For some of us this is about winning an argument and nothing more. Some would say he was a human being who lived in a country that believes in the freedom to walk down the street without getting six bullets pumped into his body by a police officer.
Others would say he was a thug, and they will quickly point at a video showing him allegedly robbing a convenience store. And although the video had nothing to do with him being killed, these people would say that the video somehow proves that he was a thug, a strain on society, a young man who chose not to listen to the orders of a police officer and therefore, deserved the officer killing him… in the free country.
One of these groups will win their argument and he will either be remembered as a human being, a teenager with a mother and father still weeping his loss. A boy who had birthdays, dreams and heartbreaks. For these people, Mike Brown will be remembered as a human being. He will be remembered as a a teenager with a soul who made mistakes like any other teenager, but like any other teenager, he too deserved to live.
Or, Mike Brown will be looked upon as the ruthless thug who disobeyed the orders of a cop. A thug whose crime began when he literally walked in the streets of this “free” nation. Or maybe, just maybe his crime actually began when he was born and society saw the color of his skin. And maybe because of that color they disregarded his humanity, his birthdays, his dreams and his heartbreaks. And because he wasn’t a human in their eyes they associated his teenage mistakes with thuggery. And they thanked the officer for cleansing the streets of Ferguson. These thug creatures must die.
In the end, one of these groups will have justice, whatever justice means these days. And that justice will either lead to real changes between the police and the communities they’re supposed to protect, or that justice will lead to more Mike Browns and a society stuck in the quicksand of intolerance, a society drowning in its own racism.
As we wait to see who wins…
No, I’m not pretending there was no struggle. The eye witnesses said there was. And if the officer felt his life was threatened at that point then he had every reason to fire. And he did fire, hitting Brown. But when Brown began running away, are you telling me that the officer had the right to get out of his car, followed Mike Brown and shot 6 more bullets into him? Are you being honest here?
Why do you pretend he didn’t struggle with the officer. Pretend he didn’t strike the officer. Are we being honest and looking at all possibilities or just hating the man and all white people? I’m tired of it.
The problem is….those on the Right are being fed hate, fear, paranoia and “God’s gonna get you” and “we are the chosen ones” over and over again. (love to see how they reconcile that LAST one with the Jewish people…..;-)
Any form of discourse with the likes of that is futile……….I try to with relatives here……forget it. (and Southern Baptists, the whole bunch of them.)
I hear you and I totally agree. I’m afraid that we will once again blow this opportunity to change for the better, and I shudder at the thought of the next life, the next human being who will be senselessly gunned down because our society is too afraid to face our demons.
Unfortunately….I go with paragraph 4. This country has shown over and over, especially in the last year, that a human life is unimportant if it is nonwhite, no matter WHAT circumstances. TRUTH is something that must be molded to fit already preconceived ideas…..on BOTH sides. But one of these sides has decades of experience, hate, distrust, and injustice to draw from. The other side has history, fear of the ‘other”, money, and a changing demographic to deal with.
It is going to be a tough battle either way.