Comment from another diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/...n-of-a-dead-unarmed-teenager-is-well-underway
It similar to when the rapist
accuses the rape victim of being at fault. Ferguson police are spinning white reaction here, seeking a backlash, and trying to poison the jury pool.
These are bad actors.
I do not think the real power in this region likes what is going on. The corporate power. They do not like unrest. I do not think they will be on the side of the Ferguson cops. I think there will be real pressure to prosecute, to fix it. Real power here is not wedded to some asshole in Ferguson. They want peace and quiet so they can go one with business.
The corporate HQ of Boeing Defense, Space and Security is only a couple miles from Ferguson. (there are many Boeing aircraft assembly plants, research, and other stuff there, along with the division's HQ) It's the Old McDonnell Douglas plants. It's about two miles away. (they do military aircraft, missiles, bombs, etc.) The corporate HQ of Emerson (No. 121 among America's 500 largest corporations, as ranked by revenues) is located IN FERGUSON.
In this particular instance, the interests of real power may coincide with the interests of justice. The real power here does not like making waves, discord. Right now, it is the Ferguson police making waves.
They may be playing hardball with real power now. I would not put my money on them winning here.
It seems to me...
... that officers are a little bit quick on the trigger these days. And the militarized response by the Ferguson PD to the protests certainly paints a picture of a hostile, out-of-touch, maybe power-hungry police force.
All we know about the actual shooting is what we've heard from the witnesses, one of whom is on that video in the convenience store. Nevertheless, it doesn't sound like good policies were followed. It doesn't seem that the choice is between "kind and gentle" felony stops, and shooting a kid dead in the streets. In fact, I know that's not the choice.
Like every story, this one has lots of working parts. And they don't fall neatly into any particular narrative. Obviously, there are issues in Ferguson. The police don't seem to be serving the community, and are not representative of the community. I think we saw last night how important that can be based on the successful approach of the new Captain on the scene. There have to be big changes in the city Police Department. But beyond that, we are going to have an unfolding, developing, complicated incident that triggered this, and we have to make sure that it doesn't distract from the overall issues. If Michael Brown indeed strong-arm robbed this store, it doesn't in any way justify a wrongful shooting, and it sure as hell doesn't justify intimidation of media, teargassing peaceful protesters, or the whole military-style show of force.
This diary disappointed me because it was so dismissive of what, to me, is an important piece of the whole puzzle. And especially disappointing is the knee-jerk accusations of lying by many of the posters here. It's hard to make a successful case for change when your side is polluted by inaccurate, non-factual denialism.
In response to the question if the police had come back with the report he had weed in his system yet:
No, but surely they will, because
Rellos, 'Swisher Sweets,' are the choice for blunts around these parts. If he has pot in his system, or anything at all for that matter, you know it will be the headline of the day when they release that tidbit. But they'll save it for a day when something bad comes out about the shooter or the multi-day thugfest, because they'll need to deflect.
There's a formula to how these things go, I've been watching it since the '60's. And I'm really sick of it.
Somehow being unarmed and black is WAY more scarey and life threatening to cops than being white and armed.
to defend Brown by pointing out
that he was an upstanding citizen is to buy into the fundamentally wrong-headed conservative premise that "good citizens" deserve more rights than "bad citizens."
It shouldn't matter if he was an upstanding citizen or not. The law does not guarantee rights only to upstanding citizens--it guarantees rights to everyone. You have rights by virtue of being a human being, not by virtue of anything you have done with your life.
The police summarily killed Brown without due process, and what they did would be just as criminal if he'd been a drug addict or frequented strip clubs or whatever.
In cases of taking a human life, the burden of proof should be on the ones taking that life, not the one whose life was taken.
Brown is not on trial here, nor should he be. It's up to the cops to explain to us what happened, to provide proof that what they did was justified. If they can't do that satisfactorily, they should be punished. It's simple as that
It is My Conclusion
That the new unstated narrative ("Michael Brown was identified as a robbery suspect and that's why was shot after an attempt by the officer to detain him) is a lie.
My conclusion comes from a very careful, detailed, read of the information released this morning by the Ferguson PD.
It may, or may not be, that Michael Brown stole some $0.50 Swishers. But it definitely is NOT the reason this officer encountered him, nor the reason he shot him.
That any claim to the contrary is false is crystal clear just reading the reports.
At this point, I just want America to admit that it still doesn't want its Black citizens to live in any state other than terror, subservience and inferiority, under pain of death. I can handle American racism, but I can't handle American denial.
