Watching the people get lairy
It's not very pretty I tell thee
Walking through town is quite scary
It's not very sensible either
A friend of a friend he got beaten
He looked the wrong way at a policeman
Would never of happened to Smeaton
An old leodensian
I haven't had much chance to watch the news these past few days, but what I have seen has been about the riots in Ferguson. Before I dive too deeply into this post, let me say that I'm only casually informed. I do not watch the news intently. I do not go searching for all of the information, nor do I read all the information that's made available to me. My opinions can only be based upon what I know... if something I know is wrong, then obviously my opinion would change accordingly.
What's happening in Ferguson touches on so many subjects. I'm sure I'll miss some and gloss over some that deserve a harder look. I may even focus in on some that aren't worthy of any thought. But when you have racism, police brutality, over arming police, protesters, and riots, there are going to be a lot of ways you can frame an argument. I think one of the biggest problems is that no one can look at the entire picture. When you focus in on one and only one of these pieces it can be easy to make an over reaching argument. One that may be valid, but doesn't exactly fit the current Ferguson model.
Lemme just start by getting some vague thoughts on those subjects I mentioned out of the way.
Racism:
I have a very hard problem seeing how racism is a thing. I'm not in any way saying that it ISN'T a thing... I just can't get my mind around why it is. I like to think of myself as a fairly empathetic person. I can put myself in someone else's mind set and get a better understanding of their thought process. It's something that's served me well both as a photographer and as a nurse. But where I can sympathize with someones anger, sadness, pain, and/or joy... I can't understand where racism comes form.
I mean.. how can you look at a large diverse group of people and think any less of them by the color of their skin? I can better empathize with someone who thinks less of people who are gay (homophobic). I don't agree with it, but I can see that coming from their own internal morality. They believe that it is a choice and a bad one at that. You can group up all homosexual people by declaring your belief that their choice is wrong. That 'choice' is what defines them as a group.
But race? How exactly does the color of someones skin define them? I don't get it. I can't empathize with it. The only thing I 'know' is that it exists. That certain people and certain groups of people think people of color are less than other people.
Police Brutality:
Police hurt people. That's just a fact of life. Sometimes it's justified, sometimes it's not. The police are tasked with an almost impossible task... enforce the law without hurting anybody. Well if someone wants to defy the law and openly defy the police, then the police are tasked with using force. If the person continues to defy them, then increased force is to be used. Keep climbing up that scale and you have police shooting and killing people.
Again... sometimes it's justified and sometimes it's not.
Over Arming Police:
This kind of goes hand in hand with Police Brutality. Police are tasked with enforcing the law even when a criminal flagrantly disobeys it. If that criminal is using force, then the police should be able to use an equal or even overpowering force. Pull a gun on a cop (or someone else in a cop's presence) and the cop should have a gun to pull on you. That same cop should have protection against guns like a bullet proof vest. Since criminal use high powered rifles, cops should have them too. Since criminals use bullet proof vests, cops should have Armour piercing rounds. Helmets, face shields, shields, armored vehicles, helicopters, boats.... just about anything can be justified for the police to have.
I think the real problem is when these ultra armed police use this extra equipment in every day scenarios. If a policeman needs to knock on my door and question me, then they should have their uniform and possibly their sidearm. They shouldn't appear at my door with a ram, 8 guys behind them, everybody in body armor, all carrying high powered automatic rifles and grenades. They shouldn't drive aggressively up on my lawn in an armored personnel carrier. Should they approach a known violent gang's den in their uniform with only a sidearm? Hell no... get that body armor, 8 well armed partners and a tank!
I don't think the argument should be "Are the police over armed", it should be "Are the police responding to events properly armed".
Protesters:
We should be able to protest. We should all have the ability to gather up in safe public areas and voice our discontent to power. We shouldn't be able to do so in the middle of a street, or any other area that puts people in harms way. We shouldn't be able to do so in any type of violent way.
Riots:
To me Riots are protests gone horribly wrong. It's people putting on destruction for destruction's sake. They are people acting out their anger in a wholly inappropriate way that only hurts themselves, their cause, and their community. It makes reasonable people turn away from them and not listen to their side of the story.
I think most riots are from people only vaguely associated with the original protest. They are opportunistic vultures that see a chance to burn things down and steal and take advantage of that opportunity. These same people will cry out about police brutality when they are justifiably arrested.
OK... so here's what I've learned about Ferguson. Again I never went out and read up on everything that's going on. I've got snippets of this from the news, the internet, and other people around me.
A policeman (Darren Wilson) came upon two people walking down the middle of the street (one of which was Michael Brown). I start here instead of the robbery because I'm not sure that Officer Wilson knew of the robbery or knew that Brown was a suspect in the robbery.
Officer Wilson ordered the two men off the street. An argument started. When Officer Wilson tried to get out of his vehicle, Brown shoved the door closed and a fight ensued. Brown hit Officer Wilson. Officer Wilson went for his gun and Brown either tried to keep the gun away or went after the gun for himself. Shots were fired including into Brown. Brown walked away (ran away?) from the vehicle while Officer Wilson got out and ordered him to stop and get onto the ground. Brown stopped, turned toward the officer and put up his hands. I'm not clear on whether he put up his hands palms toward the officer or toward himself. I'm not clear on whether he said "Don't Shoot" or not.
Brown started approaching Officer Wilson. Officer Wilson shot him several times fatally.
The news comes out more or less as "White cop kills black teen" and the protests begin. The police try to stop the protests including using tear gas on them. The police block the media from getting in. The situation continues to escalate with hatred on both sides until the grand jury declares that it will not indite Officer Wilson.
Protests turn into Riots.
