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Police Power and Racial Tensions in Ferguson, Missouri

just sharing a real heartfelt message from the principal at our local high school...

Good Morning-

My spirit is low and my heart is heavy this morning as I once again spend another day as a Black man attempting to role model, serve, and lead in a system and a country that continues to tell me and those that look like me that our lives are meaningless.

Looking forward to a better tomorrow. I'm just losing faith that I will live long enough to witness it.
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He's a fairly young guy, in his early 40's - and he's generally a very upbeat person, so this seems somewhat atypical to me - but obviously he is distressed over the Grand Jury decision.

Our high school is pretty diverse -

[table="width: 200, align: left"]
[tr]
[td]white[/td]
[td]53%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]black[/td]
[td]26%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]hispanic[/td]
[td]11%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]multi-racial[/td]
[td]7%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]asian[/td]
[td]4%[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]


AND I used table tags in an actual post. Woo hoo for me :-)
 
Without wading through 42 pages here, can people please tell me whether you feel, in your opinion, based on the evidence as you know it, the cop should've been let off (as he was) or found guilty. Please provide the overwhelming evidence that supports your stance. Thank you.

I'm very curious and have heard so many different things regarding the incident.
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
Without wading through 42 pages here, can people please tell me whether you feel, in your opinion, based on the evidence as you know it, the cop should've been let off (as he was) or found guilty. Please provide the overwhelming evidence that supports your stance. Thank you.

I'm very curious and have heard so many different things regarding the incident.
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hahaha

All that matters now is how people choose to react to this case.

Will they be idiots and destroy any and all momentum and make this tragic death all for nothing?

or

Will they use this as a rallying cry to build momentum and effect real change?
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
Without wading through 42 pages here, can people please tell me whether you feel, in your opinion, based on the evidence as you know it, the cop should've been let off (as he was) or found guilty. Please provide the overwhelming evidence that supports your stance. Thank you.

I'm very curious and have heard so many different things regarding the incident.
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I honestly know nothing about this case and don't care to
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
Without wading through 42 pages here, can people please tell me whether you feel, in your opinion, based on the evidence as you know it, the cop should've been let off (as he was) or found guilty. Please provide the overwhelming evidence that supports your stance. Thank you.

I'm very curious and have heard so many different things regarding the incident.
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It seemed to me that there were enough questions for this to go to trial. Maybe he isn't found guilty at trial but at least it would have been tried. The grand jury was just deciding if there was even enough evidence to indict officer Wilson. They decided there wasn't enough of a case to make it worth going forward to trial. The grand jury was sealed, so we don't all get to know what went on or what evidence was presented/not presented.
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
Without wading through 42 pages here, can people please tell me whether you feel, in your opinion, based on the evidence as you know it, the cop should've been let off (as he was) or found guilty. Please provide the overwhelming evidence that supports your stance. Thank you.

I'm very curious and have heard so many different things regarding the incident.
Click to expand...

I'll just reiterate and agree with Gameface. There's an ocean of uncertainty between being let off and found guilty. That's where a trial comes in and what many people were hoping for. A public forum where evidence is introduced, testimony given and arguments litigated. Then maybe your question could really be answered.
 
All I really know for certain is that like the Rodney King beating and trial and the OJ Simpson trial, this has certainly polarized many people along racial lines. A person's perspective on this seems in large part shaped by their race.

I haven't paid all that much attention to the various witness accounts and forensic evidence in this case, so I don't really have an educated opinion. But, like Gameface says, I find it difficult to understand how there wasn't even enough evidence for the GJ to induct at least on an involuntary manslaughter charge.

The looting and burning and destruction, however, is inexcusable from any perspective. And that's how I see it.
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
Without wading through 42 pages here, can people please tell me whether you feel, in your opinion, based on the evidence as you know it, the cop should've been let off (as he was) or found guilty. Please provide the overwhelming evidence that supports your stance. Thank you.

I'm very curious and have heard so many different things regarding the incident.
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In most of these instances, I think it's prudent to take a slow and reasonable approach. I've learned this the hard way as I've been burned quite a few times when I've thought one thing only to learn new info and my original thoughts turn out to be garbage.

I've been sort of following the story and after reading some articles on the coroner's report and the LEO's statements from yesterday, I think the decision was a fair one. I think Mr. Brown was the aggressor in this situation and he paid with his life. I don't believe the LEO did anything wrong and acted accordingly.

This opinion, however, has absolutely no bearing on my thoughts regarding that community and the historical issues they've had with a seemingly heavy handed police department.
 
VINYLONE said:
In most of these instances, I think it's prudent to take a slow and reasonable approach. I've learned this the hard way as I've been burned quite a few times when I've thought one thing only to learn new info and my original thoughts turn out to be garbage.

