We’ve all heard about it. We all are aware of it. Why don’t we talk about it?
Truth value, if you want it to be, can be a simple thing. For some, it is not so easy. One thing can be true on its own but when followed by more information, some grey areas can exist. Sometimes, more than one version can be right. The difference is that, because of the power of perception, the degree of “right-ness” can alter based on what you choose to see.
Many are thoroughly disappointed by those who have decided to turn their backs on this case and conveniently accept what is laid out for them to believe: That Michael Brown’s death was not a racial issue, but rather, an issue of a police officer doing his job. This article will discuss why, despite all claims against him, death from being shot with seven bullets is still not a justifiable end for Michael Brown, and why it indeed IS about race.
On August 9th, 2014, 18 year old Michael Brown, was originally stopped for jaywalking and then shot dead by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was an unarmed African-American man, and Officer Wilson is white.
According to many reports and what was presented at the grand jury hearing, Michael Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were walking in the middle of the street when officer Darren Wilson stopped them and told them to move to the sidewalk. Wilson claims that once he had stopped Brown, he realized Brown matched the description of a theft suspect that a police dispatcher reported about. There was a physical struggle between Brown and Wilson, where Brown was unarmed during the process, but he reached for Wilson’s gun through the window of the police SUV, and hurt Darren Wilson. Wilson pursued Brown and shot twelve bullets, in which seven or eight hit Michael Brown in the front, fatally wounding him.
The shooting sparked the longstanding racial tensions between the mostly-black population of the city and the mostly-white city government and police force, for many deemed Brown a victim of racial profiling. It started a series of protests and riots leading to nationwide and even international participation. The case met a grand jury decision of no indictment for Darren Wilson, which fuelled even more anger and dispute among citizens. Despite the final decision, there still are on-going debates regarding this case: Was Michael Brown a victim of racial profiling? Can Darren Wilson’s actions be really justified, not under the American terms of justice, but under the terms of our conscience, our belief of what justice looks like?
There are many reports on the shooting of Michael Brown readily available for those who are interested, and many versions and series of truths.
Her Campus McGill has prepared a list of “truths” regarding this controversial case. These, again, are facts: many of them are what was actually presented at the grand jury hearing, and the rest from other credible sources. For your convenience, we’ve prepared three lists: one about Michael Brown, one about Darren Wilson, and the other for facts that were found relavant.
Michael Brown
- Unarmed
- 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and weighed 292 lb (132 kg)
- Was walking down the street with his friend when stopped by Darren Wilson for jaywalking
- Was killed 108 ft away from Darren Wilson’s SUV, not 35ft
- St. Louis County Police Chief John Belmar, in his first press conference, said that the entire scene from the vehicle to the shooting was approximately 35 ft. The distance was cited in various forms of media, including articles and press conferences
- It was later confirmed multiple times from overhead views and in person that the distance was in fact 108 ft
- This is important because the shorter distance better supports the narrative that Darren Wilson killed a man who posed him great harm and threat. At the time of the shooting, Michael Brown was fleeing from Wilson
- For more information on why this distance is important, click here.
- The medical examiner’s camera ran out of batteries, therefore photos of the corpse were unavailable as evidence
- Had marijuana in his system
Darren Wilson
- 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and weighs about 210 lb (95 kg)
- Trained officer in an equipped vehicle
- Claims to have been charged at by Michael Brown in a physical struggle
- Photos of Darren Wilson’s injuries:
- Did not complete an incident report (breaking the law under Missouri Public Records Law)
- Continued to shoot as Mike Brown was charging at Wilson, when he was already shot multiple times, severely wounded, and holding his arms up
- He justified his shooting as an act of self defence. He feared for life while in struggle with Michael Brown for possession of the gun
- The officer’s account of events remained very unclear until the actual day of the grand jury hearing; and there was not much information released
- Darren Wilson got severe injuries from the fight that made him fear for this life, but did not go to the hospital until after talking to his attorney
- His description of the incident: “At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I’m shooting at him. And the face that he had was looking straight through me, like I wasn’t even there, I wasn’t even anything in his way.” He refers to Mike Brown as “it” and a “demon”
- Darren Wilson was on paid leave until the hearing, with over $400,000 raised in donations.