The police report had Brown's name in it
Not "suspect" or "perpetrator", but "Michael Brown". Is that odd to anyone else?
Is that standard? Seems to me like the police cooked the report and added Brown's name in because they knew it was him after the fact.
I don't trust any of the Ferguson police.
I find it very unusual
His name is plastered all over that report. At the bottom of one of the pages the officer writing it even acknowledges that after viewing Michael dead, and reviewing the video of the robbery, he determined it was Michael.
It's only purpose is to make Michael Brown out as a common criminal in the eyes of the public and provide justification for a murderous cop to shoot him down in cold blood. I'm always amazed at what lengths cops will go to protect each other. And that is the reason I seriously don't believe one word that comes out of the mouths of these PD officials.
And another thing that strikes me as odd... They seem to have this report all typed up and ready to hand out to the press, but there has been no report handed to the press or anyone else detailing the actual shooting. How do you spell cover-up?
Posted This to my Friends on FB
But it bears repeating here:
"Just got done reading the "media packet" that Ferguson PD released this morning at their unbelievable presser. SLS friends - you do not need to practice criminal law to spend 10 minutes reading it. If you cannot find at least 7 serious problems with the story that is now being told about Michael Brown and his last (depending on which page of the report you read) 7 or 9 minutes on earth, then Professors [Redacted] want to talk to you /grin."
The single most important thing that we can do to stop this demonization of Michael Brown and deflection away from the fact that he was shot down like a dog even with his hands up is this:
Download, and read (with a pad of paper and pen next to you) the ENTIRE packet released this morning. Forget the pictures because, as I said in a diary long ago (in response to the successful campaign to destroy ACORN), Video Don't Lie, or Does it? Set the pictures aside.
Just read. And write. Line up times. Line up fact descriptions.
And then draw your own conclusions about what is being done today, and why, to dehumanize Michael Brown. Once you do, tell your friends.
Police report can be found at this link:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ferguson-police-name-michael-brown?cid=sm_m_main_1_20140815_29822566
It is crucial to remember that package
Has not undergone a thorough review or vetting from outside investigative agencies. It has a host of missing information; the officer Darren Wilson would have had to file multiple reports for using his weapon. Secondly, did the officer have a taser on his person. Next, how did the officer report the initial dispatch with shots fired. The officer information is key.
Mike Brown was executed without due process is the bottom line.
One last diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/...da-yeah-THAT-Miranda-was-a-hero-or-a-criminal
It's been said that the United States Supreme Court could never overturn Miranda v. Arizona because it's become such a fixture in American pop culture. From countless TV shows and movies, most of us could recite the so-called Miranda warnings by heart: "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law," etc.
When I took a bar review course many years ago, the instructor related how his mother - who knew almost nothing about criminal law or procedure - called him after hearing that Ernesto Miranda had been killed, and her comment was something along of the lines of "Isn't that awful, after all that good man did for the rest of us?" Of course, the truth is that Mr. Miranda may not have been a model citizen, but the point to our constitutional rights (in Miranda's case, the Fifth Amendment) isn't based on the guilt or innocence of the suspect.
And we should try to remember that in the Michael Brown case.
Today, the police released information that Mr. Brown may have been involved in a robbery before he was shot (a robbery because there was the alleged use of force in the theft of some cigars). People are getting rather worked up about whether:
a. The police are making it all up (including, apparently, surveillance video that appears to depict Mr. Brown),
b. Why the police waited 6 days,
c. Why the police haven't arrested Mr. Brown's alleged accomplice, and so on.
To all of that I say, who cares??
The facts about the alleged robbery will eventually sort themselves out. But does any of that matter? No, because whatever Michael Brown did or didn't do with respect to those cigars and that store, we need to know what happened immediately before he was shot. And so far, there are no facts that suggest that the police were justified in shooting him.
That's the issue that matters and that's the issue that we need to focus on.
We don't talk about giving up our Miranda rights based on whether Ernesto Miranda was a good guy or not. Constitutional rights protect everyone, from saint to serial killer. And one of those constitutional rights is not being shot dead when you're not posing a threat to anyone.
So, resist getting worked up about whether the photos show someone in shorts or long pants, sneakers or flip flops, questions about why the police waited to release the information and all the rest of it.
Honor Michael Brown - and his family - by keeping the focus on the police's conduct in shooting Mr. Brown. And no matter what happens to the police officer who pulled the trigger, working on trying to make sure it doesn't happen to the next Michael Brown.