I've withheld comment on the situation down in Ferguson until now. I've watched the drama escalate and spiral out of control, I've watched the public outcry, I've seen the responses on social media, and I did my own digging into the matter. All I can say is that this situation and its aftermath has left me disheartened, and I'm deeply, deeply disappointed.
The reasons I feel this way will probably surprise and anger many of you.
But somebody has to say something and cut through all the frenzy because it's extremely unnerving, and even baffling, to watch an entire nation full of well-meaning, intelligent, and deeply compassionate individuals whip themselves into a frenzy without digging just a little bit deeper into the situation, and asking themselves some simple questions. They've accepted what they've been told, and allowed their emotions to govern their actions and responses. Everyone seems to want "justice", but nobody seems to care about the TRUTH.
And worst of all, many reveal themselves to be hypocritical in the extreme, and actually don't care about "Black Lives" as much as they claim.
Michael Brown suffered 9 gunshot wounds. His injuries are inconsistent with narratives that he was either trying to escape, or had his hands up in surrender. Brown was caught on camera robbing a convenience store minutes before his death, which is inconsistent with the "gentle giant" narrative that's been pushed by the media and supports the story that Wilson may have identified Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson as suspects. Brown had THC in his system, which might explain why, if Officer Wilson's story is to be believed, Brown may have been behaving irrationally by walking in the middle of the street (with stolen paraphernalia in hand) and engaging in conflict with a law enforcement official.
There is also gunpowder residue, DNA evidence, and photos of Officer Wilson's injuries that support the narrative that there was indeed a struggle inside of Wilson's car (and I don't buy that Wilson was somehow able to manhandle a 6'4", 279-pound man from the seat of his car). Lastly, in addition to witnesses that claim that Brown was surrendering, there are MANY witnesses who claim that Brown CHARGED at Wilson, "like a football player", to quote a diary entry of one of the witnesses, which is consistent with Wilson's account of the altercation. Some of those witnesses, as I understand it, are Black Americans--and, shrewdly, have kept their identities concealed out of concern for their personal safety.
Sorry to break it to you all, but according to the EVIDENCE available, Brown was NOT an innocent, gentle giant, at least not on that particular day, and Wilson doesn't seem to have a history of racist policing or dishonesty. All it takes is a few Google searches to find autopsy reports, local news reports, official documents, and witness accounts that raise huge, HUGE questions about the sensationalist media's reporting of the story.
We're quick to dismiss Fox News as a propaganda machine, but the fact is that CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, USA Today, The Huffington Post, and other outlets--publications that have the trust of a large number of the American public--are just as guilty of spinning stories and skewing narratives. And now people are protesting, businesses businesses and neighborhoods are being destroyed, people are getting hurt, because many BELIEVE what they've been told or what they've read, without questioning it. They want to be outraged, they want justice, they want answers--facts and evidence be damned.
The irony in all this is that people keeping saying "black lives matter", and saying that our black boys need protection. I think these statements are both true. The issue is that Black boys--and black people in general--need just as much protection, if not more, from OTHER black boys, than from racists and/or police (Chicago, anyone?). But we aren't protesting over that right now. There's a drug war that most people recognize as a complete failure and waste of resources, and Michelle Alexander argues persuasively that it is a largely RACIST Drug War; but we aren't protesting over that right now. The bi-racial, Nobel Peace Prize-winning president bombs brown people in Africa and the Middle East, but we aren't protesting over that right now, either.
No; we are protesting the death of an 18-year-old kid that got high, robbed a convenience store, and assaulted an officer; I do hate that all this happened, and it's awful that so many people's lives have been destroyed by this incident, but the evidence suggests that his own actions led to his death. People are being arrested, getting injured, having their businesses and livelihoods destroyed, over this. These aren't the Watts riots, this isn't the aftermath of the killing of Dr. King--this is outrage manufactured by the mainstream media, and many good, good people have bought into it entirely.
I find that deeply troubling.
