A grand jury has decided not to indict Darren Wilson. I'm surprised (and saddened).
Thoughts?
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I have no thoughts on the verdict as I don't know enough information to have formed a true opinion. But I have the utmost respect for Michael Brown's family who made this statement.
My thoughts are with them as they face this outcome.
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Personally, I'm feeling disgusted with the entire process.
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@mrsjyw: exact same here.... Great statement by his family.
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I'm not surprised, and yet there are no words for how sad, angry, and disappointed I am. Our "justice" system doesn't provide justice for everyone, and that's just the truth..
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Not surprised and I don't think he should be indicted. The mess this is turning into is ridiculous, though.
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I am not surprised, I am however angry. The whole situation is depressing.
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Did you listen to the actual verdict? They specifically go through each aspect of the case. I would encourage everyone to do so. The amount of conflicting eyewitness information they had to sift through was a lot more than I expected. People changed stories, later admitted to not seeing anything at all, etc. But I'm still very unsure about all the events that took place outside the vehicle.
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It's all so very tragic. I pray that one day our justice system is truly fair. My heart aches for Brown's family. Today they were told that their son's life doesn't matter. Again, we are talking about an unarmed young man, and a police officer that shot at him at least 10 times. As I don't have all of the details, I have no right to say whether or not the officer was guilty or deserved a conviction, but I can't believe no charges were brought forward. We've been here before. When will it change? Racial injustice is real, and we need to fix the broken system.
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I am not surprised and I'm not sure whether or not I think he should have been indicted. No question that Wilson did not exercise good judgement in his actions, but this is all a symptom of a much bigger problem that needs to change.
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@Espion: I appreciated the detail McCullough gave. Gave me quite a bit to think about.
These protests are going...well, about as expected.
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@Espion: It was very interesting to hear all of that. I never heard any information about physical evidence supporting Brown attacking the officer (officer had swelling, but did Brown have signs of struggle on his hands?). The witness situation would be so incredibly hard to process. This is why I feel a trial would have been reasonable and appropriate.
White people, in general, have no idea what it's like to be a black person in America, specifically, what it's like to interact with police in these areas.
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Not surprised, but I am saddened. The statement from the family is admirable. I'm wondering now (I haven't thought as much about this as I should)... what positive steps can be taken (other than having all cops wear body cameras), so that nothing like this can happen again?
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@blackbird: We're heading to St Louis tomorrow!
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@blackbird: I was surprised he gave such a lengthy statement. I know it was written ahead of time, but I thought he handled it with a lot of Grace (for lack of a better word). People were questioning his record, but I thought it was well delivered.
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@blackbird: I agree completely. My sister goes to high school in a suburb that's not canceling and she's scared, that's not right.
I didn't think he'd be indicted and I thought the prosecutor tried to explain why he wasn't but I don't think it will matter to those rioting.
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@littlejoy: it was long but yeah, well written.
@FliegepilzHut: the highways should be fine!
You know how this can be lessened? People can stop being criminals in the first place. So many of these incidents start because people are being shady to begin with.
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Not surprised he wasn't indicted, I think they made the right decision.
The violent protesters aren't helping anything. I strongly support the right to assemble, but looting, setting things on fire, and destroying property is nothing but utter stupidity.
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@jetsa: my company was on the threat list.
and no, these people don't care. It's simply a racial issue at the base of it. Has nothing to do with the evidence for most of these protestors. This isn't peaceful
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@blackbird: I don't understand the point. The decision has been made, move on.
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The uncertainty is exactly why I think he should have been indicted. The burden of proof is much lower for a grand jury than to convict a person of a crime. They don't have to decide "beyond a reasonable doubt." Also, the lower charge, second degree manslaughter, only implies criminal negligence in the act. Given that pretty much everyone has admitted there's a lot of "uncertainty," and given that the burden of proof is so much lower than for a conviction, I don't see how anyone could say he shouldn't at least have been indicted.
