Michael Brown: Why The Death Of A Black Man In Missouri Is World News
STACY MCCAIN has a view on why the trouble following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, is front-page news in the UK:
Here’s the thing: Stories like this happen all the time.
People get shot to death on a daily basis in America, and if I was required to express an opinion every time somebody died in a shooting, I’d never have time to comment on anything else. The only reason the the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has become The Biggest Story in History of the Whole Freaking World is that (a) Brown was black, and (b) the cop who shot him was white.
That’s it — the whole story.
Criminal suspects getting shot by cops isn’t really unusual. Brown was unarmed, but the policeman who shot him — identified as Darren Wilson — didn’t know that. There was a robbery, and Brown matched the description of a suspect. I don’t know the details of Brown’s encounter with Officer Wilson, and can’t say why he drew his gun and fired. If you forced me to speculate, I’d guess that Officer Wilson believed Brown might be armed, and that Brown made a sudden move that caused Officer Wilson to believe Brown might be reaching for a gun, at which point Officer Wilson made a split-second decision that turned out to be completely wrong. But that’s just speculation, as is nearly 100% of what idiots have been saying about this story.
One issue is why the US police are armed to the teeth with smmilitary hardware. Liz Shiled looks at the debate:
“It is becoming highly unlikely the civil unrest in Ferguson will provide an opportunity for a serious evaluation of the militarization of America’s police forces. Instead, the commentariat and their associates have tribalized into typical camps regarding the topic of law and order vs. race relations.”
As for the dead man, well, the latest news is that he had was shot from teh front and had been inhaling:
Michael Brown was shot from the front, had marijuana in his system
Photo Spotter: Ryan Maue
Posted: 19th, August 2014 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
