Grand Jury Does Not Charge Ferguson Officer in Michael Brown Shooting

[Araneae]

This whole thing just pisses me off, It's fucking disgraceful. But I'm even more pissed off by the ignorant and bias people who honestly think that Wilson acted appropriately (none of the policemen I know side with Wilson) and that this was somehow a fair process. McCulloch handled this entire thing in the worst fucking possible way, even after being asked to step down. Practically anyone worth their salt in the field of law and forensics has made note of this as evidence is now released. It should have gone to trial. It was a process that should have taken a few days and instead McCulloch spent three fucking months trying to prove Wilson's innocence and then shamelessly denigrated Brown, an 18 year old kid, fucking 18.

[Trotskilicious]

I come from a long line of military and policemen, and I can tell you with absolute honesty that shit is covered up all the fucking time, depending on who's interests they're trying to protect (or not protect). It's ridiculous how some of you are acting like legal injustices and tampering never happen. You're all fucking cracked.

i'm pretty sure most people believe this but when stuff like this comes up and it's about race or class or sex, the people who benefit from inequity get defensive and start trying to rationalize it.

This whole thing just pisses me off, It's fucking disgraceful. But I'm even more pissed off by the ignorant and bias people who honestly think that Wilson acted appropriately (none of the policemen I know side with Wilson) and that this was somehow a fair process. McCulloch handled this entire thing in the worst fucking possible way, even after being asked to step down. Practically anyone worth their salt in the field of law and forensics has made note of this as evidence is now released. It should have gone to trial. It was a process that should have taken a few days and instead McCulloch spent three fucking months trying to prove Wilson's innocence and then shamelessly denigrated Brown, an 18 year old kid, fucking 18.

The monsterousness of all of it is how people shout bare ass racism from twitter and facebook and just tell themselves they aren't racist. if the problem is not systemic, then you must be attributing it to the race. otherwise why is it this problem about blacks specifically? Oh you're probably going to say now that i'm the real racist and white people commit crime too because they are poor and that's because they are lazy etc

think about this before you retort. More white men commit crime than blacks. This is a fact of population numbers. So why do black men vastly outnumber whites in prisons?

[Araneae]

It's just sickening seeing all this racism being thrown around in this day and age. I just hate how people refuse to even have a conversation about racism like it doesn't exist. Anytime someone tries to engage in a serious conversation people get defensive and turn it against the person. It's like women who try and talk about feminism and equality and all they get is dumb comments from the peanut gallery about how they hate men and how they want special privilege. It's just a way to deflect conversation and any course for positive change. Fuck, and some people wonder why people resort to protests. And to the people in this thread who are using the confirmation bias theory to prop up their flimsy point, I've got news for you: it goes both fucking ways.

Killtrocity hit the nail on the head about race being a social construct.

The way that some people are framing these protests is also ridiculous. It's like america has forgotten the number of white mobs that took the law into their own hands and conducted countless protests that led to lynchings. I didn't see any black mob grabbing Wilson and torturing him before hanging him from the arch.

Back to Killtrocity's point, about the changing construct of what it means to be "white", one of the biggest lynchings in American history happened to 9 Italian men, who by the way were all tried and acquitted of murder by a jury. A large "white" mob broke into the jail and shot them in their cells. None of the people in the mob were ever tried or even caught, a common outcome for almost every lynching that took place. They just let it happen and history forgot about it. Dozens of other lynchings like this happened to many other southern Europeans for decades. Southern Europeans were the latest immigrants at the time so dumbass folks shifted the blame for all their woes on to them.

[Araneae]

Reading the testimony and seeing the interview with Wilson makes me livid. He's a piece of shit trying to sell the story of being a weak innocent at the mercy of an unarmed 18 year old black kid. Lethal force is supposed to be the absolute last resort, and I don't buy for a second that the situation escalated so quickly since it doesn't match up with the rest of the story. A cop addressing someone with aggressive language and gestures is also against protocol. This also isn't the first time that Wilson has been known to be openly aggressive to suspects without due cause. Simply put, Wilson broke protocol and the shits in the department are trying to cover for his mistakes.

Furthermore, on the topic of abuse of power, I'm not sure if Ferguson or MO has one in place, but there should be a civilian independent body that conducts special investigations into police activities that involve serious harm or injury to civilians for the state, which then can be reported to the attorney general. Someone needs to watch the watchmen and it's becoming exponentially disturbing how we continue to allow the increased militarization of the police. There is never any situation whatsoever that an officer needs to carry around a fucking M16 and ride around in armored vehicles.

