No Violence, Just Justice
I have spent the last several days, since Saturday evening as I watched events unfold in Ferguson, Missouri, racked with anger and guilt. I have tried several times to put down some thoughts in this space, but each time have been overcome by those two emotions. So instead of writing a long post about the police killing unarmed black men (3 in a week!) with relative impunity, I’ll just give you Ferguson in images, videos, and Tweets.
I’m afraid you will find some intemperate language in some of these, so if that sort of thing upsets you, I recommend not going any further than this. For those of you unfamiliar with Vines, there is sound, you will simply have to enable it (click on it and you should see a mute symbol; press that).
A witness to his friend’s death.
I interviewed the key witness to the Michael Brown shooting last night. The police haven’t. Think about that.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 12, 2014
Image via
Image via
Huffington Post reporter arrested for “trespassing” in McDonald’s.
“We fed up!”
They want you to fear the "rioters," not the people with guns and armor. pic.twitter.com/FLKXr2NJ7n
— Jacobin (@jacobinmag) August 12, 2014
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Let us not forget, as would be so easy to do in all the chaos that has ensued, with peaceful protesters gassed, reporters arrested, politicians arrested, rubber bullets fired, snipers at the ready, how all this began. A young man, 18 years old, set to start college this week, was executed by a police officer for walking in the street. Everything that follows is merely the erasing of any doubt about the true state of affairs in Ferguson, and in our country: if one black teenager walking down the street deserves several bullets, many black people in the street, with those who support them, deserve a paramilitary force ready to kill or wound, to use chemical weapons, to imprison without charges, to expel the press so that they may hide their crimes behind a veil of darkness, in short, to put those people in the street in their place. It took the President of the United States, and his Attorney General, putting pressure on the Governor of Missouri, to force the police to treat the people in the streets of Ferguson like citizens of the United States of America, and not the enemy! It took the President! It took days of constant attention. It took the arrest of a local politician, and images of an American city compared to images of a war zone. Is this America?
Hands up, don’t shoot! No violence, just justice! No justice, no peace!
Hear hear.Report
I find it odd that folks want to riot and loot even before there has been an investigation. Shouldn’t that wait until after the investigation is finished and folks don’t like the findings?Report
If you want to keep commenting out of ignorance, best do it on one of the other Ferguson posts.
Sad thing is, I’m pretty sure you know what happened Saturday night. You’re just hell bent on painting the protesters, who have been peaceful since, and were peaceful before (but still broken up by riot police with automatic weapons and armored vehicles!), as looting thugs. And I’m not entirely convinced that you’re not doing it simply to rile up folks like me.
So seriously, if you want to comment out of ignorance, best do it on someone else’s post.Report
Did you see the Chris Hayes tweet above? He’s interviewed a witness; the police haven’t.
Same thing has happened over and over — if the kid is black, there often is only the pretense of an investigation until people take to the streets in protest. And of the thousands of people protesting, the vast majority are not rioting and looting; and much of that has been in response to police overreach.
What I find odd is how you automatically assume all those people are out there rioting and looting and not, in fact, protesting for their civil rights. Can’t imagine why you automatically presume they’re all guilty of rioting and looting; it’s pretty much the same behavior that you’r suggesting people are doing who aren’t waiting for the investigation results.Report
Zic:
Saw it but so what? Just bc they haven’t interviewed that witness yet doesn’t mean that they aren’t investigating or don’t intend to interview that witness. Maybe they’ve interviewed 20 other people and that person is next. You don’t even know if the police even know of that person’s existence. You read one quote about one potential witness and assume the worst.Report
@notme, a lot of people are bothered and ashamed by this. Ashamed of our country. Chris put this up to deal with his shame. He’s asked you to stop.
I get you don’t agree. But stop being a troll. Go talk on one of the other threads, go hang out at one of the conservative blogs where you’ll find lots of company.
But have some respect, even if you don’t agree. Right now, all your doing is showing you can be both insensitive and rude.Report
Zic:
“What I find odd is how you automatically assume all those people are out there rioting and looting and not, in fact, protesting for their civil rights.”
I don’t know about you, but I watched the news and saw the footage of folks looting stores. I’m all for peaceful demonstrations but not looting or riots.Report
The police knew of his existence. In addition to the fact that by the time he was on Chris Hayes, he’d been interviewed by several other journalists, he had already contacted St Louis County PD through his lawyer.
The fact that they didn’t interview the closest eye witness for days is not a good sign.
But the reasons for the initial protests and anger were: 1) witnesses came forward right away to say that Brown had his hands up when the final, fatal shots were fired, 2.) the police left his body in the street for everyone to see, and photograph, because they were more focused on what they were describing as an “angry mob” (but which was not at all violent) that was gathering in the area of the crime scene, 3.) because his mother found out her son was dead because someone showed her a photo taken on a phone of her son’s body in the street, 4.) because the police released an account of the shooting that contradicted that of every single independent eye witness, 5.) because unlike any other homicide, the police refused to release the name of the killer, 6.) because the police and town authorities in Ferguson have a contentious relationship with majority black community that has been building to a tipping point for years 7.) because Brown was not the first, or the last, unarmed black man to be killed by police in the last month.