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@Applesandbananas: Most of those people aren't actually fighting for a cause. They are just out there to make noise. Sad.
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I'm hoping the chaos will be contained...
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@littlejoy: I know. I read that many of the looters in the original protests back in August weren't even from Ferguson. It's infuriating.
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@blackbird: "being shady" shouldn't exactly earn someone the equivalent of the death penalty, though... Even if he had been "shady" beforehand, I want cops to be held accountable for shooting unarmed people. There's been at least two other cases of cops shooting unarmed black men/boys this WEEK.
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@Applesandbananas: all the hotels south of city are supposed to be booked and law enforcement has called in additional police help from Illinois to help control the crowds.
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@Applesandbananas: @littlejoy: I agree. The folks smashing police cars, throwing stuff, and firing shots aren't accomplishing anything.
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@MrsSCB: he was in the car there was a degree of self-protection in play here as well.
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It's sad and so is all the violence as a result.
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@MrsSCB: well I'm using the term shady loosely. Don't be a criminal. Don't attack cops. You don't need to be armed to be threatening. THAT will get you shot
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@jetsa: I don't see how that counters what I was trying to say? He was also unarmed. You're telling me a person needs to shoot an unarmed man numerous times to "protect" himself? Anyway, this says pretty much what I was trying to say http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ferguson-michael-brown-indictment-darren-wilson/
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@blackbird: I'm sorry but I really disagree with the idea of "don't attack cops so you don't get shot." Of course you shouldn't attack cops. But the idea that a cop should have free reign to kill anyone who comes at them is pretty reprehensible to me.
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@Espion: Yes. I'm not saying he should've been convicted had it gone to trial (I don't have enough evidence to come to a conclusion about that), but I still don't see how he wasn't indicted.
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@littlejoy: DH asked me what I would tell our son if he was old enough. My gut reaction would be to tell him that this anger comes from a well founded place. I can't imagine what it was like in the civil rights era. And you are right. I can't know what it is like now. But I grew up stomping out of the room in disgust when my grandmother stubbornly acknowledged "there are some good ones". (I'm still, to this day, so ashamed she said that.) I don't see people any differently than fellow human beings. I can only hope I instill the same sense of humanity in my son.
And in terms of the verdict details, I think they are releasing all of their findings/evidence. It will be interesting to see how it is interpreted (hopefully objectively) by other parties.
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@MrsSCB: okay. That's sorta the premise of self defense, though.....cop or not.
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@blackbird: the premise of self defense is defending oneself. I just can't agree that requires shooting an unarmed person nearly a dozen times, or more than once, or at all.
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@MrsSCB: I agree. While in college, a man was killed by police after being found drunk in a stranger's backyard. He was incredibly intoxicated and charged the officer. He was fatally shot. When asked why the office didn't use pepper spray, the precinct admitted the officer had not been yet trained to use it. But a 9 mm?
I shoplifted in middle school. I am ashamed to admit that, but my point is that I surely didn't deserve to be fatally shot by a cop. And, because I'm a white female, I can almost guarantee it will never happen.
This officer could have called for backup. He should have been trained in non-lethal means of getting an unarmed suspect under control.
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Watching CNN's coverage and the "protesters" are looting a liquor store. Way to further the cause.
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@littlejoy: backup was on the way. It escalated too quickly. Not being a 350 pound black man, you probably wouldn't be perceived as a big threat
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@littlejoy: exactly. The fact is, this keeps happening time and time and time again to black men. There's the guy in SC who was shot by a cop for leaning into the car to get his license, which the cop asked for. There's the guy this week in Brooklyn who was shot walking into a stairwell. There was the guy shot not too long ago holding a fake gun in a store that was selling it while literally saying "it's not real." I just can't anymore. And since people talk about how scary and threatening Michael Brown was, not one single one of those guys I just mentioned were not doing what they were told. You want to believe michael brown deserved it? Fine. Then tell me what those, and dozens of others, did to deserve it.
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279 comments