The nation is aflame over the killings of two black men by police. This is as it should be but if you are reading this you will have to realize that I am guilty of exactly what I am ranting about in this piece, because none of us really know enough to be commenting about what happened and who is at fault, especially in the case of Michael Brown of Fergusson, Missouri.
What has happened, at least what we know about, is unacceptable. The killing’s of two unarmed men by police officers has raised the hackles of the nation. And it should.
But there is a lot more wrong with this situation than two simple murders. Both Garner and Brown were punks, minor criminals who were blots on society but that was no reason to kill them. Both turned out to be almost perfect examples of the old saying, if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime, except in their cases the time turned out to be a hell of a lot more than their crimes called for, so the old saying ended up as an object lesson.
But there’s a lot more wrong here than the stupidity of these two petty criminals and the uncontrolled aggression displayed by the cops that killed them. Garner who was in the process of committing a really minor crime was too dumb or too aggressive himself to just stand still and take the hit. His size and aggression, was met by arresting officers, with a brutal display of overkill, that seems to have caused a heart attack.
Garner, like Brown, was a huge individual and huge individuals tend to cause over the top reactions in those who confront them.
But Brown, Garner and the cops of Staten Island and Ferguson aren’t the only problems in this scenario The other cops, the town people, local and national politicians and the media all screwed up or are in the process of doing so.
It started with Garner, a small time crook in a big time body, committing a small time crime. If he had just taken the ticket or the misdemeanor bust it would have ended there but he had to start pushing and fighting back. The video that will convict the cop, also shows him resisting arrest. Now this is a huge guy and this created a natural reaction. A bunch of cops jumped him, mainly because no one of them could handle him themselves. One of them choked him, which is against all the rules and he eventually died of a heart attack.
None of that had to happen if he hadn’t done the crime or if he had taken the bust like a man. That is not to say the cops did the right thing. They didn’t, but Garner brought it on. In the case of Brown, we still don’t know what really happened. We have been told wildly divergent stories by witnesses, friends of the cop and by the local police chief, Thomas Jackson, a man who is either as dumb as a post or who has never confronted the truth in his life.
But what about the rest of the world? Well, it started here in New York, with Al Sharpton, opening his mouth, forgetting his own personal history and jumping into the fray. Al is not the dumbest guy on the block but it seems that when presented with an open mike or a live TV feed he is like a drunk with a bottle of Wild Turkey.
Not seeming to have learned anything from the affair Tawanna Brawley, Al jumped right in referring to Brown as a gentle giant, murdered by ruthless cops. Then, of course the gentle giant was shown on video brutalizing a little guy one-third his size as he stole a handful of cigars from his store. But like Ted Cruz, Al has never been silenced by the truth. He will go on shouting into any open mike he can find, rabble rousing and causing trouble without having a clue as to what is really going on.
In that same regard, the rest of the media, because Al is now a member of the media, have all followed his lead. We are getting 24/7 coverage of what is going on in Ferguson by any news station that is on air. MSNBC has wasted some of the best young talent on the air, by having them go over and over the same false leads every day all day. The fact of the matter is that our current news stance is to discuss all the details of a story before anyone actually knows whether or not they are even close to accurate.
We must have every detail, regardless of accuracy, immediately, not one minute later and to accomplish this goal, which they never do, all the reporters replace knowledge with conjecture. Conjecture is the easiest information to obtain because every asshole in the world has an opinion, and while most of them have no real information they all want to be on TV. The only thing accomplished by this kind of reporting, is to work the less intelligent members of the audience, into a lather which drives them into the streets where they do something even dumber than Brown or Garner.
When that happens we get the next big problem. We get the army instead of the police. Back after 911, when all the cowards in the country were panicking about a rag head invasion from countries that didn’t even have planes the government decided to institute a brain dead program, I believe it was referred to as #1033, that would supply local police departments with the kind of weaponry and equipment that they would need to repel invading armies.
Of course there were no invading armies, so where did such a idiotic program get its momentum? Well, it was mainly from our failed drug wars and the DEA, with a definite push from the military industrial complex and the weapons manufacturers. It seems that the DEA had run into a couple of situations where they had actually been outgunned by drug gangs that they had encountered and this was such a startling situation that it had spread like wildfire across the law enforcement universe. Thusly small towns with ten or fifteen cops soon found themselves the proud owners of armored personnel carriers and uniform equipment that made them look like star wars figures. Why would an urban police force wear camo? Because it makes them feel like real soldiers, raises the macho level and makes them forget that they are responsible to the constraints of the constitution; and, oh, yes, it also makes them forget that these citizens that they are confronting pay their salaries and if they kill enough of them there won’t be any money to pay them next month.
