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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / Worth More Than 1000 Words, Worth Less Than Zero

Worth More Than 1000 Words, Worth Less Than Zero

by Zandar|  November 25, 20148:28 am| 106 Comments

This post is in: Post-racial America, Shitty Cops, Decline and Fall, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Stuff About Black People Written By a Black Person

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This iconic photo of Ferguson last night by Reuters is what is sticking with me this morning.

‘Murica.

We’re learning more about Wilson’s grand jury testimony as well.

Ferguson, Mo. police Officer Darren Wilson testified before a grand jury that Michael Brown looked like an angry “demon” during the Aug. 9 confrontation that ended in the teenager’s death.

St. Louis Public Radio published the full transcript of Wilson’s testimony Monday. The St. Louis County Prosecutor’s office released evidence from the grand jury proceedings after it was announced that no charges would be filed against Wilson.

From the outset, Wilson’s testimony painted Brown as an angry young man. The officer testified that when he first approached Brown and his friend to tell them to walk on the sidewalk instead of in the middle of the road, Brown responded “fuck what you have to say.”

And for that, Michael Brown was summarily executed, and without consequence.

This is the system that this morning I am being told I have to “trust” and “put my faith in”.  The one that was never meant to protect anyone who looks like me.  The system that allowed Darren Wilson to walk, and arranged a public shaming of the victim and his family in a strange tirade where the county prosecutor defended the officer accused of killing an unarmed black man and ripped into the eyewitnesses as being anything but credible.  The system that decided that 8 PM local time was the best time to announce the decision after supposedly sitting on that decision for a weekend. The system that took over 100 days to determine that there was no evidence worthy of even sending this case to trial.  The system in that photo above, I am being told, I have to “believe in”.

You will excuse me if I withhold that benefit of the doubt.  In his testimony, Wilson, a 6’4″ man, referred to Mike Brown as “it”, and “a demon”.  He wasn’t human.  He was a thing, and there’s no penalty for shooting a thing and so this thing was shot time and time again because it had to be put down, a monster, a beast, a nightmare made flesh.

And whatever actually took place on that street that day, it does not warrant a trial to investigate it. That is the lesson here. Did Brown deserve the ultimate sanction, the taking of his life?  We’ll never know.  There’s no trial to compare the evidence, to advocate one way or another in a court of law, nothing to weigh, no due process.  He wasn’t worth that. That’s what the system says.

A picture, they say, is worth 1000 words.  The life of a black person is worth less than nothing.  That’s what I’m being told I need to “believe in” this morning.

I believe I’ve had enough of this bullshit.

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Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    November 25, 2014 at 8:32 am

    Ferguson and other communities might end up sad they took the easy way out last night. Justice deferred.

    This is not going to go away. May “law enforcement” end up ruing that they did not give Michael Brown’s killer his day in court.

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    November 25, 2014 at 8:35 am

    My comment from late to the morning thread. Gonna take an optimistic view, in the long run.

    Michael Brown’s family did not get justice last night. But:

    this was the end of the first act. It’s apparent that police resort to lethal force too often in dealing with their communities, particularly communities of color. Why is that?

    That transcript will be interesting. More intelligent people than the Grand Jury or Wilson’s defense lawyer aka the St. Louis prosecutor will comb through it.

    Community policing vs. having a militarized police force is on the public radar. They cannot put that genie back into a bottle.

    The “us” vs. “them” of law enforcement (sadly, including the courts) is on the public radar.

    And, with respect to Officer Wilson: he sounds badly trained and ready to shoot first. We will find out more about him down the road.

    Police face a heavily armed populace — the NRA has made sure of that. Where they might have talked or waited before, they protect their own lives first. That is not good, but it’s not insane either.

    “Law enforcement” in Ferguson made sure that Michael Brown and those unreliable witnesses from the community were on trial, not the police. As someone mentioned last night, the police statements were not subject to the same level of scrutiny.

    And the police acted terribly here throughout.

    None of that will go unnoticed.

  3. 3.

