Blog #4.

The death of Michael Brown occurred on August 9th in Ferguson Missouri. An 18 year old black man was shot by a white police officer, Officer Darren Wilson. The circumstances of the shooting, protests, and civil unrest received attention and captured the eyes of the United States. Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were walking up and down the middle of the street when Wilson ordered them to move to the sidewalk after noticing the 2 matched the description of a suspect in a strong arm robbery where cigarillos had been stolen. After a struggle at the window of the police vehicle, Brown  grabbed the officers pistol while punching him repeatedly in the face, Wilsons gun was then shot either unintentionally or as a result of the struggle. After this, brown and his friend fled in different directions, wilson proceeded to follow brown, chasing him until brown stopped, turned around and began to charge at him (the autopsy report saying his hands were not up) despite the cops commands to stop, he then shot him 6 times, killing him. A few days after the killing the police department released a video of a convenience store robbery which occurred minutes before the shooting. It showed brown taking cigars and shoving a store employee who tried to stop him from leaving.

This situation sparked media attention from across the united states and world. Many practiced peaceful protests, however there was also looting and violent unrest in the vicinity of the original shooting. The community brown lived in (mostly made up of African Americans) says that if "this was a white kid, he wouldn't have been shot", this is the argument most are leaning towards. Personally, i think that most of the individuals that hear this case on the news are not getting the full story. They are ignorant, not in the bad way, simply that they need to look at the facts of the case instead of making it all about the color of someones skin. When i began to research what happened with the case i thought that Michael Brown was wrongly killed, until i read the facts that were given in the trial. How can people say that Brown was wrongfully shot? From  stealing, to assaulting an officer, attempting to take his pistol, the fleeing from the scene of where it all happened, did he expect the officer to just let him go? Yes, i understand shooting someone 6 times and hitting them with 4 of the shots is very extreme, but the man was breaking the law. If the tables were turned and it was a white man killed by a black i don't think it would receive as much media attention. Wilson was just doing his job and protecting himself. The location of the shots prove that brown was not in the act of surrendering with his hands up, that he was approaching the officers rather than running away from them. However, the important thing is that this incident is tragic. Rather than destroying the community, the community and town of Ferguson need to offer support to Browns family, not turn this into an unnecessary racial situation.

"The truth is inconvertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is" -Winston Churchill

Sources:
Cnn.com
democracynow.org
stltoday.com (st. louis post)
nytimes.com
stlouis.cbslocal.com