Modern Racism: Officer Wilson Walks

[Magic Christmas Lights]

So you've no doubt heard about what's going on in Ferguson. Or maybe you haven't. Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed college-bound and unarmed Black teen, Michael Brown. Riots were had, the police acted with unnecessary and egregious force against people exercising their freedom of assembly, speech, and press, and finally Officer Wilson was brought before a jury to answer for what he did. Only, the jury found that there was "insufficient evidence" to convict the officer, and so he walked. More can be read here: https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-wa...on-docs-how-the-grand-jury-reached-a-decision

What does everyone think about these events? I find them appalling, and I hope this wakes America up to the sad fact that racism is alive and well. It probably won't - the only people I see lamenting over these events are people who were already open to the idea of modern racism, but I can dream.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

My only major opinion is that I really wish the rioting would stop. Regardless of the side of the fence you're on, it's not going to help a single person. At. All. This **** is causing *******s to justify everything. It's not helping anyone. Yes, people are PISSED. Do you really think though that going around and setting fire to things, raiding buildings, ect. is going to solve anything but cause damage to people, many of which probably don't even have any relation to the problem in question whatsoever? Hell I'm willing to bet some of the anti-riot police/firefighters ect. actually support the Brown family. I swear to god people. This **** only separates people further and further apart.

Detroit tried that almost 50 years ago and only recently has begun any ability to recover. Literally one of the greatest cities in the United States fell to this **** and Ferg is quickly on that route.

I also send the Browns my condolences. I don't think their son deserved to die. I can't imagine being them right now, I would find it so difficult to find solace because of the condition of this situation. The rioting, the national news coverage of their tragedy, the misinformation that's going around on BOTH sides... man. I can't even think about it dude.

 

[Clairissa]

This really wasn't a race issue until it was made into one, police have killed people under more suspicious circumstances than this, with less evidence released, and less media coverage.

I watched streams of the events, police responded by blocking "protestors" from the court house and police station, there were 69 arrests and 21 fires according to the Ferguson PD, the store Michael Brown robbed was also hit fairly hard, here's a short video of the store owner in the aftermath.

Here's everything the grandjury saw.

Here's Michael Brown robbing a store for a 50 dollar cigar box, which is why the police were called to arrest him.

The events were poorly handled by the media, who do what they enjoy doing and misrepresenting or reporting on unconfirmed facts or pure speculation, even witnesses that lied and recanted after being proven wrong.

I have no sympathy for Michael Brown, his family I do because of the media circus and hypocritical support of those that turned to violence and destruction in the name of their son, I also feel for the officer who will now be a target by people with the wrong intentions due to this event.

Again, this is not a race issue in the way you may think it is, I'm sure this would play out the same were Michael Brown white, and the police officer black (sarcasm), this is an issue of people with agendas looking to misinform and cause tension/violence.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

My two cents after your post - I agree with everything except that he deserved to die. Petty theft doesn't really deserve death. Not even armed robbery really - because we don't do this to other armed robbers.

I honestly think the officer made a mistake. A similar, sad story occurred locally and people wanted the officer hung. Thing is, this **** can happen. A few months ago there was this absolutely tragic story about an officer who killed a 7 year old black child, and the officer was white, so you did get a few people protesting. But every time I heard it I was like, "dude, he could have easily ****ed up. It's just so sad all around". I'm glad that he didn't get charged with murder. Just from all the information that was available after the hearing and all that there was no way you could say he was guilty.

EDIT: Also... pretty much all the protest is pretty ****ing insane right now. I honestly don't really understand it. Yes, it's a "race" crime technically, but let's be real here - if the officer was black, or he was white, would any of us really know about this?

Stuff like this happens a LOT in Detroit and surrounding areas all the time and it's extremely upsetting, far, far FAR worse stories than what is going on at Ferguson, but I guess that city knows better by this point.

Shame on all the rioters.

 

[Emboar]

I would have sympathy for Michael Brown if people had not reacted the way they did. Protesting itself is unnecessary, as most protests get protesters absolutely nowhere, so protesting the death of one person is pretty useless. Riots and violence is not going to solve anything, they just induce more damage than necessary. I do have sympathy for the residents of Ferguson who don't take part in these riots, as they are intelligent enough not to take part in the violence, but unfortunately some of them have had their property damage thanks to these violent rioters.

 

[Clairissa]

My two cents after your post - I agree with everything except that he deserved to die. Petty theft doesn't really deserve death. Not even armed robbery really - because we don't do this to other armed robbers.