    Edmund Dantes

    November 25, 2014 at 8:42 am

    The crazy testimony is from crime scene investigator and ME.

    Didn’t take photos. Battery died.

    Didn’t take measurements at crime scene. Wasn’t needed since we could see what happened. A person was shot.

    Wow. It’s stunning in how little they care to even hide that the fix was in.

  4. 4.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    November 25, 2014 at 8:43 am

    So is the “Boycott Black Friday” thing worth getting behind? I don’t think I’ve actually shopped in a store on that day in a long, long time, myself. But encouraging others might be worthwhile.

    Thoughts?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    Xboxershorts

    November 25, 2014 at 8:46 am

    @Edmund Dantes:

    The crazy testimony is from crime scene investigator and ME.

    I cannot square the track of the head wounds with the rest of the testimony. Michael Brown either had to be falling or he had to be complying in order to be shot twice vertically through the head.

    Which was it? Falling? Or complying?

    Either way, the threat has passed by this point.

  6. 6.

    Punchy

    November 25, 2014 at 8:49 am

    @Edmund Dantes: no photos at the crime scene b/c the battery died? Is this for real? Thats a fireable offense, right? Why would Joe Photo be without a battery backup when his whole job is to snap pics?

  7. 7.

    Baud

    November 25, 2014 at 8:50 am

    The whole thing is like a reverse-Kafka, with a secret trial used to exonerate rather than condemn.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    November 25, 2014 at 8:50 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Honestly, I see no reason for optimism. The optimism after the previous shooting is what allowed this shooting to take place, and will certainly allow the next one to occur.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    November 25, 2014 at 8:52 am

    @Punchy:

    I couldn’t believe that either. How do you not check your batteries on a regular basis? It’s like the Keystone Kops with these police departments. I think it’s time for an investigation into police departments nationwide.

  10. 10.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    November 25, 2014 at 8:53 am

    Wilson, a 6’4″ man, referred to Mike Brown as “it”, and “a demon”.

    Sounds like Wilson’s conscious has issues with what he did if he literally has to demonize Brown.

  11. 11.

    LosGatosCA

    November 25, 2014 at 8:54 am

    America is not what white Americans think it is.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 25, 2014 at 8:54 am

    A picture, they say, is worth 1000 words. The life of a black person is worth less than nothing.

    That is the lesson to be learned, again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again…

    I think you get the idea.

  13. 13.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 25, 2014 at 8:55 am

    Sadly, ever since the Rodney King verdict, I never expect justice to be done in cases where Black men are brutalized/killed by police officers. I’ve never rioted in my life but I understand what could cause someone to engage in such destructive behavior.

    As Dr. King aptly said many decades ago, riots are the language of the unheard.

    http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/riot-is-the-language-of-the-unheard-what-mlk-would-have-said-about-the-london-riots/

  14. 14.

    Mudge

    November 25, 2014 at 8:56 am

    Let’s be clear, police officers often lie about what happens. Officers will also lie to protect another officer. Evidence goes missing or gets manufactured. Go look at the account of a policeman compared to video of an incident. Lying leads to the result in Ferguson. Many people (grand juries?) believe the police. They shouldn’t.

    The one thing never written about Wilson was that he lied about what happened. The witnesses are accused of lying, but not Wilson.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 25, 2014 at 8:56 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: No, Wilson was a Ferguson cop. That way of thinking is a job requirement.

  16. 16.

    ChrisH

    November 25, 2014 at 8:56 am

    Darren Wilson’s testimony sounds like Zap Brannigan inventing a story to justify killing a random bystander.

    “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,” he told jurors.

    the subtext of everything Darren Wilson said is that Brown was an animal that had to be put down…..or he was an Xman with the power of Hulk Hogan and the ability to shrug off bullets

  17. 17.

    gratuitous

    November 25, 2014 at 8:57 am

    They spelled “beatings” wrong in the banner over the street.

