In light of all that has happened ,and
is continuing to happen, in Ferguson, MO, I have a wonderful idea.
It's absolutely brilliant. Why don't we just get rid of all police
forces across the country? Lets end local police departments as well
as state police,sheriffs and US marshals and leave it to the
government to protect us all via FBI,DHS,CIA and other lettered
organizations? Hell lets just have the national guard patrol our
streets and set up check points on street corners and just blanket
everything with security cameras so we can all feel totally safe
everywhere we go.
Next, just so we can keep things safe,
in all black areas or minority areas we should have nothing but
minority forces in place, after all I am certain that a black or
Hispanic officer faced with serious bodily harm or death would show
the utmost in restraint even as he or she was being pummeled to death
buy a drug enhanced ,violent ,gentle giant, who just moments before
had tried to hurt them and take their gun and I am sure that the same
young man would respect the officer because he is of the same race or
ethnic minority and would peaceably surrender to them.
As absurd, and I am sure, offensive, as
my suggestion may be, it's no more absurd then the violence and
mayhem that have taken place since the verdict was read. The grand
jury, which had been in place, as required by the Constitution, long
before this incident took place, spent months looking at the evidence
and, based on that evidence, concluded that Officer Wilson acted
accordingly to protect his own life. Some of you may not like it ,
but would you have stood by while a man, much larger than you of any
color or race, who had just beat on you and attempted to take your
gun, just stood by while he finished the job? I am going to guess
not.
The real tragedy here isn't that
Officer Wilson killed him,though that is a tragedy that it ended that
way, it has instead been the media and race baiters that have caused
all the problems. If this had been a story of a black officer killing
a white suspect or a black on black crime it wouldn't have so much as
caused a ripple but because it was a white on black incident people
like Al Sharpton, with the help of all of the mainstream media, has
taken what was 90 seconds of confusion and chaos and turned it into a
media circus culminating in last nights riots.
I have listened for years as talking
heads point out how disproportionate the ratio of blacks to whites
being incarcerate and arrested is,or they suggest that blacks are
more specifically targeted then whites by the police. This is such
nonsense. If you are black and you commit a crime, or are suspected,
you are going to be arrested. If you are white and commit a crime, or
are suspected, you are going to be arrested. The only “disproportion”
is that more blacks live in high crime areas than most whites but to
suggest it's a simple matter of skin color is ignorant. But for the
sake of argument lets say that it is true, that more blacks are
targeted than whites, where is that they are targeted? In black
neighborhoods where black on black crime is statistically high.
Sorry, I don't buy into it being just about skin color.
I grew up as poor white trash in an
area filled with French, Scott and Irish. I was arrested several
times, just like Mr. Brown, because I committed or was accused of
committing crimes while I was a teenager. Most of my friends had been
arrested from time to time as well, and a few of them spent time in
Juvenile detention as well as state and federal prisons as adults. I
had to make some tough choices once I turned 18, I could either
continue down that path of drugs and crime, or do something
different. I chose the Marines and altered my life completely. The
point is none of us were spared because of the color of our skin and
all of us had to make choices, some chose to continue and wound up
doing hard time,I on the other hand made the tough call a got myself
out of it and I have been glad of it.
Mr. Brown had a choice as well, he
could have gotten on the sidewalk when he was ordered to or he could
have quietly surrendered when Wilson realized that he, Brown, fit the
description of a suspect in a robbery, and attempted to arrest him.
He chose instead to fight with, and eventually charge at, Wilson and
it cost him his life.
Someone said that he shouldn't have
been “executed” over a box of cigars. He wasn't. He was killed
because he attacked a police officer. That officer used deadly force.
Here is how the
use of “deadly force” is defined by the police.
"Use
of deadly force" is often granted to police officers when the
person or persons in question are believed to be an immediate danger
to people around them. For example, an armed man flaunting a firearm
in a shopping mall without regard to the safety of those around him,
and refusing or being unwilling to negotiate, would warrant usage of
deadly force, as a means to protect others. The use of deadly force
is also authorized when a person poses a significant threat to a law
enforcement officer, usually when the officer is at risk of serious
bodily injury or death. In the United States this is governed by
Tennessee VS Garner , (U.S. Supreme Court 1985) which said that
"deadly force...may not be used unless necessary to prevent the
escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect
poses a significant threat of death or serious bodily harm to the
officer or others."
Mr.
Brown had already assaulted him and tried to take his gun. He was
ordered to stop and instead of surrendering he called Wilson a
“pussy” and charged at him. Considering all the mentioned facts
provided by the grand jury and it had been me standing in the
officers place, I would have shot him too.
Have
their been incidents where the police have abused their power and
have committed crimes themselves? Yes. We see it in videos and
occasionally in the news but for the most part police officers are
dedicated hard working people who have a job that very few understand
or can appreciate.