I honestly think the officer made a mistake. A similar, sad story occurred locally and people wanted the officer hung. Thing is, this **** can happen.

I never said Michael Brown deserved to die, I said I had no sympathy for him because of his actions leading up to and including his death, it is regrettable, but he made incredibly poor choices.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

I never said Michael Brown deserved to die, I said I had no sympathy for him because of his actions leading up to and including his death, it is regrettable, but he made incredibly poor choices.

Sorry, I interpreted that incorrectly.

I don't agree with that though, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Yes, he made poor decisions but most people don't get killed when they do that.

Like I stated in my last post, it's really just sad all around.

 

[ShinyUmbreon189]

My two cents after your post - I agree with everything except that he deserved to die. Petty theft doesn't really deserve death. Not even armed robbery really - because we don't do this to other armed robbers.

I honestly think the officer made a mistake. A similar, sad story occurred locally and people wanted the officer hung. Thing is, this **** can happen.

Imma ask you a simple question. What would you do if someone 200+ pounds shattered your face, tried to steal your gun, wouldn't obey orders, and charged you to take you down? This isn't about whether he deserved to die or not, it was a matter of life and death. The officer did what he had to do. If Brown wouldn't of charged him he'd still be alive today and if Wilson wouldn't of killed Brown he'd probably be dead and nobody would know about it because the media only targets white on black crime. Granted he'd be incarcerated but he'd still be alive. Brown was a thug just like the rest of the rioters in Ferguson, it's a black majority area that's gang affiliated. Brown was far from an innocent man, he had a rap sheet.

@Clairissa, so true. If the officer was black and Brown was white nothing would of happened, look up Dillon Taylor, it's a perfect example. The media and Ferguson just wanted their 15 minutes of fame and they got it.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Imma ask you a simple question. What would you do if someone 200+ pounds shattered your face, tried to steal your gun, wouldn't obey orders, and charged you to take you down? This isn't about whether he deserved to die or not, it was a matter of life and death. The officer did what he had to do. If Brown wouldn't of charged him he'd still be alive today and if Wilson wouldn't of killed Brown he'd probably be dead and nobody would know about it because the media only targets white on black crime. Granted he'd be incarcerated but he'd still be alive. Brown was a thug just like the rest of the rioters in Ferguson, it's a black majority area that's gang affiliated. Brown was far from an innocent man, he had a rap sheet.

Dude, all I said was that I wish the kid didn't die. I'm not saying he's innocent, I'm not saying that the cop is guilty, I've said both were likely untrue both times.

I just feel sorry for the family because they lost their son. It's extremely unfortunate to lose your son or daughter to such a tragedy. Like I stated earlier, there was an altercation in Detroit that happened two years ago that just had it's trial like 3 months ago and I felt so bad for the officer because it was like, you knew he wasn't guilty. Nothing could ever take that 7 year old girl back, but was the cop guilty? Not from the evidence. It sounded purely accidental. And it hurts, but the thing is, there is no answer to something like that. It just is.

Just because a lot of people are playing the race card doesn't mean that you can't feel sympathy for the fact that someone died. Realistically, I would have hoped that he would be sentenced to rehabilitation so that he could work towards improving his life away crime than anything, but now that's impossible. And ultimately - that's the biggest tragedy of all - that he really can't be redeemed for his crimes. He has no possibility for redemption because he is dead.

And if you're wondering, it is exactly that why I'm against the death penalty. But that's for another time.

 

[Timbjerr]

My only gripe is with people instigating the whole thing as a race issue. There's absolutely no evidence that supports the idea that Wilson targeted Brown because he was black. In fact, he was working off of a profile that the 911 dispatcher gave him.

Central to the story is that an officer of the law used lethal force on someone suspected of a $50 theft. The fact that the victim was black is absolutely irrelevant, and making it out like some sinister hate crime to engorge the passions of an already downtrodden community is only asking for trouble when the facts come back and there's no evidence to back the claim up.

The Brown family still has a civil lawsuit pending...and honestly, that looks to be where their biggest victory will come.

 

[Keiran]

This really wasn't a race issue until it was made into one, police have killed people under more suspicious circumstances than this, with less evidence released, and less media coverage.

I watched streams of the events, police responded by blocking "protestors" from the court house and police station, there were 69 arrests and 21 fires according to the Ferguson PD, the store Michael Brown robbed was also hit fairly hard, here's a short video of the store owner in the aftermath.

Here's everything the grandjury saw.

Here's Michael Brown robbing a store for a 50 dollar cigar box, which is why the police were called to arrest him.