    In addition to the fact-finding purpose of a trial, there’s something else that’s missing from the grand jury proceedings, and that’s cross-examination. Remember, these county prosecutors have to work with the local police after all is said and done, and it’s that close cooperation between law enforcement and prosecution that secures convictions of criminals. If the district attorneys start prosecuting their law enforcement partners, that close cooperation suffers. They start exposing police officers as liars, and pretty soon you call into question every cop’s testimony. So, you know, trust in the system suffers. And we MUST trust the system. For some reason.

  18. 18.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 25, 2014 at 8:57 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Or he is comfortable in killing a Black man by dehumanizing him. He didn’t kill a person. He killed an “it”. Like squashing a bug. No big deal.

  19. 19.

    skerry

    November 25, 2014 at 8:57 am

    @LosGatosCA:

    America is not what Americans think it is.

    Depends on which Americans you are talking about. Some of us know. Some of us are learning. Some of us don’t want to know.

  20. 20.

    Warren Terra

    November 25, 2014 at 8:57 am

    For me, the telling thing about these pictures of the police buildup in Ferguson is that in none of them do I see badge numbers prominently displayed. It’s almost like there has been no institutional recognition of the need for accountability and responsibility.

  21. 21.

    Sherparick

    November 25, 2014 at 8:58 am

    By the way, if there was any doubt that’s exactly the message Conservative Movement Neo-Confederate White America wants to deliver to you, please see the following screen shots at Salon: http://www.salon.com/2014/11/25/right_wings_sick_twitter_celebration_ann_coulter_ted_nugent_brit_hume_battle_for_grossest_darren_wilson_tweet/

    They are very, very happy to see America divide more and more on racial lines, and tough economic times. They expect to have the most votes when the tribes go to the polls in 2016 and 2018. They are going to point to the fires and the looting. I saw how this game played out in better, more prosperous, generous times in the 1960s and early 70s, when there was no Fox News and the Right-wing wurlitzer was only playing at volume 8. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming (except his name is Walker).

  22. 22.

    p.a.

    November 25, 2014 at 8:59 am

    @Elizabelle: You’re sweet to be so optimistic. Most of this shyte has been ‘on the table’ since the Edmund Pettus bridge. The only way it may change is if/when the people enabling this stuff die out. “One funeral at a time.”

  23. 23.

    Punchy

    November 25, 2014 at 9:01 am

    @debbie: My guess is that nowhere, in the history of all police investigations in all of the United States, has a crime scene camera battery died when a white person had been 86’d. This is such egregiously impossible bullshit to believe that I’m praying it’s spoof. This is akin to the cop not calling for the ambulance right away because his phone was on roam, or his shoelace needing tying. Wow.

  24. 24.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 25, 2014 at 9:03 am

    @Sherparick: I don’t think the Teabaggers/White Supremacists are going to be too happy about 2016. We’ll see. Dan Savage linked to this article which suggests some good news for Dems for the next election.

    http://blog.chron.com/goplifer/2014/11/the-missing-story-of-the-2014-election/#28114101=0

  25. 25.

    mzrad

    November 25, 2014 at 9:03 am

    I’m so ashamed of the lynching history in the US. STL police just gave themselves a black eye. Intolerance and exploiting stereotypes is repulsive to me. Those heavily armed and apparently very frightened police don’t speak for me. Shameful!

  26. 26.

    El Caganer

    November 25, 2014 at 9:06 am

    @p.a.: You’re talking about a very, very long wait. There are a lot of people in their 20s and 30s I’ve met (I’m in my 60s) who are very much enablers and/or participants in this shit. It’s not just one older generation.

  27. 27.

    James B Franks

    November 25, 2014 at 9:06 am

    @gratuitous: There is no cross-examination in a Grand Jury hearing; I’ve sat on one. The grand jury is there as a check on the DAs office. Their job is to judge if there is reasonable chance that the law was broken based on the evidence presented by the prosecutor, the defense gets no say at this time.

  28. 28.

    dubo

    November 25, 2014 at 9:07 am

    Someone just straight up got away with murder and the media is like “Oh noes it will take this poor man HOURS to put all the potato chip back on the shelf“

  29. 29.

