By Bob Boldt
How hard it is to change a mind based on new evidence and a reassessment. The outrage over Ferguson police conduct is valid, but let’s be honest about who Michael Brown was. Months ago a couple of white, Liberal friends on Facebook defriended me when I suggested Brown might not be a very suitable candidate for the Gandhi award. More evidence now points to the fact that Brown was indeed a bully, a thief, a thug, and not an innocent trying to surrender (hands up!) to officer Wilson. Perhaps Brown was a product of the rampant hostility largely engendered by the Ferguson police’s brutality toward their community, but it still seems that Brown gave Wilson no out but to kill him. I think the Jonathan Capehart piece in The Washington Post (“‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ was built on a lie”) pretty well sums up my conclusions after reading the Justice Department’s 86-page memorandum “...regarding the criminal investigation into the shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson.”
I have been critical of various activities of our US Justice Department over other matters in the past, but after reading key parts of their report, I have to concur that the preponderance of physical evidence and the best eyewitness testimony does not support an indictment of officer Wilson.
This by no means exonerates prosecutor Robert McCullough’s conduct before the grand jury. I think it might have been worth the expense to have charged Wilson in order that the community might have been properly informed as to what really went down. I am saddened to see how defensive and polarized the black community has become over matters like these – for example, the way the OJ Simpson verdict reaction broke down almost entirely along non-rational, solely racial lines.
 |
| Mark Fuhrman |
I certainly don’t blame black people for jumping to their initial conclusion in Michael Brown’s case. I did the same thing myself, based on my justified belief that cops universally target black kids. In spite of that we should not be so blinded by our assumptions that we are incapable of rational thought and the examination of new evidence.
I’m afraid that many whites as well as many members of the black community will remain “stuck on stupid” as far as the Michael Brown case is concerned. Few of them will ever read the Justice Department report and most will continue to believe their original conclusions. This bodes ill for any attempt to close the racial divide in this country. It also gives me little hope that justice will ever prevail for black people. A victim class, of whatever color, that is resistant to reason and truth is an easy target for manipulation and is an unwitting accomplice in its continued enslavement.
| Copyright © 2015 by Bob Boldt |
Most of us make our minds up early, but how many of us are open to considering further evidence and reassessing? Thanks, Bob Boldt, for reflecting on some matters of race and class relations.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing this story and how it affected my understanding of the entire fiasco:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.policeone.com/use-of-force/articles/8097484-Video-Anti-police-protester-undergoes-use-of-force-scenario-training
I don't envy any police officer's job.
Hi Bob great op piece. I think putting that officer through a trial when there is no probable cause would be wrong. Its terrible how that municipality has used its LEO and courts as a revenue producer. That's what my municipality does with safety and justice secondary to the mighty dollar and its much much worse in Ferguson.that does not excuse Dorian's lies and the mob they inspired. It doesn't excuse media narrative they decided to use from the beginning.specifically because of the lies we lost lives,lost livelihoods,lost property,lost relationships and so much more. Reading the DOJ report and imagining how violent The people on Canfield were, that more than one witness prefered jail to testifying about what they saw. The terror those people faced in just making a phone call to set the record straight. Putting those witnesses lives at risk? Many people on Canfield knew what really happened that day. Recall the man who told the women who wanted record his statement that they wouldn't like what he had to say, and the response he got from them? Anyway, if there is a civil trial there will be a lot of people feeling shame as the witnesses testify. I'm sure the Brown's attorney
ReplyDeleteOops. I'm sure the Brown's attorney is happy to relieve them of some or all of the at least half a million dollars they were given by thousands of people who believed the lies, so they can pursue more money. I'm betting they'll get a settlement from the city. If it goes to trial they'll have problems getting anyone to testify. The liars like Dorian will face prosecution for perjury and now they know how easily caught they will be. The truth tellers will live in fear or risk jail by not showing up. The lawyer knows that I'm not sure if Brown's Mom and Louis Head get that yet.
ReplyDeleteAll the most vocal supporters of the characterization of Michael Brown as choir boy seem to have faded into the woodwork. It is going to be hard to disparage the Justice Department's decision (not to indict Darren Wilson) as a whitewash after reading the Justice Department's scathing assessment of the Ferguson Police Department's horrendous conduct, conduct sanctioned by the Fursuson Municipal officers BTW.
ReplyDeleteRead the Official 102p report here:
http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf
And this commentary that gives a pretty unbiased summary IMHO
http://www.redstate.com/2015/03/15/many-conservatives-blowing-it-ferguson-doj-report/
This from a traditionally conservative site too!