Time limits my comments on last night's Grand Jury decision to not find enough probable cause regarding officer Darren Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014.
Generally speaking, I think far too many people are speaking without the facts. From both sides.
Here is the actual Grand Jury report.
Only those 12 people knew all of the facts. They took two days to deliberate the matter and came back with a unanimous decision that Officer Wilson acted reasonably that night out of a fear for his life.
Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, so you can try and convince me these twelve members of the Grand Jury were somehow all "in on it," but you will probably fail.
This may still be one of those "right but wrong" cases where law enforcement technically acted in a legal and reasonable fashion throughout the incident, but looking back, had the officer made different choices that night, perhaps the young man would not have been killed.
To be crystal clear, the same absolutely holds true for Mr. Brown, of course...
Additionally, the riots and looting we're watching do nothing to address whatever problem really needs attention here. It is highly counter-productive, to say the least.
I can't seem to go onto social media these days and not see a report of police abuse. I understand that it is the minority of all law enforcement professionals but their actions are casting a dark cloud...an unfair one, I should say, over America's police. That's a problem that law enforcement is correct to address via training, technology, etc.
If the argument, "the cop didn't need to do this or do that" is a fair one, then so too is the argument "Brown didn't need to do this or that" as well. Maybe both men made mistakes that night. I don't know for sure if Wilson did. I'm pretty damn sure Brown made several mistakes that evening. Its not entirely black and white to me.
The sooner the outside agitators, the media, the "I'm here to help squad" which included people like Rev. Al Sharpton all leave and move onto the next big thing, the better for Ferguson, MO. The better for the families of both Brown and Wilson.
The better for all of us...
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Showing posts with label Civil Rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civil Rights. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Friday, August 30, 2013
Bruce Bartlett: MLK's greatest gift to America
Bruce Bartlett's latest column makes an excellent point that I agree with, which is that Martin Luther King Jr.'s greatest accomplishment was not in choosing to lead the civil rights struggle with a strategy of non-violence but in somehow being able to pull it off. From Mr. Bartlett:
"The really big problem with a nonviolence strategy is that is needs to be comprehensive to work; a few hotheads who take matters into their own hands can set back the entire movement, undo all its progress in a matter of moments. Convincing everyone in the civil rights movement to follow his nonviolence strategy was Dr. King’s greatest accomplishment, one that was truly extraordinary and still underappreciated."
The key is that a non-violent strategy is, in the end, the quickest and most effective way to address a moral issue. More from the article:
"... although nonviolence seemed like a long-term strategy, in fact it worked remarkably fast. The Montgomery bus boycott started on December 1, 1955, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law less than 10 years later on July 2, 1964. That’s lightning speed by the standards of such things, historically speaking."
All this was done to realize the next major step in addressing the slavery issue - a terminal condition that our nation was born with and from which violence and brutality naturally flowed - and its natural by-product, segregation. The non-violent nature of the civil rights movement not only brought necessary change to our nation but saved countless lives and much suffering in the process. Thank you, Dr. King.
Read Bruce Bartlett's article at:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2013/08/30/What-Martin-Luther-King-Really-Gave-to-America.aspx#page1
"The really big problem with a nonviolence strategy is that is needs to be comprehensive to work; a few hotheads who take matters into their own hands can set back the entire movement, undo all its progress in a matter of moments. Convincing everyone in the civil rights movement to follow his nonviolence strategy was Dr. King’s greatest accomplishment, one that was truly extraordinary and still underappreciated."
The key is that a non-violent strategy is, in the end, the quickest and most effective way to address a moral issue. More from the article:
"... although nonviolence seemed like a long-term strategy, in fact it worked remarkably fast. The Montgomery bus boycott started on December 1, 1955, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law less than 10 years later on July 2, 1964. That’s lightning speed by the standards of such things, historically speaking."
All this was done to realize the next major step in addressing the slavery issue - a terminal condition that our nation was born with and from which violence and brutality naturally flowed - and its natural by-product, segregation. The non-violent nature of the civil rights movement not only brought necessary change to our nation but saved countless lives and much suffering in the process. Thank you, Dr. King.
Read Bruce Bartlett's article at:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2013/08/30/What-Martin-Luther-King-Really-Gave-to-America.aspx#page1
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