I've been sort of following the story and after reading some articles on the coroner's report and the LEO's statements from yesterday, I think the decision was a fair one. I think Mr. Brown was the aggressor in this situation and he paid with his life. I don't believe the LEO did anything wrong and acted accordingly.

This opinion, however, has absolutely no bearing on my thoughts regarding that community and the historical issues they've had with a seemingly heavy handed police department.
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This is pretty much how I feel - although if you listen to Wilson's interview on ABC, it's fairly obvious that he hasn't been asked many tough questions about his story. While some of story doesn't make any sense to me, the bottom is if you attack a cop (and I believe Brown was the aggressor) the end result may be death.

The most telling events in this entire ordeal which relates to everyone is the brutish and militaristic nature in which the cops acted after the killing (which is one of the reasons why I don't fully believe Wilson's story in the first place). I don't think this behavior formulated in a vacuum - I think it's been cultivating in our communities for the last 25-30 years and will only get worse with our growing paranoia and fear culture.
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
Without wading through 42 pages here, can people please tell me whether you feel, in your opinion, based on the evidence as you know it, the cop should've been let off (as he was) or found guilty. Please provide the overwhelming evidence that supports your stance. Thank you.

I'm very curious and have heard so many different things regarding the incident.
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Since when did overwhelming evidence become the standard even at a trial, much less at a grand jury proceeding?

A brief comparison of typical grand jury proceedings for a civilian, vs. those for Wilson, as gleaned from various interviews:

[c]Typical Wilson
Prosecutor suggests the correct charges No charges suggested
Suspect gets cross-examined if they testify Suspect not cross-examined
Only evidence favorable to charges are brought Evidence not supporting charges used
Incriminatory witnesses questioned loosely Incriminatory witnesses questioned strictly
Exculpatory witnesses questioned strictly Exculpatory witnesses questioned loosely[/c]

I heard at least four different lawyers say that that McCulloch sounded more like a defense lawyer than a prosecuting attorney. If this had been a civilian shooting, there would have been a bill to indict.

That said, having seen the bruise on Wilson's face, I can see where his pain may have created a more hysterical reaction than usual. Although, it's odd how he was bruised on the side of his face that normally faces the passenger window.

https://gawker.com/these-are-the-photos-of-darren-wilsons-bruises-1662997813

Ultimately, Wilson's version doesn't stand up to close scrutiny:

https://www.vox.com/2014/11/25/7281165/darren-wilsons-story-side
 
This has evoked more anger and sadness in me than most instances of awful racism around this tainted country in the past several years. I have absolutely NO faith in any "public servant" anymore in this country in regards to them having the public's best interests in their heart.

As for all the people rejoicing in this decision to not indict Wilson - I hope they all die awfully painful and debilitating deaths due to terminal disease. As for Wilson and McCulloch and all St. Louis County officials/police officers who aided in the coverup/exoneration, I hope not only them but anyone who shares their DNA (no matter the relation/age/gender/etc.) is beheaded in public by the MOVEMENT.

The POS owners and decision makers in this country are a lot more transparent than ever before thanks to social media and newer technology. The clock is ticking on their archaic ways of maintaining power and control. The guillotine is coming for them too.

The lowly pigs (cops who abuse their badge) who couldn't get any job past mindless manual labor because of being so uneducated became cops because it isn't as classically humiliating as working at a fast food restaurant cleaning pubes off the urinals (which requires the same amount of intellect to be a police officer in the USA). Darren Wilson, the rookie porker in Cleveland that murdered a 12 year old and the TENS OF THOUSANDS more "boys in blue" that think they have real power and like to exude it will be a stain on human history when we look back at it 100 years from now similar to Hitler. At least that's our only hope...
 
It's as comical as it is depressing to see video of these cops abusing and physically harming protesters because what they're inflicting is FAR worse than what Wilson claims Brown did to him. ****ing pigs
 
 
Welcome to America where you can kill a dog & end up in prison for 35 years, but when you kill a Black person you walk away with $500k.

Mike Vick's dogs from the dogfighting ring got more compassion than Mike Brown.

**** THE POLICE **** MISSOURI
 
Missouri racist officials call in the National Guard to help protect the community members from dangerous looters and rioters, but they decided to let the buildings burn and send them after the peaceful protesters

 
VINYLONE said:
My hope is that you are never of a victim of a crime and that you need help from law enforcement because you'll have no one to call.
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I haven't heard that one before! Let me re-evaluate everything I think about a human having free reign to murder someone because they are a cop, and having the court system rigged to allow them to continually do so - or a government founded on racial discrimination, that continues to strip certain people of human rights let alone legal rights.
 
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