Let's assume that what I've written out here is the truth, or at least very close to the truth. So far as I know, you can't just walk down the middle of the street. You are putting yourself as well as others in danger. A policeman has every right to order you off the street. Standing your ground and arguing with a policeman is never a good idea. Preventing him from getting out of his vehicle is an incredibly bad idea. Striking a police officer is an even worse idea. I don't see racism in any of this.
Let's assume, for just a moment, that Officer Wilson is a racist, black hating, asshole. His actions still don't scream out racist to me. Let's take it a step further and assume he ordered Brown and his friend out of the street in an awful way... "Hey nigger, get the fuck out of my street and into the gutter where you and your mongrel race belong!" (it pains me just to write that). Does that act warrant arguing with the policeman and preventing him from exiting his vehicle?
Arguing? Maybe...but if so that argument should be voiced from the side of the street. Not in the officer's face. Good or bad, racist or not, that is a police officer you are arguing with. If he's overstepping or abusing his authority then you avail yourself through the courts. The problem with doing so right then and there is that the police officer DOES have authority. The best and most peaceful situation once you challenge the policeman's authority is that you will get arrested. The worst and most violent situation once you challenge the racist policeman's authority is that you will be killed.
There are only two things that Brown should have known about the police officer at that moment... he has authority and he is armed. No matter how the situation escalates, the policeman has the upper hand. \
Let's back up and take the overt, over the top, obvious racism out of it. So far as I know, no one says that Officer Wilson said anything like that. Was Officer Wilson justified in shooting, let alone killing Brown?
There's two shootings here, so far as I can see. One while Officer Wilson is in the car, and one while he is out.
In the car. This one for me is the harder question. If I put myself in Officer Wilson's position, I have an intimidating person arguing with me and preventing me from getting out of my vehicle. At that point he's already shown aggression (approaching the car, arguing...) and used force against me (preventing me from getting out of the car). He is in a position that avails him of more power than me (standing and free to move while I"m seated and confined by my seat and vehicle). Words, to this point, have not proven fruitful. Force at this point is necessary. Either that or he has to flee the scene, and with Brown at his door already showing aggression and force of his own, I'm not sure that it was a viable option.
So force here can come in three ways. Hands, less than lethal means, lethal means.
Hands, to me, is out. Again, Brown has the upper hand in position. Even if Officer Wilson was bigger than Brown (and he is NOT bigger) it's an uphill battle that probably leads to him getting hurt or worse.
Less than lethal includes his chemical (mace), or electric (taser) means. Neither of these are designed for such a close confrontation. In the best case scenario of using mace, he gets it out of it's holster, leans back, sprays Brown and hopes that Brown directs his pain into leaving the scene. Far more probable is some of the sprayed mace gets into Officer Wilson's eyes disabling himself and Brown directs his pain into hurting Officer Wilson. The Taser on the other hand may have been a viable option. It's not as though he would have been electrocuted or hurt by the taser himself even if Brown was touching him.
Lethal? Go for the gun. The mere threat of an Officer going for his sidearm should be enough to intimidate most people into backing away.
Now while I write all that out and consider all the options, Officer Wilson had almost no time to make that decision. The time he had to make that decision was filled with a larger person outside of his vehicle that just used aggression and force on him. In that moment he went for his gun.
Here's where facts would be lovely. Did Officer Wilson go for his gun? Did Brown go for his Officer Wilson's Gun? I don't know. All I know is that Brown should have vacated the area. If an officer goes for his gun you should back away, put your hands up and do whatever the officer says. You shouldn't try to get the gun from him.
So... they fight, they punch, Officer Wilson gets enough control of his gun to shoot Brown. Brown starts walking (running?) away. Where I put myself into Officer Wilson's place before, I'm going to try and put myself in Brown's position.
It's harder for me though, as I have respect for police officers and he's already shown a lack of respect. Anyway, I've been shot by a police officer from inside of his vehicle and I start to vacate the area. The officer gets out behind me and orders me to stop and get on the ground. He's already shot me so I can easily assume that he's pointing his gun on me. My reaction? Stop and get on the fucking ground. Without any thought of right or wrong, without any though of possibly dying... I've just been shot and do not want to repeat it. I have a man behind me pointing a gun at me that's already shot me once and he's telling me to do something... I'll take the action that has the likeliest chance of me NOT getting shot again.
Instead of following the commands, he turns and puts his hands up. Maybe he was positioning himself to surrender. Maybe he was looking at his own arms and assessing his wounds. Regardless he did not follow the commands. As I understand it, he started approaching the officer, but that's not concrete. Some say he was shot in the back while fleeing (he wasn't... Brown was never shot in the back), some say he was shot as he stood there. Either way... approaching or standing still... he was still showing aggression toward an authority figure. Maybe if he lies down he thinks he'll get beaten. Maybe if he continues to stand he thinks he can get away from this situation.
I can't keep trying to stay in Brown's head. It just goes so much against my grain. Plus there are vastly different witness acounts... he was shot while running away, he was shot standing still with his back turned, he was shot standing still while facing the officer, he was shot while walking toward the officer, and he was shot while charging the officer.
The only way I can see this second shooting as UNjustified is if Brown follows the commands issued by the officer and he is still shot. If Brown made any move toward the officer without being ordered to do so it's a justified shooting. If Brown doesn't follow the orders (stop, get down, get on your knees...) the shooting is justified. Brown has already shown disregard for the officer's authority and already shown force.
So unless Officer Wilson is a raging racist and just wanted to kill a black teen, then that second shooting is justified. There's no other way that I can see it.
So the news gets out, and the protests start. I want to talk about the protests and the riots that follow, but I'm going to stop here, save this, and finish writing it up later. It's right now 10:10 November 26, 2014 and I need to get ready for work.
No comments:
Post a Comment