[butthurt]

Each time I see Wilson's photo, I think of banjo boy. I think it's a good fit.

http://i.imgur.com/qds21Uv.jpg

[MyOneAndOnly]

"he was doing what he was paid to do"


kill black kids

[Trotskilicious]

i look at that face and i see a cornfed racist from the country, blarin toby keith and chuckling to david allan coe songs about niggers

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by Araneae

There is never any situation whatsoever that an officer needs to carry around a fucking M16 and ride around in armored vehicles.

the only thing i can think of for this is cults and terrorism and i thought that's what the DHS was but they don't seem to do much of anything

[Elijah Moon]

My instinct was to think "fucking trigger-happy racist cop" but there seem to be so many contradictory accounts of exactly what happened and how it played out. I don't think it's just a case of discounting everything the police and their allies say and taking what Brown's supporters say as gospel, or vice versa.

[Trotskilicious]

that way you can just shrug and say whatever and turn around

[Trotskilicious]

i mean it's not like unarmed black people are shot all the time by the police

[Elijah Moon]

No, that way I can study the facts and try to reach a balanced conclusion. Yeah, there are lots of racist cops and maybe there's a culture of prejudice in the force, but that really says nothing about any particular case. I'm swaying towards thinking the guy was shot unnecessarily, but that doesn't mean I ignore everything that suggests otherwise.

[Araneae]

Prejudices always say something about a case. I'm far more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the officer that shot Tamir Rice than I ever will to Wilson. There is a systemic culture of racism and abuse of power in many of the MO police departments. The fact that these guys were given military grade equipment is frightening. They're using equipment that they weren't trained to use against their own civilians. The police are supposed to serve civilians and protect them. The way the police handled themselves in Ferguson was deplorable. They, especially the chief, openly treated everyone like a criminal. I think there's a noticeable disconnect when it comes to what the people expect and want from the police and what the police think they should be doing in other peoples communities. Many of them don't even live in the areas they're policing. Police should be working at the community level and openly engaging people in conversation, which has proven to build better and safer communities and relationships between the two, and instead the police there treated the citizens of Ferguson like a prison camp. Everything that has come out of their mouths, be it the prosecutor, the chief, or Wilson has been full of prejudice assumptions and even overt racism. Even cases that are not overtly tinged with racism like in MO, racial profiling is a big problem across the board which leads to many avoidable tragedies.

Another major factor in these incidents, including the Tamir Rice case, is that many of these individuals lack proper tactical and situational training. Why the officers pulled up on the grass right next to Tamir is baffling. The proper response would be to take up a tactical position from a distance and then make orders whilst armed. Instead the rookie cop shot the boy within seconds. But the dispatch fucked up too by not passing along all relevant information to the officers. Perhaps there needs to be far more rigorous requirements and training sessions before one is allowed to become an officer. All of this could have been easily avoided in these two situations if proper protocol was followed. My brother, a few months into his job, managed to subdue a hedge-shear wielding man in the middle of the night without firing a shot, and yet Wilson couldn't handle an unarmed man in broad daylight. There's far too many cops out there who think they're playing a game of call of duty and not honoring what the purpose of being an officer should be.

[Elijah Moon]

I agree with most of that. What I meant about institutionalized racism is that it's not logical to say, "Many police officers are racist, ergo this particular cop must be racist." But, then again, you could argue that an endemic prejudiced view of black people affects how individual cops respond to black people, maybe even unconsciously, but that hasn't been proven as a factor in this case and I can't see how it could be.

[Elijah Moon]

I suppose one question is, if all other things were equal, would he have shot a white person in that exact same situation?

[The Omega Concern]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

Right it does it doesnt legitimize the sterotypes nor undermines the peaceful (and ultimately pointless) protests across the country. Injustice was still done, blacks are still oppressed by police and justice systemacrpss the country

Terrorizing communities is only acceptable when white guys w authority do it, i guess

You are super white, you never fail to bring us the white guy narrative. If you tbink its wrong then dont repeat it

Granted. But enough with the white guy b.s., it just reeks of ivory tower self loathing.


There is an issue with police brutality along with the militarization of units nationwide. But the Ferguson cause is the wrong cause for the public to latch on to, by design.

