A white police officer will not face charges for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager in a case that set off violent protests and racial unrest throughout the nation.
Not to be outdone, the New York Daily News chose this as its front page:
The cover from tomorrow's Daily News is exactly why the media bears responsibility for fueling these riots. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/QHoUqrf0oM
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) November 25, 2014
All of this begs the question of why couldn't the announcement of the grand jury's decision take place during the day? When it was revealed the grand jury came to its conclusion, the national media went beyond the proverbial beating of a dead horse with speculation of the decision as well as incessant chatter about inevitable rioting and looting that would possibly ensue. Now that is not to say that the media is solely responsible for a bunch of buffoons wreaking havoc in their respective cities. But perhaps they could have hidden their agenda a tad bit better and thus follow the example of Brown's family, who graciously asked for peaceful demonstrations.
A few other thoughts:
- I was rather disturbed at how many people shrieked that there was "no justice" in this case. The fact of the matter is the grand jury pored over a substantial amount of evidence to reach the conclusion they did. Even though there appeared to be significant political pressure to levy some sort of charge against Officer Wilson (US Attorney General Eric Holder even went to Ferguson, MO shortly after the incident), the grand jury remained focused on the physical evidence, which is unequivocally consistent (unlike certain eyewitness accounts).
- Yes, I referred to the rioters and looters as "buffoons." Let's face it: the vast majority of those people don't give two squats about Michael Brown or his grieving family. And what's worse is the city of Ferguson is already enduring a high unemployment rate, one which is certain to rise after some prominent businesses were set ablaze. What's sad is some of those businesses were just back to being fully operational after having to recover from vandalism/looting which took place in August.
- No one is better off after the grand jury decision. No one (well, except for the media in terms of its TV ratings).
Not only is Officer Wilson having to live with taking another person's life, I don't see how he can continue his law enforcement career now that his face has been splashed across every news media outlet.
There is likely an even deeper distrust of the police in the Ferguson area than ever before.
As I alluded to earlier, the senseless rioting and vandalism will further depress the area's economy.
But the coup de grace is Michael Brown's family. Not only are they enduring unfathomable grief over a life taken way too soon, they now have the added burden of certain people using their loved one's death as a pawn for their respective political agendas.
Just an awful night all the way around.
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1 comment:
The real test will be when the full evidence is released, showing that the rioters haven't a shred of evidence for their cockamamie charges, and that they are denying both peace AND justice to a weary community. Of course, reality and facts have no bearing on what most of these people do or say.
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