by Pa Rock
Missourian
This is day twelve of the raging racial strife that has beset the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri. The protesters continue to come out every night to show their disgust with the city's police department in a basically peaceful manner, and the police continue to overreact and reinforce the view that most of the civilized world has of their brutal and racist mindset. Last night was the quietest so far, with no shots fired, but nevertheless forty-seven people were arrested. Journalists continue to be targets of police rage.
The police in Ferguson have played a couple of sickening blame-the-victim cards. First, they released a story and store videotape showing the victim, eighteen-year-old Michael Brown, shoplifting Cigarillos out of the convenience store that he had just left prior to the shooting. The unspoken but well-indicated supposition was that the policeman who shot Brown did so in a response to the robbery report. It didn't take long for the chief of police to be backed into a corner and admit that the shooter cop did not know about the shoplifting incident when he killed Brown.
An attorney for the convenience store issued a statement saying that the store never reported the shoplifting incident, and that the police came to the store and requested the tape of Brown's visit - obviously hoping to find something to use to make him look sinister and worthy of the six bullets that ended his life.
A day or two later police managed to get the word out that Michael Brown had marijuana in his system at the time of his death. He was eighteen - of course he had marijuana in his system! Marijuana, however, would be an unlikely drug to make Mr. Brown become so aggressive toward a police officer that it would require six rounds to put him down. But that marijuana story did what it was intended to do - it got the old grey heads in front of the televisions bobbing in agreement with the opinionators on the Fox Noise channel. Druggie equals dangerous equals kill the bastard!
The Ferguson Police Department's war on the character of a dead teenager is disgusting - but then again, so are their wars on the protesters, the First Amendment, and the image of America as a just and tolerant nation. If the police want to bring this turmoil to an end, perhaps they should enforce the law and arrest someone who actually did commit a crime - their fellow officer who brutally murdered an unarmed eighteen-year-old young man without cause.
Maybe then we can have peace in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.
Missourian
This is day twelve of the raging racial strife that has beset the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri. The protesters continue to come out every night to show their disgust with the city's police department in a basically peaceful manner, and the police continue to overreact and reinforce the view that most of the civilized world has of their brutal and racist mindset. Last night was the quietest so far, with no shots fired, but nevertheless forty-seven people were arrested. Journalists continue to be targets of police rage.
The police in Ferguson have played a couple of sickening blame-the-victim cards. First, they released a story and store videotape showing the victim, eighteen-year-old Michael Brown, shoplifting Cigarillos out of the convenience store that he had just left prior to the shooting. The unspoken but well-indicated supposition was that the policeman who shot Brown did so in a response to the robbery report. It didn't take long for the chief of police to be backed into a corner and admit that the shooter cop did not know about the shoplifting incident when he killed Brown.
An attorney for the convenience store issued a statement saying that the store never reported the shoplifting incident, and that the police came to the store and requested the tape of Brown's visit - obviously hoping to find something to use to make him look sinister and worthy of the six bullets that ended his life.
A day or two later police managed to get the word out that Michael Brown had marijuana in his system at the time of his death. He was eighteen - of course he had marijuana in his system! Marijuana, however, would be an unlikely drug to make Mr. Brown become so aggressive toward a police officer that it would require six rounds to put him down. But that marijuana story did what it was intended to do - it got the old grey heads in front of the televisions bobbing in agreement with the opinionators on the Fox Noise channel. Druggie equals dangerous equals kill the bastard!
The Ferguson Police Department's war on the character of a dead teenager is disgusting - but then again, so are their wars on the protesters, the First Amendment, and the image of America as a just and tolerant nation. If the police want to bring this turmoil to an end, perhaps they should enforce the law and arrest someone who actually did commit a crime - their fellow officer who brutally murdered an unarmed eighteen-year-old young man without cause.
Maybe then we can have peace in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.
1 comment:
On Tuesday St Louis Police killed a knife wielding man. They explained the circumstances within a hour.
When Mike Brown was executed by an out of control cop it took a week to write the fiction justifying the actions of the officer.
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