Barry and Eric are culpable to a large extent for stoking a race war. On the heels of fucking over the black community (and the USA as we know it) with Amnesty, along with a chorus of black leaders lamenting the President for it, comes the Ferguson grand jury decision. Right on cue to quell the Prez's EO in what will be an utter rape of whats left of the middle class.

[The Omega Concern]

But that's last week news. On to the other race war in Ferguson. Yet another Civil War beta-test as they take it to the next level after their initial race baiting psy-op; the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman charade.

[The Omega Concern]

Originally Posted by Araneae

Prejudices always say something about a case. I'm far more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the officer that shot Tamir Rice than I ever will to Wilson. There is a systemic culture of racism and abuse of power in many of the MO police departments. The fact that these guys were given military grade equipment is frightening. They're using equipment that they weren't trained to use against their own civilians. The police are supposed to serve civilians and protect them. The way the police handled themselves in Ferguson was deplorable. They, especially the chief, openly treated everyone like a criminal. I think there's a noticeable disconnect when it comes to what the people expect and want from the police and what the police think they should be doing in other peoples communities. Many of them don't even live in the areas they're policing. Police should be working at the community level and openly engaging people in conversation, which has proven to build better and safer communities and relationships between the two, and instead the police there treated the citizens of Ferguson like a prison camp. Everything that has come out of their mouths, be it the prosecutor, the chief, or Wilson has been full of prejudice assumptions and even overt racism. Even cases that are not overtly tinged with racism like in MO, racial profiling is a big problem across the board which leads to many avoidable tragedies.

Another major factor in these incidents, including the Tamir Rice case, is that many of these individuals lack proper tactical and situational training. Why the officers pulled up on the grass right next to Tamir is baffling. The proper response would be to take up a tactical position from a distance and then make orders whilst armed. Instead the rookie cop shot the boy within seconds. But the dispatch fucked up too by not passing along all relevant information to the officers. Perhaps there needs to be far more rigorous requirements and training sessions before one is allowed to become an officer. All of this could have been easily avoided in these two situations if proper protocol was followed. My brother, a few months into his job, managed to subdue a hedge-shear wielding man in the middle of the night without firing a shot, and yet Wilson couldn't handle an unarmed man in broad daylight. There's far too many cops out there who think they're playing a game of call of duty and not honoring what the purpose of being an officer should be.

You bring up a lot of good points. In a better world, Michael Brown wouldn't fill any need to strong arm a store clerk for some swisher sweets. He'd have the money to buy it off his labor from a dignified job or work he can be proud of. That world would make it better for cops too, obviously.

Reality is this though: on the street, if yo stoopid enough to go for a cops gun and you get shot, you had it coming. Some call it Suicide by Cop, though I don't think that's the case here. Michael Brown done a dumb thing and if he felt any justification for it, he never learned to differentiate a broader political fight of justice doesn't allow a moral clause to bully others, including cops.


Dude was full of righteousness and just busted up a clerk for some smokes. That kinda vibe permeates a man, so, no surprise the cop picks up on it and thinks him suspect.

It's not always racism. I don't like the direction the police have been going on for a couple decades now for sure, but case by case analysis is still required here...the long and the short of this one is its just another crisis Obama and Holder are trying to manipulate into more chaos.

[Elphenor]

I participated in protests here in SD a couple of days ago. One protest forced a whole mall to close down yesterday night when it opened for sales by shouting "Stop shopping join the movement"

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by The Omega Concern

Granted. But enough with the white guy b.s., it just reeks of ivory tower self loathing.

yeah i'm familiar with "race traitor" stuff, pretty sick of it. when you say that you admit you're racist and our status needs to be defended.

one of these days you idiots will get over your self pride and move on but until then we'll continue to have white privilege

[FutureBoy]

so you guys are like all white right

[Trotskilicious]

well of course futureboy, white guys have made the internet hostile to anyone but us

and if you start to talk about it the guys who are doing it come out of the wood work to try and shame you because you're at least trying

[Elijah Moon]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

well of course futureboy, white guys have made the internet hostile to anyone but us

Who is this "us" you speak of?

[FutureBoy]

netphorians

[FutureBoy]

welcome to the sharktank motherfucker

[FutureBoy]

sppunk is right btw

[I'm Hardcore]

Originally Posted by Poots

hipster historians

SHUT THE FUCK UP

[Trotskilicious]

hahahaha hipster historians

THEY ARE A NATIONAL MENACE

[I'm Hardcore]

also people who use the term "revisionists"

[Elijah Moon]

I think Holocaust deniers have given "revisionism" a bad name.