I know that I haven't written a post on this blog in FOREVER but the recent events in St. Louis has inspired me to write. Unless you've been under a rock, a young man by the name of Michael Brown was shot down on Saturday August 9, 2014 by an officer who we now know is Darren Wilson. Since his death, there hasn't been an arrest hence the need for protests.
The Ferguson Police Department has been completely despicable throughout this whole ordeal - actually the entire presence of authority in the Ferguson area has acted without any tact during this situation. The amount of information that has come out during the case makes it hard to understand why the city hasn't at the very least arrested him. Yet, they want to condemn the citizens of Ferguson for being upset about the matter. This young man was shot and killed - then left in the street for hours before they picked his body up off of the street. It saddens me that in 2014 we are STILL fighting to let the world know that it is NOT ok to shoot unarmed black people.
Since all of this has started, I've been annoyed with two things- 1. The Media and 2. People who are attempting to blame the victim and blame the African American community.
Let's tackle the easy one first. My problem with the media is the selective coverage that they are doing. In a time where social media has become a first hand source, I need news outlets to attempt to be a little more careful with the message that they send out. Although I'm happy it's getting coverage, they are painting inaccurate pictures. They tend to focus on violent protestors when in actuality they only make up a small percentage of the crowd. They have NOT shown the excessive force that the police have used against PEACEFUL protestors or the constant violation of rights. Tear gas and rubber bullets. AK 47s pointed at citizens. No fly zone, city curfews, internet sanctions. All of this enforced on US citizens - AMERICANS. It takes the media being threatened for them to even cover these horrific events. Meanwhile, I've watched a live newsfeed on what they should have reported the night before 2 days ago.
They question why African Americans are so angry yet there numerous names of unarmed people of
color that have been killed - John Crawford, Ezell Ford, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner - need I go on. Then they begin the smear campaign against the victim. They question what did he DO to make the officer shoot him not WHY did the officer feel the need to use such excessive force. They haven't discussed the 911 tapes that were released and revealed that the officer never called to report the shooting, just for crowd control. But when Ferguson Police Department released stills and a tape that suggested Brown had participated in illegal activity only to find out later that the tape had NOTHING to do with his murder, they continued to replay those images no matter how incorrect they were. Yet, the media continued to play the video furthermore painting the picture of a young thug. Therefore leading into my second issue.
Let's remind ourselves that this young man was unarmed and we now know shot 6 times by a police officer. Police officers are supposed to Protect and Serve the community. If they feel that they must use a weapon, it should ONLY be used to disarm the suspect NOT shoot to kill. After reviewing these basics, the officer SHOULD be the one held at fault. He lacked the skills to perform his job correctly.
Yet most of the focus has been on what the African American community has done wrong. Saying that if he was dressed better he could've avoided it. Do you know how absurd that sounds? Martin Luther King Jr. wore a suit everyday and was still murdered. They both were murdered for being black. The autopsy report shows that weed was in his system - how does that justify his murder. Weed is becoming legal across the US so let's stop demonizing him for that.
If I hear one more person say that we need to address black on black crime, or that we never march when one of our own die. Let share something with you. You fell into the media trap. Did you know that 85% percent of murders against whites were committed by whites? Sandy Hook, Boston Marathon, Dark Knight Rises theatre shooting, ALL done by white people. All suspects brought in alive. Hell the guy from the Boston Massacre got the cover of Rolling Stone - how sick is that? Yet black on black crime somehow justifies unarmed black teens being murdered for being black. Stop believing in a system that wasn't created for you. Open your eyes. We are still fighting the same fight that our forefathers fought.
Ultimately, a mother and father is without a son and they are still hurting. You can help out the cause by donating to the cause here is one of the links
Open your eyes people.
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