Ferguson Back in Flames

Last night showed once again that we still have a long way to go when it comes to race relations. When St Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury's decision not to charge Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown, what ensued was not a protest but a riot in which cops were pelted with flying objects, stores were looted, shots were fired, and buildings set on fire. The legitimate protesters who felt they had valid grievances were lost in the shuffle as the troublemakers took over. The pleas of the Brown family for peace were ignored. It was a miracle that no deaths occurred.

There is every indication that what happened last night was planned by people far removed from the citizens of Ferguson. We thought that the police were prepared too, but they were not. They were basically limited to containing the unrest while the looters and burners went on their merry way. What prompted the DA to make the announcement at night rather than during daylight hours when the police could have had more control and a tactical advantage is beyond me.

At any rate, I do think the grand jury's decision was proper. McCullough laid out the evidence in his announcement. Based on that, it would have been unjust to indict Wilson and pass the buck to a jury trial. The physical evidence and the testimony of the most trustworthy witnesses (who were black) supported Wilson's version of events. There was a struggle inside the car for the weapon, a struggle in which the initial shots were fired. Then, outside the police car, it appears that Brown rushed the officer, who had his gun drawn and was telling him to get on the ground. I'm sorry, but when you try to take an officer's gun away from him and bum rush him while he is pointing his weapon at you, the whole argument about being unarmed goes out the window. If Brown had taken Wilson's gun, it would be Wilson who died that day.

As to the coverage, the first thing I heard from CNN was resentment from one of their expert panelists that expressed anger that McCullough had criticized some media coverage of the story. Legal analyst and California attorney Mark Geragos made the most irresponsible comment of the night when he charged that the fix was in and McCullough had gotten the result he wanted all along. Later, when CNN switched to their talking heads in London, Rosemary Church made this statement from the comfort of her studio on the Thames describing how one elderly man was carjacked and run over by protesters (emphasis mine). As for MSNBC, Chris Hayes droned on from Ferguson about how McCulloch was the son of a cop killed in the line of duty and was completely in bed with the police.

Sadly, the Congressional Black Caucus made an outrageous statement about it being a miscarriage of justice. We should expect more from our elected leaders.

All in all, it was a sad night last night.