    LosGatosCA

    November 25, 2014 at 9:07 am

    @skerry:

    Sorry I edited my comment to add “white” which I forgot. Non-white Americans have a much clearer understanding of what America is, and is not.

  30. 30.

    Edmund Dantes

    November 25, 2014 at 9:08 am

    I still just can’t believe medical investigator didn’t take any separate photos because the battery died and he didn’t take any measurements.

    I wonder if he was even embarrassed when he said this to the grand jury.

  31. 31.

    Spinwheel

    November 25, 2014 at 9:08 am

    I believe I’ve had enough of this bullshit.

    You come from an upper middle class family with white parents. What the hell do you know about the life of Michael Brown?

    Do you ever stop lying, even for a second?

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    November 25, 2014 at 9:11 am

    @Warren Terra:
    As I recall, the policemen in Ferguson have persisted in not wearing their badge numbers, despite reminders from the federal Department of Justice itself, since the protests began just after Officer Wilson killed Michael Brown. If they won’t listen to the Feds, well …

    As for Wilson himself, the police chief has said he’d be reinstated if there were no charges, although that was before the reports that his resignation was being negotiated. It will be interesting to see if and how Wilson resumes his duties in the current atmosphere.

  33. 33.

    Morzer

    November 25, 2014 at 9:13 am

    I wish I saw more hope in the short-term. In the medium term, the biggest hope I can see is that the Fox audience gets older on average every year, which means they are going to be dropping off their shit-encrusted branches into Satan’s hungry jaws at an increasing rate as time goes on. That, plus an increasing number of brown voters ought to first set a limit to the GOP’s psychotic rampage across the US and then slowly push them back into a shrinking Southern bunker that they can only maintain by tactics that store up an immense amount of illwill among decent people, thus isolating themselves more. In the longterm, it’s up to white people to pull their pants up and up to Democrats to make the party strong, effective and free of corruption at every level. Not so sure how hopeful I feel about either prospect.

  34. 34.

    C.V. Danes

    November 25, 2014 at 9:14 am

    The verdict is sad enough. But sadder is the attitude by the police and their enablers that even investigating the shooting was a huge waste of time and money. If a boy was gunned down by the police, then the police were well within their right to do so, unquestioned. If you don’t like it, they’ll provide a night stick for you to suck on.

    Face, meet boot, forever.

  35. 35.

    JPL

    November 25, 2014 at 9:15 am

    @Elizabelle: After Lanza mowed down school children in Newtown, CT, I thought that our lax laws on assault weapons would change. After theater patrons were mo wed down in Aurora, CO, I thought our laws would change. I just can’t be optimistic anymore.

  36. 36.

    peach flavored shampoo

    November 25, 2014 at 9:15 am

    I saw a comment yesterday that went unanswered, but I was wondering the same thing: can the identities of the grand jury members be revealed through a FOIA request? Or are their names already public knowledge?

    And how many hours before Fox hosts the first couple of them to describe why they couldn’t indict the ham sandwich?

  37. 37.

    chopper

    November 25, 2014 at 9:15 am

    @Spinwheel:

    You need psychological help.

  38. 38.

    Morzer

    November 25, 2014 at 9:17 am

    @chopper:

    Plus some lessons in how to read and think before opening the pie-hole. Might be a long-term project.

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    November 25, 2014 at 9:17 am

    @Morzer:

    I am concerned that the police are watching Fox. And believing the “us vs. them” themes. Protecting the makers against the takers.

    Who are “its.”

  40. 40.

    kc

    November 25, 2014 at 9:19 am

    @Punchy:

    My guess is that nowhere, in the history of all police investigations in all of the United States, has a crime scene camera battery died when a white person had been 86’d.

    I know a lady whose (white) son was killed after being maced and hog-tied by cops. The one dash cam on the scene turned off right before the, um, altercation. The cop said he must have “bumped” it by accident.

    Facial injuries suggest the kid was beaten as well, but of course the cops denied that.

  41. 41.