The events were poorly handled by the media, who do what they enjoy doing and misrepresenting or reporting on unconfirmed facts or pure speculation, even witnesses that lied and recanted after being proven wrong.

I have no sympathy for Michael Brown, his family I do because of the media circus and hypocritical support of those that turned to violence and destruction in the name of their son, I also feel for the officer who will now be a target by people with the wrong intentions due to this event.

Again, this is not a race issue in the way you may think it is, I'm sure this would play out the same were Michael Brown white, and the police officer black (sarcasm), this is an issue of people with agendas looking to misinform and cause tension/violence.

I'm fairly certain this is about race and IS a race issue when the KKK is openly supporting a killer cop.

Here's the rest of the video showing Mike Brown pay for whatever you think he stole. Darren Wilson stopped Mike Brown for jaywalking, not theft.

I think we've come a long way from the 90's with the Rodney King beatings where the case was much more clear cut, especially in hindsight, yet the jury still said not guilty. Accusations of racism or misconduct are purely circumstantial with this case, I have confidence that the jury have done their job properly, both the officer and the suspect made mistakes but Wilson has been found not criminally liable by what would have been a carefully selected jury for impartiality with an extensive FBI information to get all the facts, the government and legal system have not done a halfhearted job.

SJW's and African Americans will jump to what they want to believe and throw a tantrum by rioting when the facts don't match their agenda, which is a vendetta against the hated white man.

White people riot all the time when their sports team loses. Also, for your information, the violent rioters have been identified as mostly white males. So..your generalization isn't very accurate. :<

 

[Timbjerr]

I'm fairly certain this is about race and IS a race issue when the KKK is openly supporting a killer cop.

I'm not sure what you're getting at with this. I, as a Pokémon fan, can openly show my support for the Brown family, does that make them Pokémon fans by association?

Unless there is any hard evidence that Wilson targeted Brown because of his race, there is no need to make this a race issue.

 

[ShinyUmbreon189]

White people riot all the time when their sports team loses. Also, for your information, the violent rioters have been identified as mostly white males. So..your generalization isn't very accurate. :<

What? They don't riot like the blacks did in Ferguson by destroying their community by burning buildings down. I don't understand why you're trying to compare riots like that.

Reliable source please? Last time I checked it was blacks that was breaking into stores and burning them down, not whites. Ferguson's got a 90% black population with blacks throwing a tantrum because they didn't get their way so I find the violent rioters being white extremely far fetched. I don't know if you read an false article or if you're black and trying to justify what your people did isn't wrong, there's even videos of blacks doing violent rioting, it was all over the news last night. If you are black, I feel sorry for you because those few black looters make the black race as a whole look bad. Either way, it was blacks and only black people rioting because they feel it's a race issue. It's unacceptable behavior, whites didn't riot when OJ Simpson was found not guilty. They feel they're the victim when they're not, they can't get over something that happened over a century ago.

 

[Keiran]

What? They don't riot like the blacks

Riots in Denver after a football game.

Riots in New Hampshire after a festival last month.

Riots after the infamous firing of Joe Paterno.

Riots in Huntington Beach after a surf competition.

Riots in Seattle after the Superbowl.

What event are you referencing that "happened over a century ago"? Slavery was made illegal about 150 years ago, sure, but segregation is still recent. Innocent black people being killed by cops at a rate of 2 a week is happening now.

 

[Her]

before any of you read this, bear in mind that i am white. but since, when i started writing this, no one in this thread has had the heart to do anything but vilify the protestors, i need to speak.

Imma ask you a simple question. What would you do if someone 200+ pounds shattered your face, tried to steal your gun, wouldn't obey orders, and charged you to take you down?

'shattered your face'
tell me if he looks shattered to you

'tried to steal your gun, wouldn't obey orders, and charged you to take you down?'
the ferguson police department has been notorious throughout this entire ordeal for falsifying evidence, outright lying and then admitting the lies
and then when you're done reading that, read this
it shows that not only are the ferguson police (therefore darren wilson) lying about what happened, they've got untold levels of protection behind them for these lies

and just a little kick in the pants for the rest of you

michael brown's autopsy report (may he rest in power amen) shows that the bullet wounds could only enter in a way that shows that he had his arms up - as if he was saying don't shoot
so
you are wrong about that too

furthermore, the numerous eyewitness reports are pretty much all unanimous on the view that brown had his hands up
and did not reach for the cops weapon
and if you read the links i showed you earlier, you would see that he was well over 100 feet from wilson at the time of the shooting anyway

and by the way
just look at this

This isn't about whether he deserved to die or not, it was a matter of life and death. The officer did what he had to do.