Now that was a lot to go through. But you have cared to examine these! Where do you position Darren Wilson and Michael Brown in their charges?Upon collecting these data, many questions seem to have been answered at first, but there is yet other information relevant to the case.
- It is commonly known that Mike Brown was a big man, and that it indeed is not hard to imagine him appearing very threatening as he “charges” at you. However, it is not as widely known that Darren Wilson, who “felt like a 5-year-old” compared to “Hulk Hogan” (referring to Mike Brown), was just as tall as him.
- Darren Wilson did not file an incident report, which is against the law. Some deem this as “breaking a law to cover up the fact that he broke a law.”
- Darren Wilson’s shooting was justified in the means of self defence. So what is perceived as “self defence”?First of all, it depends on “the officer’s objectively reasonable belief.” An appropriate case will be where a man is holding a toy gun which appears to be legitimate to an officer. The officer fears the possibility of being shot with this seemingly real gun, and shoots. The judgement is based on personal belief, which puts a lot of weight on an officer’s immediate instincts in judging who is dangerous. One’s implicit bias has a chance to creep in. For example, picture a trained officer: There is a young, unarmed man fighting through the window for the officer’s gun, outside of a fully loaded police vehicle. Is it likely that this officer should perceive this man as a threat? Because Darren Wilson did. Would that perception change based on the man’s race? It shouldn’t, since that would constitute racism. So Darren Wilson’s perception would not have changed either, right?Secondly, “self defence” is no longer void when the officer stops perceiving the person as a threat. Then the officer is required to stop shooting. If the same man is now 108 ft away, shot numerous times by an officer, can this officer still perceive this injured man as a threat? Does that sound like a reasonable belief? Will the perception change if the man’s race was changed?
- Up until the Grand Jury hearing, Darren Wilson released very little information as to what actually happened, and the public and media were very confused. Speculations and assumptions kept feeding the media craze over such a controversial topic, which was only met with fear and ignorance. From August to November, several versions of truths kept spewing out until the hearing, when Darren Wilson presented to us his thread of truths. The grand jury decided on no indictment, and we acted surprised.
Truths, statistics, and data are all funny things under the property of truth. Cobbled up together in various ways, they can bring out different versions of truth. It is our job, then, to pick and choose which ones we want to believe. But the question lies in the “rightness” of it.
Is it right to just accept such a easy-to-digest “truth” that was made and is so readily available for the general public? Some are popular, easily obtainable, convenient, while others are unpopular, hard-to-obtain, and/or rare. It is true that this is about one young black man who got killed by a white officer in the process of self defence. But it is also true that this isn’t just about one black man: It is about how people of colour constantly face discrimination. Sure, this is the systematic judicial system that came to a justifiable conclusion, but is this “justice” for those who privilege from it?
Ignoring it will not make racism go away. We need to talk about the R-word. Racism will haunt us with the segregation among the human race, the damage on the goodness of the human kind, and lastly, with the continuous fallback on our strive for justice. Human race is not being blind to races, but instead seeing, recognizing, acknowledging, accepting, and accomodating the races and their differences.
So now that we know, let’s talk about it.
Please, let’s talk about racism.
Sources:
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/13/5994305/michael-brown-case-investigation-le… (when is it legal for a cop to kill you?)
http://sandandglass.tumblr.com/post/95983985447 (“It’s about how people of color […] face discrimination in this country with such grace”)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/03/1333925/-Is-it-a-coverup-House-… (The 35 ft vs 108 ft mistake and why it’s important)
http://jostonjustice.blogspot.ca/2014/11/in-ferguson-prosecutors-fateful… (How the prosecutor presented false information on a law that might lead the jury to justify Wilson’s shooting, but failed to correct the mistake until the day of the hearing)
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/here-are-transcripts-and-audio… (Grand Jury Hearing scripts)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2849133/PIERS-MORGAN-farce-Fergu… (Wilson’s physical appearances)
http://land-of-propaganda.tumblr.com/post/102057205628 (How Darren Wilson failed to complete an incident report which is illegal)
http://www.bustle.com/articles/51447-how-much-money-has-darren-wilson-ma… (Wilson’s financial standings)
Images obtained from:
http://stereoculturesociety.tumblr.com/post/103682826374/culturehistory-…
http://stfumras.tumblr.com/post/103551568057/i-felt-that-another-one-of-…
http://daynefrancis.tumblr.com/