Darren Wilson « Black Man Thinkin'

Ferguson, MO: Cue the Doobie Brothers for Too Many Blacks

Tags: Benjamin Crump, Black vs White police contacts, Darren Wilson, Eric Garner, Ferguson Missouri, Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown, Natalie Dubose, out of town rioters, Police excessive force, sybrina fulton

Comments: 6 Comments

Published on: November 30, 2014

There are two primary lies about events in Ferguson, MO, since August 9, 2014:

2. That the protests which have followed have anything to do with a search for justice.

To gain clarity regarding the first primary lie, it is useful to summarize events related to Brown’s death.

Sometime before 11:51AM on August 9th, surveillance cameras captured the following footage of a strong-arm robbery at a Ferguson, MO, convenience store:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHxXGvXQrno[/youtube]

Strong-Arm Robbery is 2nd Degree Robbery, and a felony, in the state of Missouri. Another man in the video, Dorian Johnson, confirmed, through his attorney, that he was present with Brown when the incident occurred, while attorneys for Brown’s family left-handedly acknowledged the incident while calling the video an irrelevant sideshow.

Officer Darren Wilson did not know of Brown’s robbery, nor was that why he happened upon Brown; however, the video, and the attorney admissions, demonstrate Michael Brown committed at least one felony on the day he died.

Brown family attorneys also acknowledged an altercation between Brown and Officer Wilson before the shooting.

That altercation involved Michael Brown assaulting Officer Wilson and seeking to gain control of the officer’s weapon. That is either first- or second-degree assault in Missouri; both of which are felonies. Trying to take Wilson’s gun put deadly force on the table as an appropriate response, at Officer Wilson’s discretion.

So, Brown committed two felonies before Wilson shot him; the second made his death a defensible outcome, not an injustice. Therefore, characterizing Michael Brown’s death as police brutality mocks legitimate instances of excessive force by law enforcement against blacks….which we are told is out of control

However, on that matter, a review of Justice Department data on police contact with, and police violence against, citizens shows:

Additionally, the incomplete data that indicates police kill 96 blacks annually also shows that number to be less than 1/4 of those killed by police. Does that correlate to police hunting blacks? Compared to the more than 2,400 blacks killed by blacks annually, the number who die at the hands of police definitely appears a lesser problem.

Which differs from saying it is no problem: consider the case of Eric Garner, killed by an illegal NYPD chokehold:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ka4oKu1jo[/youtube]

There are no meaningful similarities between the Brown and Garner cases?

Further, while it took 108 days and 3 autopsies to get a straight story on Brown’s death, it took only 7 days to rule Garner’s death a homicide, directly attributable to police. And while a St. Louis County grand jury has already decided in the complex and emotionally-charged Brown case, a New York City grand jury has yet to decide on charges in a case where the crime is on tape, and the medical examiner has ruled.

So, where was the demand for that officer’s arrest? For releasing his identity and address? Why the days of racial outrage and riots for a guy who attacked a cop, but only a leisurely stroll for a guy whom cops attacked?

There was no injustice in the case of Michael Brown; rather a lack of acceptance of a grand jury determination. In the case of Eric Garner, there is neither justice nor much of a reaction.

Unless blacks cannot walk and chew gum at the same time, the unequal response to cases that occur at roughly the same time is odd, especially when the more clear-cut excessive force case gets a relative ho-hum response…and especially when the numbers do not support that there is a massive rise in the number of blacks killed by police, but decrease in the number of face-to-face contacts instead.

Regarding the second lie…why are so many arrested protesters not even from Ferguson, MO, whether back in August, or more recently in November?

If the idea of the protests is to better things for blacks in Ferguson, then why did protesters ignore Natalie DuBose’s, “Just don’t burn my shop down, don’t destroy it,” pleas, regarding the storefront that was her sole income source? Did putting her out of business “set things right with Mike”? Or were they psychic, knowing that their destruction would result in more than $200,000 in donations to offset her losses?

Are they expecting something similar for the dozens of other businesses destroyed after the grand jury made its determination? Or for the dozen or more that were looted the day after Brown died? Somehow, it is doubtful that the “out-of-towners”, responsible for most of the damage in Ferguson, are really concerned about what is left.

The only ones likely to get any “justice” from this debacle will be the same ones who benefited after a similar incident – the decedent’s parents. When Sybrina Fulton copyrighted t-shirt slogans, regarding her slain son, Trayvon Martin, less than a month after his death attorney Benjamin Crump was already on the case. When Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown’s mother, confronted Brown’s paternal grandmother, over the sale of t-shirts, and a comment over whether McSpadden had a copyright on her son’s name precipitated a violent attack, Benjamin Crump was on that case as well.

All other blacks are to accept that:

Of course, the problem is not that these outlandish things are said to black people; the problem is the number of blacks willing to accept them as true…

Somebody cue the Doobie Brothers…
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJe1iUuAW4M[/youtube]

The Crumbling Michael Brown Movement in Ferguson, MO

by Black Man Thinkin'

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: Al Sharpton, Benjamin Crump, criminal rioters and looters, Darren Wilson, Ferguson Missouri, Governor Nixon, Jesse Jackson, Michael Baden, Michael Brown, National guard

Comments: 8 Comments

Published on: August 18, 2014

On August 9, 2014, just after noon, Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson were walking in the middle of Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri, when they encountered Darren Wilson, a Ferguson police officer. Minutes later, Brown, who was not armed, was fatally shot by Wilson.

