Editor's Blog: Michael Brown, Darren Wilson & The City of Ferguson

Nov. 26, 2014
Rioting in response to the Grand Jury decision proves you don’t care about the law… any law.

As America wakes up and goes about its day this Tuesday morning, the “news” outlets, social media and every part-time blogger online (some not even in the country) are talking about Ferguson, Missouri and the Grand Jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson.  Of course, within a half hour of the announcement of the decision, the news and discussions were no longer about Michael Brown, Darren Wilson, the Grand Jury, the investigation, etc.  The “news” was all about the rioting going on in Ferguson, the protests in other cities (New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angeles, etc), and statements were being released by every organization that might be able to leverage citizen anger including the ACLU, The U.S. Conference of Mayors and more.  What’s NOT being said, or what’s being carefully skirted, is that not-politically-correct observation that rioting in response to a completely justifiable and reasonable decision by the Grand Jury only proves a complete lack of interest in or concern for justice, an utter disregard for law, and proof of the childish and selfish nature of those who claim to stand up for civil rights.

I know; that was a complicated statement.  Let me say it in simpler terms:

If you’re rioting in response to the Grand Jury decision, you’re proving you don’t care about the law… any law.

If you’re rioting in response to the Grand Jury decision, you’re proving you don’t care about Michael Brown OR his family; you simply want what you can get away with stealing.

If you’re rioting in response to the Grand Jury decision and you’re not looting/stealing, then you’re destroying property – an action that is petty and childish and doesn’t do a thing to earn you higher regard where civil rights are concerned.

If you’re rioting in response to the Grand Jury decision, you’re accomplishing nothing except proving that you’d rather break the law than abide by the law.

If you’re rioting in response to the Grand Jury decision, you’re part of the problem; NOT part of the solution.

“What is the problem?” you ask.

The problem is a breakdown of communication and mutual faith between the public servants in the law enforcement profession and the communities we serve. (I use “public servants in the law enforcement profession” but we’re NOT just talking about police officers, deputies, etc. but also prosecutors, judges, attorney generals, etc)

The problem is a legal system so convoluted that it takes nine of the best judicial minds in our nation to decide whether a law or action is Constitutional or not… and THEY can’t ever unanimously agree.

The problem is a “news” profession that no longer fairly or impartially reports the news, but instead sensationalizes anything it can find to leverage more advertising dollars and ratings out of a tragedy.

The problem is a generation (and now maybe two or three) that thinks selflessness is stupid and courage is being dumb enough to disrespect anyone, even if they’re being respectful to you.

The problem is a generation (and now maybe two or three) that thinks everyone is entitled to a house, a car, fashionable clothes, more food than can be consumed and vacations in the tropics… even if they’ve never worked a day in their life to earn it.

That’s five problems and someone, somewhere is wondering how come I didn’t list the police as a problem.  After all, if you read all those news stories, political statements, etc. it’s glaringly obvious that excessive force, used by the police, is really the big problem in today’s world, right?  WRONG.

Over 800,000 police officers and deputies have well over millions of peaceful interactions with the public we serve day in and day out.  Hundreds of thousands of times each day a law enforcement professional does something selfless; acts with compassion; does something that is pure service with no enforcement component at all.  Hundreds of thousands of times each day a police officer or deputy does something helpful – that is NOT part of their job description – and gets absolutely zero thanks or recognition for it.

Probably hundreds of times each day a police officer or deputy uses force in the process of performing their duties and no one ever gets sued; no news crew shows up to make it a national event; heck, no one gets injured and life goes on.  How many thousands of people have friends who are police officers and deputies, and yet they don’t go out to loot and riot when a police officer gets killed in the line of duty? They honor the fallen, support the survivors and continue on.  If all of the people purporting to support Michael Brown and his family had simply honored Michael Brown’s memory, supported the family and continued on with life, Ferguson wouldn’t have been burning, property would not have been stolen and more crimes would not have occurred.