    Nate

    November 25, 2014 at 9:20 am

    Wilson’s whole testimony is just so weird. Not only the rampaging demon stuff, but he also cites a “cloud of dust” rising up from behind Brown as he ran towards him.

    Whoever said X-men above is correct. It’s like Wilson truly thinks he’s in a comic book or something.

  42. 42.

    Face

    November 25, 2014 at 9:20 am

    @Amir Khalid: I’d think there’s zero chance Wilson stays employed as a cop, anywhere. He’d be constantly followed by cameras, his conduct on even traffic stops would be scrutinized to the nth degree, and he’d be (rightly) harrassed ad infinitum. I think he’ll end up on Fox news ala Mark Furman to fustigate about lazy darkies and the terrible plight of the Rich White Male(TM) in America.

  43. 43.

    Emma

    November 25, 2014 at 9:21 am

    @Spinwheel: On behalf of all of us who can actually empathize, get stuffed.

    And no, he’s not that into you. You’re embarrassing yourself with all your attempts at getting his attention.

  44. 44.

    Morzer

    November 25, 2014 at 9:21 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I don’t think there’s any doubt that far too many of the police are hopped up to the point of psychotic paranoia on bad-faith “news” and idiotic programs about the threat to “freedom”

  45. 45.

    JPL

    November 25, 2014 at 9:21 am

    Did anyone read the documents pertaining to the Grand Jury? If so, how many witnesses said he charged the police officer?

  46. 46.

    Lavocat

    November 25, 2014 at 9:22 am

    Word.

  47. 47.

    Karen in GA

    November 25, 2014 at 9:24 am

    @Punchy:

    Why would Joe Photo be without a battery backup when his whole job is to snap pics?

    Was he really, though? Or was that just a convenient lie to explain the lack of crime scene photos?

  48. 48.

    greennotGreen

    November 25, 2014 at 9:25 am

    I am a 64 yo white woman, raised in the suburbs. In the early 70’s I had a black boyfriend. It was amazing to learn that he and many of his friends had relatives that had been killed by the police. These were not hardcore criminals I was hanging out with; they were hippies, just like me, only with darker skin.

    So, no, I am not optimistic about change.

  49. 49.

    Elizabelle

    November 25, 2014 at 9:26 am

    @Karen in GA:

    Were they without vehicles to deliver him a fresh battery? They seem to have had hours of the vic lying in the street, didn’t they?

  50. 50.

    greennotGreen

    November 25, 2014 at 9:26 am

    @Karen in GA: Didn’t anyone at the scene have a smart phone? Anyone? Anyone?

  51. 51.

    p.a.

    November 25, 2014 at 9:26 am

    @El Caganer: agreed. I did write if/when. Change is happening. Glacially slow.

    I don’t want to engage in any kind of ‘blame the victim’ b.s., but I think if more minority cops, public safety officials spoke up there could be greater impetus for change. It’s hard to say that though knowing their jobs would be at risk, and that there should be no need for such actions.

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    November 25, 2014 at 9:27 am

    I’m feeling you, Zander.

    I’m feeling you.

    You will not have me disagree one iota with you.

    A picture, they say, is worth 1000 words. The life of a black person is worth less than nothing. That’s what I’m being told I need to “believe in” this morning.

    I believe I’ve had enough of this bullshit

    Amen my Brotha.

    AMEN

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    November 25, 2014 at 9:29 am

    Please note that I said optimistic, in the long run.

    Selma happened. We have its equivalent still.

    Our country elected a black president. Twice, when enough people tune in to vote.

    What George Zimmerman was came to light; it took a while. That will happen here, and this Grand Jury testimony will be under a microscope.

    PS: some FB “friend” has banned me posting to his page, where he and his white bread buds are shrieking about black thugs. I pointed out that Wilson deserved a day in open court, and the jury heard what the prosecutor wanted them to hear. Oh well.

    ETA: got to do some work to be ready to leave for holiday tomorrow. Catch you later.

  54. 54.

