(Originally published on Facebook 11/25/2014)
Intransigent - characterized by refusal to compromise or to abandon an extreme position or attitude
Intransigent - characterized by refusal to compromise or to abandon an extreme position or attitude
It's been a while since I was really compelled to sit down and write something, but I've never been so saddened to see otherwise intelligent people unable to change their minds in the face of facts. I understand passion and conviction, but at some point one must stand up and face reality. Here is a hard Ferguson truth that many will find difficult to swallow.
Darren Wilson is innocent of murder.
The Grand Jury studied the evidence, and looked at the totality of it before they came to their conclusion. Even if there were no witnesses, the physical evidence tells the story pretty clearly. Physical evidence has no agenda, no point to make. It simply is. You can cherry pick what one witness said, or one piece of Darren Wilson's testimony and try to spin things to fit the script you want to see, but if you look at the entire framework the story is pretty clear.
Yet I'm still seeing folks that are upset about the verdict, even in the face of clear cut physical evidence. It's like watching the Republicans froth at the mouth about Benghazi. We need another investigation!
I also see a great deal of ignorance about the way a police officer should do their job. Stupid shit about tasers, shooting to wound, and even allowing the subject to leave. Just amazing stupidity from folks who've seen too many episodes of Southland. Part of the job involves the application of force at some point. That's a tricky thing. Apply too much and you hurt or kill someone. Apply too little and you're the one who is hurt or killed. Life and death decisions are made in split seconds, and then analyzed ad nauseum by the same types of idiots I mentioned above.
If you live in St Louis there's a Citizen's Academy that will give a glimpse into what the police do and how they do it. It will open your eyes.
Darren Wilson didn't kill Mike Brown that day specifically because he was black. However, the fact the Mike Brown was black played a part in everyone's actions that day, especially in how the bystanders reacted.
Problems between the black community and the police department are real, if for no other reason than that's how they perceive it. Statistics on actual interactions are sadly vague at best and what little data there is can be spun in multiple directions. So when Mike Brown's accomplice started the narrative that Darren Wilson had shot Mike Brown for no reason while his hands were raised, it spread like wildfire because that was the narrative that resonated with people in the neighborhood. It made sense to them because that's how they experience it. They still cling to it even after it's been refuted because it resonated so strongly.
Hell, it makes sense to a lot of people. Who doesn't remember being hassled by the cops when they were a teenager? I can remember being hassled for epically stupid reasons like the time I got a ticket for Operating a Motor Vehicle Without a License Plate Lamp. The cops used to chase me and my friends out of the various places we'd congregate to drink beer, maybe smoke some pot, and generally bitch about how unfair things are when you're a teenager. Yeah, the cops were a real pain.
But I'm a white kid from West County, an upper middle class part of St Louis. White kids mostly grow out of it. We become adults, and the cops stop looking at us with distrust.
That's not generally the result in the black community.
As bad as it seemed to me, I know that kids of my age with darker skin tones had it worse. The history of black folks interactions with police are mostly negative. The inherent belief that the police are not to be trusted under any circumstances is firmly woven into the tapestry of their culture. Just as deeply embedded in the fabric is a helpless feeling that they're being marginalized and ignored.
I also see a great deal of ignorance about the way a police officer should do their job. Stupid shit about tasers, shooting to wound, and even allowing the subject to leave. Just amazing stupidity from folks who've seen too many episodes of Southland. Part of the job involves the application of force at some point. That's a tricky thing. Apply too much and you hurt or kill someone. Apply too little and you're the one who is hurt or killed. Life and death decisions are made in split seconds, and then analyzed ad nauseum by the same types of idiots I mentioned above.
If you live in St Louis there's a Citizen's Academy that will give a glimpse into what the police do and how they do it. It will open your eyes.
Darren Wilson didn't kill Mike Brown that day specifically because he was black. However, the fact the Mike Brown was black played a part in everyone's actions that day, especially in how the bystanders reacted.
Problems between the black community and the police department are real, if for no other reason than that's how they perceive it. Statistics on actual interactions are sadly vague at best and what little data there is can be spun in multiple directions. So when Mike Brown's accomplice started the narrative that Darren Wilson had shot Mike Brown for no reason while his hands were raised, it spread like wildfire because that was the narrative that resonated with people in the neighborhood. It made sense to them because that's how they experience it. They still cling to it even after it's been refuted because it resonated so strongly.
Hell, it makes sense to a lot of people. Who doesn't remember being hassled by the cops when they were a teenager? I can remember being hassled for epically stupid reasons like the time I got a ticket for Operating a Motor Vehicle Without a License Plate Lamp. The cops used to chase me and my friends out of the various places we'd congregate to drink beer, maybe smoke some pot, and generally bitch about how unfair things are when you're a teenager. Yeah, the cops were a real pain.
But I'm a white kid from West County, an upper middle class part of St Louis. White kids mostly grow out of it. We become adults, and the cops stop looking at us with distrust.
That's not generally the result in the black community.
As bad as it seemed to me, I know that kids of my age with darker skin tones had it worse. The history of black folks interactions with police are mostly negative. The inherent belief that the police are not to be trusted under any circumstances is firmly woven into the tapestry of their culture. Just as deeply embedded in the fabric is a helpless feeling that they're being marginalized and ignored.
That's what the protests are about.
Yes, the protests started with a narrative about a killer cop gunning down another young black man, a narrative that we now know to be untrue. How they started is irrelevant. What matters is that we don't stop now. The conversation needs to continue, but it can't if we're still stuck arguing about what happened, and whether or not Mike Brown got "justice".
When they speak of "justice", folks want Darren Wilson to be punished for killing Mike Brown. In this context, the proper word for what they want is "vengeance". Justice is impartial, and follows the facts. Or at least it should. Unfortunately, it's something else that's been in short supply for the black community, and another root cause for the anger that's bubbling up.
Racism is not alive and well, but it ain't dead either. It's not even on life support.
However, it is getting tired.
Like it or not, Ferguson is all about race. But it's not about a racist cop.
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