Michael Brown was a black teenager; Darryl Wilson is a white cop…

And that was all the information many needed to attempt to kick the “white cops hunt black males” crusade into high gear.

Almost immediately, the effort to portray Michael Brown as a college-bound “gentle giant”, complete with endearing life images:

Michael Brown, cap & gown

was underway, similar to the campaign that followed Trayvon Martin’s death. There were efforts to link Michael Brown’s demise to that of NYPD Chokehold victim Eric Garner.

And, sadly, and predictably, the violent reaction began. On August 10th, the day after Michael Brown’s death, looting broke out. On August 11th, it got worse, despite the pleas of Brown’s family. Police responded with riot control tactics, firing high-velocity bean bags and tear gas at protesters, including an elected official. By the 13th, SWAT officers were dispatched and journalists arrested; the situation looked, well, out-of-hand.

Which prompted Missouri’s Governor to declare a state of emergency and impose a curfew in Ferguson, actions sure to manage tensions…not.

By then, enough “chum” was in the water to attract the country’s two largest race sharks: Al Sharpton appeared in nearby St. Louis on August 12th; Jesse Jackson arrived in Ferguson on the 15th.

However, those visits did not go entirely as planned. A crowd booed Jackson off the stage at an event after he requested donations. Ferguson’s mayor said neither he nor his city’s black leaders wanted Sharpton’s “help”. A former NBA player labeled Sharpton a “coon”. Others had choice words as well, not only for Sharpton, but also for the president of whom he is, and they once were, so fond.

While Jackson’s, Sharpton’s, and Obama’s popularity waned among Ferguson residents, regard for the Ferguson police apparently strengthened, judging by an August 14th call to the Rush Limbaugh program. Perhaps it is because the police arrest the rioters and looters who are mostly out-of-towners with no connection to Michael Brown or to Ferguson; those arrested for felony looting on August 10th already had criminal records.

Those expecting to ride a wave of racial discontent to effect change, beginning in Ferguson, must now combat a wave of apathy now moving through that emotionally-fatigued community. What went wrong?

Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Well, the lies associated with the “Michael Brown Police Execution” account seem to have run their course. Now the truth appears on the move as well.

Let’s begin with the shooting. Early “accounts” indicated Brown, ran from Officer Wilson then, after being shot in the back, turned and faced Wilson with his hands raised in surrender…and then Wilson opened fire again, killing Brown. The assertions that Brown’s killing was an “execution” conjured notions that he was shot at close range. Then, Brown’s family requested an autopsy…

Which Dr. Michael M. Baden, former New York City chief medical examiner, performed at no charge. Baden’s report showed:

Afterward, Dr. Baden said, “People have been asking: How many times was he shot? This information could have been released on Day 1. They don’t do that, even as feelings built up among the citizenry that there was a cover-up…”

Indeed. Information available on August 9th was withheld, like the surveillance video of the robbery Brown allegedly committed shortly before his death. Not only was release of that video delayed, the federal government opposed its release altogether. And there is yet more unreleased information.

In response Dr. Baden’s report, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department would conduct its own autopsy, and Jesse Jackson told CNN, “This is bound to escalate tensions. This is a very provocative report.”

Translation: the report did not say what they wanted.

There is no reason yet for federal involvement in resolving the shooting, unless the feds have a vested interest in a particular outcome. And why is an ostensibly objective and scientific report considered provocative?

And why weren’t these images of Michael Brown available earlier, to give a more complete picture of the “gentle giant”?

Michael Brown, gun & cash Michael Brown robbery

And why are Sharpton and Attorney Benjamin Crump (of Trayvon Martin family fame) yet stirring up a violence-racked community with speeches that cannot soothe?

This is no longer about Ferguson, Missouri, and at least some of the residents know it. It can no longer be about Michael Brown; he becomes less useful as an icon the more that emerges about him and the circumstances of his death. And, if in killing Brown, Wilson did not act improperly, then this can no longer be about police brutality or the use of excessive force.

So what does that leave?

It leaves people who want to impose a political result, by violence if necessary, because they believe it is for the greater good, or because it means they will get paid. It leaves Civil Rights veterans like John Lewis calling for federal troop deployment in Ferguson, somehow equating criminal looters in 2014 with nonviolent activists in the 1960’s, and Missouri’s governor calling the National Guard to Ferguson.

This is about control, not of Ferguson, but of the political narrative in America, and of the American people. Someone believes they can stir up enough racial unrest to force a political change that will make martial law not just a local phenomenon, but the national norm. Their narrative, in brief, is this:

The police cannot be trusted; they will kill you and deny all of your rights. Your only hope is to put all of your confidence in the federal government to protect you from the police.

They are unlikely to succeed this time in Ferguson, Missouri, but they are certain to try again, and again, believing you will lose the resolve to remain free and instead acquiesce to the government plantation.

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