So here we have the citizens of Ferguson, MO who have heard that a black guy was killed by the cops, even though he was unarmed and it’s a beautiful summer night just perfect for an indignant demonstration so they take to the streets, What do they encounter, a bunch of men in blue trying, with constraint, to keep them in some kind of order so nobody gets hurt? No. They find a bunch of combat equipped pseudo soldiers, armed to the teeth, backed up by heavy artillery and spoiling for a fight. Some of the demonstrators push back and the rubber bullets and tear gas fly.
So what was wrong with this picture? To start with, too many TV commentators, talking about events without facts in evidence; too much conjecture and not enough evidence. A little patience from the media would help a lot. These kinds of investigations take time, especially when the Feds get involved. Yes, the people of Ferguson want the cop who shot Brown arrested. That was the initial cause of the demonstrations – they said. What they really want is a sense of justice. Instead they get the First airborne in attack mode. WRONG!!!
Yes, there is too much military in our civilian law enforcement. With all due respect to the police, and many of them are great, many of them are on the job for all the wrong reasons and those reasons easily lead to bad decision- making. Giving big guns to these kinds of men and covering them in armor is a serious mistake. It gives them a sense of superiority and invincibility that leads to unnecessary aggression. A little fear is good for the decision-making gene.
Interestingly enough, the crowds in Ferguson have pretty much, been models of good behavior. After all the stupid hype by the media, the self serving statements by the politicians and the paramilitary appearance and demeanor of the police, the local people have done an excellent job of acting calmly and maturely. Yes there was one incident of looting but that was by a small group and it was quelled mostly by the people and not the police. All in all, the police have been a disaster in this situation. Their leadership has been either missing or incompetent. One cop stood out. His name was Captain Ron Johnson and he is local and he seems to have taken control after the over reaction the first couple of nights.
The politicians have been less than adequate. Governor Nixon has been five days late and many dollars short. When he speaks it seems he can’t decide whether to be conciliatory or tough so he is just ineffectual.
Hopefully we will, in the next few days, find out what actually happened to Michael Brown. Hopefully the FBI will take control of what appears to have been a hopelessly botched investigation and hopefully justice will be served.
One would also hope that what has happened here, the self serving reporting of the media, the rabble rousing interference of politicians, the incompetence of the local cops and the few instances of rowdy crowd behavior will not be repeated in another town, but that is a fruitless hope. All these mistakes have happened before and they will all happen again because in cases like this someone sees something to gain by pursuing their own self- centered goals and forges ahead regardless of the circumstances.
As a sidelight; Anonymous the hacker group that usually fights for the right causes did themselves and the whole situation a disservice by releasing the name of the wrong person, when identifying the cop who did the shooting. Yes,, the right cop should have been identified sooner but naming the wrong guy, a man who was not even a cop, could have had disastrous results. This kind of crap puts Anonymous right back with the rest of the useless media that is interested only in its own self image.
On another note, it must be mentioned that the Ku Klux Klan is raising money for the police officer who shot Michael Brown. If there is anything that puts this act on the negative side of the ledger, this is it.
The people of Ferguson have been pretty good models of behavior, given the known details of what has happened. Left to their own demonstration rights and not harassed by robo-cops bent on starting a riot, things would probably have remained very calm. Things could still return to that position. It would take two things to accomplish that. First get the Star wars cops off the street and replace them with regular boys in blue. It is probably too late for this because Governor Nixon (why is that name so cursed?) has called in the National Guard because everyone knows that this is a group of amateur soldiers who have almost no training for this job but are even better armed then the roco-cops. I have looked at dozens of pictures of the over protected cops pointing weapons at local people. Anyone who knows anything about weapons knows that you never point a gun at anyone you don’t intend to shoot. This is a principal that doesn’t come close to existing in Ferguson.
The other thing that has to be done to bring about calm is to replace the local prosecutor with a federal prosecutor. Bob McCullough, the local guy is a police legacy. His father was a cop shot by a black man, and most of his family have been cops or department employees. He is definitely not the man to prosecute a co for shooting a black man. Governor Nixon and the mayor and the police chief of Ferguson have already proved that they are as dumb as dirt. It is obviously time for AG Eric Holder to show a little intestinal fortitude, take this whole business in hand and appoint a federal prosecutor. If he doesn’t this thing could balloon nationwide.