So let's begin.
Ferguson, Missouri (and the documents that virtually none of you will actually take the time to read before posting your opinions on social media)
Last night, a grand jury chose not to bring an indictment against Officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown. The decision is problematic for a number of reasons. However, before we go into this, let's just get this out of the way because it was way too cool for me not to include somehow.
Following images courtesy of this awesome site. I fully encourage everyone to check it out, it is one of the more interesting things I've found on the internet recently.
First off, let's look at the demographics (specifically a visual distribution of demographic data) of St. Louis compared to two other cities of a comparable population and geographic location (i.e. not California). These images are pretty self explanatory, so I'm going to assume that my readers aren't retarded and therefore know how to read/interpret stuff like this. Really I just don't want to type any more than is necessary.
St. Louis, Missouri
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Lexington, Kentucky
So this might be a completely subjective judgment, but doesn't St. Louis seem to be far more racially segregated than both Pittsburgh and Lexington? I mean in a perfect post-racial bleeding heart wonderland, all our cities would be a nice "fecal matter brown" (coining that one too). Seeing as this is reality, that won't happen. Except it's 2014, and I would expect it to be a little more diverse than it appears.BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE (I hope you just heard the voice of Billy Mays in your head)
Approximate location of Ferguson, Missouri circled in red
Approximate border of St. Louis County, Missouri
A lot has been made about the fact that 9/12 members of the grand jury were white. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said that a judge selected the jury to be a representative cross-section of the county. It is hard to tell if 3/4 is a sound proportion; geographically, white people tend to occupy most of the land (maybe roughly 3/4 of the county if you look at it). However, like most cities, whites tend to live in suburbs with a much lower population density than overwhelmingly black urban centers. Courtesy of Wikipedia, St. Louis County is 70.3% White, 23.3% Black. Do with that what you will, because I don't think the makeup of the jury is the problem. Here are some assorted observations:
1. Bob McCulloch had no good reason except his own narcissism and personal love of bending over to the police department to wait until after 8 PM local time (9 ET) to announce the decision, especially since the decision wasn't exactly what the hundreds of protestors amassed in the streets wanted to hear. Yes, people were going to flip their shit. Possibly the most disturbing result was at least one white person in power was watching it unfold on TV, stroking their King Charles Spaniel, muttering "yes.... yess.... let the animals tear themselves apart..."
2. It has often been said that "grand juries almost never fail to indict". Yeah, I guess that is true... but not for police officers facing indictments. Police do the dirty work of gathering/analyzing evidence, arresting suspects, etc. Ultimately however, the work that police do on any given case is virtually worthless if the prosecutor cannot produce a conviction using the police's work. In the world of lawyer circle-jerking (especially among prosecutors), having a high conviction rate is your only goal. You're going to have great job security, unlimited upward mobility, and many job offers should you decide to go work for a private firm. As a result, many prosecutors don't want to take anything to trial that they can't win. McCullough wasn't seeking an indictment against Wilson for these two reasons; it would ruin his working relationship with the police department, and it wouldn't produce a conviction.
3. Had an indictment been brought against Officer Wilson, it would have ended in acquittal. Simple as that. People seem to think that if charges were brought, it would mean justice. Fuck no. The majority of witnesses who gave an account along the lines of "Wilson shot Brown as he was running away/surrendering with his hands raised" WERE NOT EVEN FUCKING THERE. At most they heard the gunshots or saw the aftermath. That is the ultimate facepalm in all of this. A bunch of people reporting they witnessed the event just to jump on the bandwagon essentially assured Officer Wilson his freedom. If they can't even keep their stories straight to multiple interviewers, imagine what would happen to these witnesses getting cross-examined on the stand. Never mind the fact that the results of all 3 autopsies essentially refuted the popular narrative.
4. I don't think Officer Wilson is some racist monster. Reading his testimony to the grand jury, it's pretty clear this is just some average guy with average intelligence who probably cares very little about politics or social issues. So basically he was just like any other cop in America. However, deadly force was completely unnecessary; hence why he had Mace and a baton. His testimony makes it very clear he was in a panic during the event. This is where it comes down to training. When adrenaline kicks in and you don't have time to think, you do what you're trained to do. His account of how he reacted with his gun perfectly illustrates this; he pulled the trigger multiple times, and the gun didn't fire. Rather than taking another approach (mace/baton), he still kept pulling the trigger. Eventually when Brown started running away, he had time to "rack it" (cycle a round into the chamber) then resume firing. Lethal force should be a last resort. Officer Wilson's actions suggest his training taught him otherwise.
5. How come the Ferguson police department has smoke grenades, tear gas canisters, flashbangs, assault rifles, armored vehicles, and heavy tactical gear, but doesn't have tasers as standard issue for patrol officers? This further supports my suggestion that their priorities are extremely out of order. If Officer Wilson had a taser and had been trained to use that as the first option if force were necessary, Michael Brown would still be alive.
6. Justice wasn't going to be achieved from inside a very broken system, as I hope I have illustrated. An indictment would have ended in an acquittal, and nothing would have changed. Darren Wilson is just the tip of the iceberg for a much larger problem in our society. I sincerely hope the ongoing federal DOJ probe into the Ferguson police department forces some changes to take place.
7. When white people riot, cops just stand by idly. When people of color riot, they get beaten and gassed. This is an unfortunate fact in 2014. While not quite a riot, when UNC won the National Championship in 2009, I drunkenly carried a jerry can of gasoline out to Franklin Street and started a fire. I remember a few cops just laughing at me as I ran by. Results would be very different if it wasn't a bunch of (mostly) white college kids storming the street.
8. If you're one of the people who thinks we live in some post-racial utopia and that black Americans have the exact same opportunities and social mobility of white Americans, seriously, go fuck yourself. Or go check out that map thing I posted up there and travel to wherever the greenish-yellow area is in your city. Tell some of the people there what you're so willing to vomit all over social media. Please, deliver the LOLs for the rest of us.
In conclusion: bringing an indictment against Officer Wilson would have ended in acquittal. The burden of proof for the indictment is probable cause, which the evidence did not support. It would have been a complete farce to pretend it did, because reasonable doubt (burden of proof for conviction) is easily established.
The problem is that our current system is too protective of law enforcement officials. They are meant to protect and serve citizens, yet often they are allowed to abuse their authority with no repercussions. Prosecutors aren't willing to shit on their conviction rate and taint their cozy relationship with police. If police aren't accountable to citizens, how can they be expected to enforce the law fairly?
Done for now. More to come later probably.
Edit: St. Louis County Prosecutor is Bob McCulloch. I can't read.