Your lack of empathy is appalling. You can’t even imagine what might have caused the anger. You can’t be bothered to even try to understand.Report
You read one quote about one potential witness and assume the worst.
Given the background of the story, isn’t assuming the worst the rational response? I mean, a cop killed an unarmed kid on the street, yes? That’s a pretty effing serious situation, don’t you think? One in which we *should* automatically assume the worst? Why should we give the cops the benefit of the doubt in this situation, when the uncontroversial evidence at this point suggests excessive force sociopathy on the part of the cop?
And even if there’s a story to tell defending the cop’s actions, it’s his and the department’s burden to present that evidence. I mean, at the risk of repeating myself, they killed an unarmed kid on the street. How does that not mean anything to you?Report
Chris:
“A young man, 18 years old, set to start college this week, was executed by a police officer for walking in the street.”
As an attorney I deal in facts not the speculation above that you so readily substitute. If you want to be upset fine, atleast know the all the facts first. It is too early to make such sweeping statement as the one above. What will you say if the officer is cleared after an investigation? It doesn’t sound like you could even imagine such a thing.
Stillwater:
Everyone even the cop is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law not the court of public opinion.Report
notme,
The cop killed a kid. What could possible suffice for his innocence? That the kid had an outstanding? Had priors? That it’s against the law to resist when a cop grabs your shirt (and throat) through the driver side glass?
What, in your mind, could possible exonerate the cop given that an *unarmed* person is dead as a result of his actions?
I know, shit happens. Being a white cop in a black city is fucking stressfull. THose poor, poor police officers. (Wait, didn’t Jaybird say that already?……)Report
When the state kills someone for a crime, it is an execution, is it not? And the cop accosted Brown and his friend because they were walking in the street and did not get out of the street when he demanded they do so. None of that is in dispute.
I’m going to say this again: if all you have to add to this conversation is ignorance of the facts, add it to a different conversation.Report
@chris
Actually, it’s only an execution when the killing is performed as part of a judicially-sanctioned sentence. In this context, the proper term is murder.Report
@Chris “You can’t be bothered to even try to understand.”
Modern American conservatism in a nutshell.Report
Notme doesn’t want us to rush to judgement against the police who shot an unarmed teen. But Aaron Swartz? Notme didn’t need to wait for due process to know Aaron Swartz was guilty.
Maybe it has something to do with the color black. 😉Report
I find it odd that folks want to riot and loot even before there has been an investigation.
Well, you’re right about that. Usually rioters and looters wait for a definitive word that an investigation has begun before the engage in their uncivilized, degenerate, illegal actions.
Oh, let’s be real, notme. You don’t find it odd at all. In fact, you’re just trying to find something to disagree with “liberals” about on this issue. And if you think I’m being uncharitable, I could share some other views on why you’re saying this sort of nonsense. My advice, if I were asked, would be to grow the fuck up.Report
How can you be sure there was looting? There have been no convictions.
It seems to me like some are rushing to judgement and throwing out accusations before letting the justice system run its course.Report
@hoosegow-flask
I think his point is that when the police shoot and kill and unarmed black person, we have to withhold judgment because the victim obviously had it coming. But when someone suggests that black people may have rioted, we have to assume “they” (whoever they are) actually did and punish them accordingly, because we know how “they” are. Or something like that.Report
The NYT has some beautiful pictures of vigils around the nation tonight.
http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/live-updates-on-police-shooting-in-ferguson-mo/Report
I went to the #NMOS14 here in Austin. It was sparsely attended an lacked energy, but I was heartened to see the size and energy in the protests elsewhere.
Here’s my terrible (into the sun) photo of the gathering in Austin, to give you an idea:
Great post, Chris.
The parallels to the Civil Rights Movement and events from 50 years ago and more and deeply troubling and shows how much work still needs to be done on civil liberty and equality for all people especially black-Americans.
Notme’s responses are pretty indicative about why the woman above still needs to protest this shit.Report
It’s why I like having Notme around, she’s always quick to demonstrate the conservative id.Report
Commentary from the other side….
http://www.xojane.com/issues/ferguson-police-racismReport
That is a powerful piece, thank you for linking it.Report
Just a minor question, I thought that the FBI took over the investigation of Michael Brown’s death a a few days ago? Am I mistaken?Report
I don’t think they took it over- I think they just began a parallel civil rights investigation. Any homicide investigation would be in missouris jurisdiction.Report
Mark’s right. They were called in pretty early to “monitor” the investigation, and then opened an investigation into potential civil rights violations after a couple days. St. Louis County PD, which is doing official homicide investigation and was responsible for much of the militarism you saw this week. They’re the ones that didn’t interview the closest witness for days.Report
The DoJ is also investigating. As is someone from the State of Missouri.
Four separate investigations now.Report
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word-with-lawrence-odonnell/watch/eyewitness-to-brown-shooting-tells-her-story-318326851993
Ugh. It makes me want to throw up and to hurt someone at the same time.Report
Thanks for writing this, Chris.Report