as shown earlier, it was not
besides
all cops are trained & shown how to apprehend or take down a suspect without lethal force
regardless of if michael brown WAS charging darren wilson, wilson had the training necessary to not unload six shots into him
furthermore, at least in the area of ferguson, cops are allowed to use lethal force when the suspect is within 25-30 yards of them
but michael brown was over 100 yards away, as i have to say again
so

If Brown wouldn't of charged him he'd still be alive today and if Wilson wouldn't of killed Brown he'd probably be dead and nobody would know about it because the media only targets white on black crime. Granted he'd be incarcerated but he'd still be alive. Brown was a thug just like the rest of the rioters in Ferguson, it's a black majority area that's gang affiliated. Brown was far from an innocent man, he had a rap sheet.

you have clearly been misled & either willingly or out of ignorance hold on to the belief that if a black person has a criminal record, they deserve to die
by the way, mike brown did pay for the cigarillos.

@Clairissa, so true. If the officer was black and Brown was white nothing would of happened, look up Dillon Taylor, it's a perfect example. The media and Ferguson just wanted their 15 minutes of fame and they got it.

this is just not worth commenting on

moving on
protesters have been protesting peacefully for the last three months, with the rage of a few outlier civilians resulting in looting and rioting
a lot of this has changed over the last 24 hours due to the non-indictment, but most protests around the country are still non-violent

listen to the words of mike brown's family, the center of this tragedy, who have been pleading for peace & for the rioting to stop

in every protest where violence has been reported over the last three months, nearly every time (saying nearly because i don't know about every incident) was the result of overzealous police aggression
bringing up riot gear, shooting rubber bullets, firing tear gas canisters

does this look acceptable?

are you all forgetting that the kkk is marching?

if this was not related to race, why is the kkk out in full gear? why are they not being arrested? why are they not being attacked at this very moment?

how dare any of you vilify the protestors for wanting human rights and referring to them as mere thugs and rioters
because we know you weren't saying that when people looted & rioted over the joe paterno case, the numerous sports games that resulted in rioting, so much more

i'm jumping around and trying to get many points out into the open so forgive me for not going as in depth into each of them as i should
but read & listen to what i have shown you and stop letting misinformation & racism rule your judgement on this tragedy

rest in power, mike brown

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

@Keiran

Things happened, so that means that that's totally true all the time!

I think ultimately the thing we need to recognize that yes, segregation does exist. It exists in many forms. ****, I spend a lot of my free time actually helping fight a specific form of segregation, which needs supporters due to the lack of knowledge of the problem. I've spoken on this publicly and have future appearance dates, and want to become more fully integrated with the issue. Nobody is ultimately denying that segregation exists, not from what I've read in this thread anyways.

But ultimately, and I think this is very important to know, is that we look at the greater picture of things. First off, many many many people in the United States are actually very comfortable with different races. Many of these people agree that the idea of "race crimes" simply doesn't work because by claiming that someone died because of their race as opposed to any other reason (or any other crime for that matter) means that it's somehow more important. Someone died. Reasons aren't really important. If they died because they were cheating on their girlfriend or because they were black, that information is ultimately not going to bring back an innocent person's life. And the more that we value the deaths of those who were lost due to racism, the more that we devalue the loss of life for other reasons.

Regardless of the reason, the loss of someone's life against their own will is the loss of their life against their own will. End of story. No amount of mental gymnastics will take away from the fact that such an idea ultimately shafts a victim of some form.

Victimization is a blind reaper. He takes from anyone. He may occur in certain groups more than others, but he can appear, and will appear, to almost any kind of individual, any creed, any form. That is how he works.

Ultimately, this rioting is not acceptable, regardless of how you feel about the decision. To me, I personally feel that the whole thing is a tragedy, but it doesn't deserve a riot. What does a riot, or even a protest, hope to achieve, in that sense? If there is a legal problem, then address the legality of the issue, don't burn down someone's business who may not even have been involved. If there is a discrepancy in the police department, then address that, don't try to kill some police riot force that's doing their job and duty as a police riot force. It's just sad how many people have forgotten Martin Luther King's message of how peaceful protest is something that can resonate among so many individuals. Just because we are angry doesn't make it right, and anger ultimately scares away people who we need to ally ourselves with. By saying "white versus black" you alienate the white and black individuals who don't see it that way. By saying "white versus black" you're siding with the idea that somehow these differences are not reconcilable. By saying "white versus black" you ultimately become part of the problem, even if this problem has existed for 500 years, for refusing to change the problem that exists.