    Jado

    November 25, 2014 at 9:29 am

    @Xboxershorts:

    He was running head-first at that poor scared officer. You know, like a bull. With the horns and the snorting and everything. Poor overmatched Officer Wilson only had his giant frame, training, bullet-proof vest and pistol to defend himself. It’s a wonder he escaped with his life!!

    Ooo, I just scared myself. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the cops drag the terrifying corpse out and shoot it again, cause it’s so scary. They could attach fishing line to his body, and show all of the reporters how scary it could be to have a giant terrifying Mike Brown turn his back and walk away from you.

  55. 55.

    CarolDuhart2

    November 25, 2014 at 9:31 am

    @Face: Not even on Fox news. We’ve learned how to protest the media now, and we’ll follow him to the ends of the earth. Notice that Zimmerman hasn’t gotten a gig anywhere-he has blood on his hands and the press knows that anywhere who hires him will have bad publicity.

    Fuhrman was a racist, but he had nothing to do with the crime itself. He didn’t kill anyone, and the forensics held up anyway.

  56. 56.

    kc

    November 25, 2014 at 9:31 am

    @Edmund Dantes:

    Either they’re covering up or they’re just egregiously incompetent.

  57. 57.

    JPL

    November 25, 2014 at 9:32 am

    @rikyrah: There was a situation that I won’t share on an open forum, that occurred awhile back. Anyway, I have no doubt, that if I were black, it could have ended differently. It was just a misunderstanding, but misunderstandings, don’t happen for part of our society. I’m so sorry.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    November 25, 2014 at 9:32 am

    @LosGatosCA:

    America is not what white Americans think it is.

    TELL THE TRUTH

  59. 59.

    El Caganer

    November 25, 2014 at 9:33 am

    @Jado: Don’t forget the “cloud of dust.” At least his scriptwriter had enough sense to leave out “…and a hearty ‘Hi-yo, Silver! Away!'”

  60. 60.

    CarolDuhart2

    November 25, 2014 at 9:35 am

    @Morzer: I’m not sure they aren’t already hopped up on stuff-seeing the worst of humanity creates some PTSD, and unlike soldiers who see bad things for only a short while, this is day in and day out stuff.

    Personally, I think cops should have a fixed term and then out to do something else with their lives-perhaps folks will be more accountable if they have to look for another job or relate with other people besides cops.

    Also what drugs are the cops taking?

  61. 61.

    Morzer

    November 25, 2014 at 9:36 am

    @Jado:

    Given a couple more days, I am pretty sure Murderer Wilson would have seen Smaug flashing gang signs and breathing fire.

  62. 62.

    ItAintEazy

    November 25, 2014 at 9:37 am

    @Edmund Dantes: He was probably an affirmative action hire

    (not enough :sarcasm: tags for this post)

  63. 63.

    Face

    November 25, 2014 at 9:37 am

    @Elizabelle: Or a nearby Walmart, Kmart, Walgreens, Target, Bass Pro, CVS, Pennys, Home Depot, Sears, Radio Shack, or Best Buy in which to purchase a new battery?

    Seriously, “Couldn’t take pics cuz the battery on the only piece of equipment I’m required to maintain for the whole existance of my job was not maintained” rivals “Dog eats homework” in sheer stupidity and malfeasance.

  64. 64.

    srv

    November 25, 2014 at 9:38 am

    Actually, most white folk are going to be incensed about that photo too because it just proves how politically correct the citizens of Ferguson already have to be.

    Otherwise, it would say Merry Christmas and there would be an old white guy in a red suit.

  65. 65.

    p.a.

    November 25, 2014 at 9:41 am

    @CarolDuhart2:

    Fuhrman was a racist, but he had nothing to do with the crime itself. He didn’t kill anyone, and the forensics held up anyway.

    Don’t know what he says on Faux, but I do know he went to Oklahoma to do an article on the death penalty:

    Death and Justice is a transformative book for Fuhrman and an important book for his considerable audience. He takes readers on his first-person journey from death-penalty advocate to death-penalty opponent, using Oklahoma City as his backdrop.

  66. 66.