A good friend of mine… a veteran police officer and Police Chief… an honorable man respected in his community and in the law enforcement community posted a comment this morning that I felt was worth sharing (a couple parts of it).

We are all innocent until proven otherwise.”  Yes, sir, we are.  That includes police officers who use force, get crucified in the mainstream media and are tried in the court of public opinion.  We are all innocent until proven otherwise. PROVEN.  Proof… based on evidence.  EVIDENCE… not hearsay, not he-said-she-said, not “news” manipulation, not a popular twitter feed, not some Hollywood celebrities post party comment as he tries to build up his “rep.”  PROOF and EVIDENCE.

“Evidence does not lie; people lie.”  Ain’t that the truth.  There’s a reason why evidence collection, documentation and examination is called “forensic SCIENCE.”  It’s not emotional.  It’s not wishy-washy.  It’s not in a good mood or bad mood and doesn’t hold prejudices toward anyone or anything.  Evidence is impartial and demonstrates facts.  Evidence offers PROOF of what happened, where, when, how and who committed what act.

The same man I’m citing points out that it’s important to know your legal system and how it works.  Proof of that need was obvious last night in twitter feeds where people were complaining that “the jury had found Officer Wilson not guilty of killing Michael Brown.”  Well, Officer Wilson was never charged with a crime in relation to having shot Michael Brown.  That was what the Grand Jury HEARING was for: to decide whether or not the use of force was justified; whether or not Officer Wilson needed to be charged with a crime.  For those who don’t know, a Grand Jury hearing is held in any felony use of force investigation to determine whether or not the person who used force was justified.

And finally I’m going to get to the truly politically incorrect part:  Make no mistake about it – Michael Brown, unarmed and 18 years old he may have been, STILL PRESENTED A LETHAL THREAT TO OFFICER WILSON.  Whether you agree with the law or not, the law allows for police officers to use deadly force to defend themselves, or others, from a lethal threat.

“How can an “unarmed teenager” be a lethal threat?” you ask.  It’s actually pretty easy to understand.

I’m a 5’-10” 195 pound man.  If I’m attacked by a man of the same size and same skill, it’s a “fair” fight. (In reality there’s no such thing as a fair fight, but we’re at least similarly matched in size and, we’re assuming in skill.)  If that same man comes at me with a knife or baseball bat, we’re no longer evenly matched; he presents a clear threat to my life as he can easily kill me with either weapon.

Now offset the size and strength.  Let’s pit me against a 6’-4” man who weighs over 300 pounds and is significantly stronger than I am.  When he swings his closed fist at my head, it might as well be a baseball bat because he’s well capable of breaking bones (including my neck and/or skull) and killing me with his bare hands.  Get several seconds into the fight where he’s already hit me more than once and I’ve already received broken bones and am in danger of falling unconscious and I’m in fear for my life – understandably so.  At that point, the use of deadly force in defense of myself is justified.

Note that at no point in that paragraph does it talk about race.  The color of my skin, the attacker’s skin, the witnesses’ skin, etc. doesn’t matter.  What matters: Did he (my attacker) present a potentially lethal threat to me?  If the answer is yes, my use of force was justified.  If the answer is no, my use of force was not justified.  If you can’t comprehend that simple difference then do us all a favor:  stop being an internet lawyer; stop rioting; stop looting; stop proclaiming yourself to be a warrior for civil rights; just STOP.

If you aren’t helping to solve the problems (see list above) then you ARE part of the problem.  You can’t be part of the problem and then try to blame everything on someone else… anyone else… police or otherwise.  Wake up… get up… pull on your big-boy pants.  Man up… stand up… take responsibility for YOURSELF and don’t worry so much about others.  THINK for yourself.  REASON for yourself.

Above all, practice what you preach.  If life and property are of such great value to you that you feel the need to protest, then PROTEST.  That doesn’t involve looting, burning, assaulting, threatening, etc.  PROTESTING is a peaceful action.  RIOTING is proof that the police have more work to do.

Stay safe, America.

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