Sometimes it takes an outsider to see what we can't
Just as TMR said yesterday, Last Week Tonight's John Oliver weighed in, also declaring the Ferguson Police Dept.'s "game changer" of a convenience store video, showing Michael Brown stealing cigars, an attempt to "distract everyone" from the issues THEY face. They're delusional. A fact that was obvious to anyone not trying to maintain white supremacy. White Americans were desperately grasping at straws, and calling it a win, hoping the power of their advocacy - alone - could still work the old magic. It is not to be.
White supremacy's dying.
White supremacy's dying.
White Americans - unlike blacks and the English - have limited memory and short attention spans.
But, what's great to TMR, is Oliver's pointing out "there is no practical reason" for some of the horrible and deadly ideas, and behaviors, that have become common practice for white Americans - in places where blacks can even hardly be found. White conservatives loudly complain of waste while supporting blowing billions, here at home, that serves no purpose but to terrorize us.
They're also violently against reparations to blacks for having done so.
They're also violently against reparations to blacks for having done so.
How TMR sees Mary Katharine Ham
And then they ask for our support.
How TMR sees Megyn "Jesus Was White" Kelly
That's INSANE.
Making us compete with dogs and pigs, was one way whites fed blacks, during slavery
Oh, and Oliver also shows the CNN footage (that TMR also linked to) of a white Ferguson police officer trying to instigate a fight, by calling blacks "animals."
TMR could've put a Nazi photo here, but didn't, so "compassionate conservatism."
That's after Oliver says the footage shows the root of America's problem.
White Supremacy fights on
And THAT, as the English say, was about as spot-the-fuck-on as he could get,....
We now know quite a bit about what happened on the street, from interviews and the autopsy. We know that (1) officer Wilson was trying to get Brown and his companion to leave the street, (2) there was a struggle at the car initiated by either (i) Wilson trying to apprehend Brown or (ii) Brown trying to prevent Wilson from exiting the car, (3) Wilson claims that Brown tried to get possession of his gun, but Brown's companion denies this, (4) the gun may or may not have discharged during the struggle, but no one was injured by the shot, (5) Brown disengaged from Wilson and ran away down the street, (6) Wilson exited the car and chased Brown, firing his weapon at Brown several times, (7) at some point Brown turned around and faced Wilson, perhaps after he had been hit by a bullet from behind on his arm, (8) Wilson maintains that Brown charged him after turning, but an eyewitness on the balcony above the street says that Brown was not charging and was raising (or had raised) his hands.
ReplyDeleteLet's stop right there and focus on element (6), in which an unarmed Brown is fleeing. An armed and aroused Wilson is pursuing him and FIRING HIS GUN AT BROWN. But why? Any immediate danger to Wilson was over. After the scuffle Brown is running away from him not towards him. No one has been hurt in the scuffle, and Wilson has no knowledge of any other misdeeds by Brown, not even the robbery at the store.
To summarize, and giving Wilson the benefit of every doubt, the most that has happened is that a large and imposing man has scuffled with a cop and then run away. The cop is no longer in danger. There is no reason to believe that the large man has a gun. He is not threatening anyone else. He is not suspected of any other crime, except for the altercation with Wilson.
And this justifies Wilson setting out in pursuit and firing his weapon? Why? What is the purpose of even trying to used deadly force in that situation? Would not any white parent in a white suburb be outraged if their son got into a scuffle with a cop, ran away and was then pursued with gunfire? Is this how the police in Ferguson are trained? Is this what the Ferguson police force or the local prosecutors will allow?
I do not know if Brown charged Wilson after he turned around. It seems highly unlikely, but it's possible. The only witness I know about who say that part of the overall event says Brown did not charge. She says he had his hands up. She seemed believable to me, and she did not know Brown and has no particular reason to defend him. She seemed to be a creditable person but in the stress of the moment she could have been wrong.
But so what if she is wrong. So what if Wilson perceived, rightly or wrongly, that Brown was charging or might charge. None of that would have mattered if Wilson has exercised common sense and not used his weapon in the first place when Brown was fleeing. Yes, Brown would have gotten away, but so what? Was the incident worth killing over? Essentially that was Wilson's conclusion. He fired on Brown because he believed that the incident justified taking a life.
Of course it did not justify taking a life. Do you think that a cop in LaDue, or Kirkwood, or St. Charles (or Winnetka, or Scarsdale, or Bel Air or any white suburb) would fire their weapon under such a circumstance?
No fucking way.
It is not being denied that Wilson was firing at Brown as he pursued. Pretty important fact.
ReplyDelete"now" being denied.
ReplyDelete