel]

Very similar to the other piece of writing by Greg Howard at deadpsin

Yup. America's original sin echoes to today. Armed black men invoke ancient Southern terror tales of slave revolts. So many of these open-carry rifle-toting yokels are preserving the heritage of the overseer who needed to be armed to protect himself from the people he enslaved.

[TerraPrime]

Yup. America's original sin echoes to today. Armed black men invoke ancient Southern terror tales of slave revolts. So many of these open-carry rifle-toting yokels are preserving the heritage of the overseer who needed to be armed to protect himself from the people he enslaved.

It is a deeply unsettling insight into the insecurity of some of the white Americans over the race issue, imo. The more they try to bury the past and claim that we are post-racial, the louder the spectral footsteps become in the dark house.

[Wee baby Shamus]

It is a deeply unsettling insight into the insecurity of some of the black Americans over the race issue, imo. The more they try to bury the past and claim that we are post-racial, the louder the spectral footsteps become in the dark house.

[Wee baby Shamus]

What is funny is that someone like Jamie Foxx can go on SNL and say that in his new movie that he gets to "KILL WHITE PEOPLE" and no cares and laughs but if Channing Tatum said on SNL that in his new movie he gets to "KILL BLACK PEOPLE" everyone would be pissed the fuck off.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

It is a deeply unsettling insight into the insecurity of some of the black Americans over the race issue, imo. The more they try to bury the past and claim that we are post-racial, the louder the spectral footsteps become in the dark house.

The problem with your shocking twist here is that I don't know too many people of colour (i.e. not just Black people) who believe that we're post-racial.

[Alex.]

This is definitely that "princewhowasn'tpromised" guy. Same unhinged posting style, tinged with a sense of injustice and overtones of whining, moaning and self pity

[Wee baby Shamus]

The problem with your shocking twist here is that I don't know too many people of colour (i.e. not just Black people) who believe that we're post-racial.

The point is that anyone can be racist.

If you fail to see that, then ignorance must be truly bliss.

[Talleyrand]

The point is that anyone can be racist.

If you fail to see that, then ignorance must be truly bliss.

Yes anyone can be racist but I'll take an actor making a jokey comment against me over being harassed, abused and possibly shot by the police any day

[Relic]

The point is that anyone can be racist.

If you fail to see that, then ignorance must be truly bliss.

Go away troll.

[Talleyrand]

Go away troll.

What? and deny ourselves hours of "white, well off men are the truly oppressed group" fun?

[aceluby]

Quick question. It's been pretty well established that Brown both didn't commit a robbery minutes before this AND the officer had no idea anything had happened because it hadn't been reported yet. Correct?

I ask because every pro-Wilson whitewashing of the events goes back to this as some sort of justification, and yet it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the shooting.

[Relic]

Quick question. It's been pretty well established that Brown both didn't commit a robbery minutes before this AND the officer had no idea anything had happened because it hadn't been reported yet. Correct?

I ask because every pro-Wilson whitewashing of the events goes back to this as some sort of justification, and yet it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the shooting.

Correct. Facts can't overcome hatred, sadly. This has been a serious issue in the USA for ages, made more pronounced after 9/11 and the growth of Fox "News".

[DanteGabriel]

Correct. Facts can't overcome hatred, sadly. This has been a serious issue in the USA for ages, made more pronounced after 9/11 and the growth of Fox "News".

Not to mention there's almost certainly some non-trivial percentage of aggrieved white people out there who still believe that Wilson had a fracture in his face because of a blatant misinformation attempt by media trolls, including Fox News.

[Wee baby Shamus]

Correct. Facts can't overcome hatred, sadly. This has been a serious issue in the USA for ages, made more pronounced after 9/11 and the growth of Fox "News".

Do you really watch Fox "News"?

I get the feeling that you don't.

[eyenon15]

Seems like police(and even media) are so accustomed to character assassination that it's second nature and almost a default state that when they want to justify anything they've done to a citizen they can just plaster a picture or video or anything the person that has ever done in their life to justify their actions. It's like it's been working perfectly for so long why stop.

Like when they plastered that picture of Treyvon Martin all over TV claiming it was him engaging in "gang activity" when really it was just a picture of him smoking a blunt and flipping off the camera. Oooooh that's so gangster!

[aceluby]

Seems like police(and even media) are so accustomed to character assassination that it's second nature and almost a default state that when they want to justify anything they've done to a citizen they can just plaster a picture or video or anything the person that has ever done in their life to justify their actions. It's like it's been working perfectly for so long why stop.

Like when they plastered that picture of Treyvon Martin all over TV claiming it was him engaging in "gang activity" when really it was just a picture of him smoking a blunt and flipping off the camera. Oooooh that's so gangster!

And let's not forget that EVERYONE has these things in their past. Pictures, run ins with the law, discipline problems at school, smoking pot, underage drinking... all of this falls squarely under "young and dumb", and yet every time something like this happens we pretend that teenage angels actually exist, and if you aren't one it was just a matter of time before you were shot.