People are angry. Okay. So how do you make someone listen to you when you're angry? Do you shout in their face? Do you make them tremble in fear? Do you try to kill them? No. Those things make people fear you, not respect you. You add tension in a situation that already has tension. You have to reason with people who disagree with you. We all have times when we disagree, because we are human. These different ideals are bound to happen due to differing perspectives. Perhaps they don't understand because they haven't been in your shoes. But why should they even bother if you're going to spend all your energy trying to destroy, defame or be a compete ******* to them? Why should they give you the respect of listening to you if you're not going to be reasonable with them? Why? Because you're upset?

What about the people who you disagree with? Don't you think that, if things had been different, that they would be upset too? Does that give them the right to attack you, to make you tremble in fear, to make you feel afraid to even approach them?

I see so many people using this strategy, and it's scary. They don't know how much damage they are doing to themselves and others. They're furthering segregation by scaring people away. I've already gone over this many times, but the last time a huge race riot occurred in the US, it took down one of its major cities with it, and there's a ****ing reason why.

People tell others to not see colour not because they are ignorant to a problem that exists, I think that most people who say this are aware of inequalities that do exist, it's that they understand that propagating a recognized problem is the last thing you should be doing to attempt to fix it.

 

[Her]

mlk certainly did propagate non-violent tactics, peace, anti-rioting and so forth
and he was shot in the head regardless

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

mlk certainly did propagate non-violent tactics, peace, anti-rioting and so forth
and he was shot in the head regardless

Yes, because the actions of an individual, or even a small set of individuals, reflect that of an entire race of hundreds of millions of people.

And that because of actions completely out of his control, this somehow invalidates his arguments. Seriously, screw that MLK, he had no idea what he was talking about! He got assassinated! That sure shows how much he's worth!

You must be fun at parties.

regardless of the methods of protest, white america (and really, antiblackness around the world) will come after you and blame you, vilify you and kill you
telling people to 'pull their pants up', so to speak, does nothing

Oh my god your americo-centricism is so bad it ****ing HURTS

1. Simplifying Martin Luther King's words into "pulling your pants up" is such a disgusting, uneducated, weak, pathetic gross misinterpretation of MLK's actual beliefs and teachings that even suggesting such a thing shows an extreme disinterest in what he actually did and represented. Please actually try reading the Papers from Birmingham Jail and actually try to comprehend it before saying something so completely obscenely wrong next time. You're becoming a punch line at this point. plz learn to activist

2. "Antiblackness" only occurs in specific areas in the world. For example, there's plenty of evidence to show that there is quite a bit of anti-white racial tension in Zimbabwe. So let me guess before you say it - it's alright because they're white, right? And these people today have done so much damage to these black people in power that they totally deserve it, right? That's why they're facing eviction and murder and actual ****ing oppression, right?

 

[Her]

what i'm saying is that

regardless of the methods of protest, white america (and really, antiblackness around the world) will come after you and blame you, vilify you and kill you
telling people to 'pull their pants up', so to speak, does nothing

edit: i am referencing those who using mlk to support the idiotic pull up your pants mantra, as that mantra seems to be one of the more pervasive thoughts in this current situation
ie: bill cosby
ie: the numerous billboards and slogans going up in support of that mantra

edit2: when that story broke i was specifically telling people not to praise mugabe in any way whatsoever given his history as a frankly evil and violent drain on zimbabwe
but the difference between antiblackness and this situation is that antiblackness is more or less supported worldwide, whereas this is a very rare situation

 

[Lord Raven]

I'm very curious daigonite, and don't mind me if this comes off as a little offensive or bold, but what is your racial/cultural heritage?

I, as an American-born Pakistani, experienced firsthand the idea of white america and have been in situations where I have been singled out for my race. I've also had plenty of family - also US citizens - under the same treatment. On top of that, having grown up in Bel Air, Maryland whose makeup was 90% white I've been singled out many times as one of the only if not the only non-white kid in many of my classes. Racism due to the idea of "white america" is a very real thing, and I'm getting the impression that you don't believe so.

Many of my friends are African-American that have been through similar treatment. It's at best subtle and at worst makes you prone to being isolated from your peers. And this is really just suburbia (at best, because some of my friends definitely grew up in areas that were a cross between "run down" and "suburban"). Can't imagine what it's even like outside of suburbia or even in other parts of the US - ie, not Maryland.

It's not as bad as African American treatment, but I'm sharing my experiences as a cultural Muslim growing up in post-911 America. I cannot imagine what it's like to be an African American growing up in a post-segregated America where they always seem to get screwed in that department.