Ferguson has certainly been stirring up emotions across America, and, not surprisingly, the world. In August of 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18 year old was fatally shot multiple times by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. There have been conflicting reports on the incident. According to nytimes.com, some witnesses claim they saw Brown “charge” the officer and others say Brown’s hands were up in the air.
The Ferguson community came together soon after to peacefully protest police brutality and petition for the indictment of Wilson. The media soon took hold of the situation, and the story swept the nation. For months, evidence has been rehashed over and over again on social media websites such as Twitter and Tumblr. The country took sides, either standing by Darren Wilson, or calling for justice for Mike Brown. As media attention snowballed, protests in Ferguson became more vocal. According to abcnews.go.com, in the chaos some protesters looted stores and set fires to businesses. This gave a negative connotation to the protests, which were nonviolent. If anything, the police force that was called in to settle the protesters was the violent party. According to abcnews.go.com, the police began to throw military grade tear gas at protesters and shot at them with rubber bullets.
Now things started to heat up. The media coverage rekindled, and protests calling for justice were heard all over the nation. The death of Mike Brown was swarmed in conflicting evidence and an increasing number of people took to Twitter to voice their opinions. On November 24, the Grand Jury made their decision and chose not to indict Wilson, which is highly unusual. In 2010, the most recent year that data for the subject can be found, out of 162,000 federal cases, the Grand Jury declined to indict on only 11 of the cases, according to political blog fivethirtyeight.com. This outcome angered many and the media fire returned. More lootings and riots ensued that were, once again, committed by the people who were taking advantage of a bad situation……
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However, throughout this entire ordeal, the Wilson supporters have failed to acknowledge the multiple riots in the past, which included the overturning and burning of cars, the burning of buildings, and the general rowdiness and violence, which were started by crowds of mainly white people after their sports team lost (or even the violent riot in Denver after the Super Bowl XXXII in 1998, when their sports team won.) Also ignored is the blatant disregard to the First Amendment the police officers have shown thus far. The Ferguson protesters, and protesters everywhere, really, have the right to gather peacefully to garner attention for a cause or show displeasure with the way things are being done. The police are infringing on this right by shooting projectiles at the protestors and throwing tear gas at them. What are they hoping to accomplish by doing this? Show some semblance of control and power over the situation? The police system in Ferguson really lost a lot of credibility when they allowed Darren Wilson to remain free during the duration of the decision of indictment, letting him go on paid leave. Meanwhile, Wilson supporters raised over $500,000 for the man, to be used by Wilson to pay any legal fees, and to help his family relocate, according to bustle.com. After not being indicted, Wilson decided to resign from his position as a police officer due to safety concerns. The mayor of Ferguson has assured everybody that Wilson will not receive a severance package for leaving the force.
Truthfully, the protests that have sprung up all over America are a good thing. They’re an eye opener to the police brutality that has been going on for far too long. Eric Garner, another black man, this time from New York, was killed when a white police officer put in him in a chokehold, which is unauthorized by the NYPD, despite Garner saying multiple times that he couldn’t breathe (he had asthma problems). This was absolutely unnecessary force against Garner, and the entire event was videotaped by a bystander (which is completely legal) and posted on YouTube. The police officer who killed Garner, despite video evidence was also not indicted. Sensing a pattern? So is the general public of America, and they want to be heard. I’d like to hear from you too. Comment your thoughts and opinions below. Keep in mind that all comments are screened by the Warrior Record adviser and our web manager for appropriate content.