    Seanly

    November 25, 2014 at 9:41 am

    Uggh, I am so f*cking pissed right now. This is a terrible injustice.

    I made the mistake of watching a little CNN just now. Some Skeletor-looking blond announcer and Mark O’Mara were talking about the case. Then they talked to Sunny Liston (sp?) and she talked about the officer’s terrible testimony, the prosecution’s softball questions, etc. Mark O’Mara tried to handwave away Liston’s points. At the end of the segment the white b*tch c*nt had the f*cking audacity to roll her eyes at Liston as the segment ended. That put me through the roof.

    There are times when I think that the slow broil we’ve given ourselves via global warming is justified for our terrible treatment of each other. Then there are times when I think that before we all broil, we should get a terrible retribution for all our crimes.

  67. 67.

    Svensker

    November 25, 2014 at 9:42 am

    @ChrisH:

    like it was making him mad that I’m shooting at him,” he told jurors.

    What an odd reaction, to be upset that someone is shooting at you.

    This stuff breaks my heart. I’m really glad we moved to Canada.

  68. 68.

    Ruckus

    November 25, 2014 at 9:43 am

    @JPL:
    I haven’t been optimistic about this country for a while. But I get less so every day. And then yesterday I do believe I lost all my optimistic properties. Like most bad situations this will get, although it’s hard to understand how, worse before it gets better. I commented here the other day that racism is at the same level and has not gotten less in my 65 yrs. I was wrong, it’s gotten worse again.

  69. 69.

    Morzer

    November 25, 2014 at 9:43 am

    @Svensker:

    Hey Svensker. Long time no see. Are you in recovery from the Jets?

  70. 70.

    Mumbles

    November 25, 2014 at 9:46 am

    @Jado: Or, to use another comic book character, like Juggernaut.

    I have no idea what’s even the most brazenly stupid part of all this: the Prosecutor’s whining about how Twitter made them look bad, the fact that he actually presented a witness who said Brown ran away, turned around, charged Wilson, stopped, and then *began charging again (A story that makes George Zimmerman look like a master of deception), or Wilson’s ridiculous account about how he was just pleasantly asking Bruce Banner to stay safe, when he suddenly flipped out.

    No, wait, it was all the pictures and videos of police dressed up like they were fighting ISIS, running around and attacking whoever they saw for weeks afterwards. I’ve long since passed the point where I thought the entire Ferguson PD should simply be dissolved and rebuilt from scratch, as a first step.

  71. 71.

    D58826

    November 25, 2014 at 9:51 am

    I would disagree with thge following portion of your post ‘

    And whatever actually took place on that street that day, it does not warrant a trial to investigate it. That is the lesson here. Did Brown deserve the ultimate sanction, the taking of his life? We’ll never know. There’s no trial to compare the evidence, to advocate one way or another in a court of law, nothing to weigh, no due process. He wasn’t worth that. That’s what the system says.

    . Specifically the portion where you refer to ‘weighting conflicting evidence’. In theory in a trial the two sides battle over the evidence and try to poke holes in the other side’s case. In this case Wilson has two defense lawyers – his own and the prosecutor. The state wasn’t going to present anything damning about Wilson or try to poke holes in his story. During discovery the defense would have no interest in the background of the African-American witnesses (if they really exist) who supported Wilson’s story. If the defense had called a fireplug as a witness the prosecutor would not have objected.
    The only way you are going to get the ‘weighting of conflicting evidence’ is in a civil wrongful death suit, unless there is a federal case filed.
    And yes I think the fix was in.

  72. 72.

    p.a.

    November 25, 2014 at 9:54 am

    Saw something a few days ago: “the comments on discussions about femininism prove the need for feminism.”
    Quite applicable about racism to conservative ‘liberals are the real racists’ comments after Zimmerman and Wilson.

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    November 25, 2014 at 9:55 am

    @Mumbles:
    If it was this one police dept maybe that would help. But it’s not. Changing this dept would be like desalinating a bucket of water and then throwing it back in the ocean to see how less salty the whole thing would be. Unmeasurable. As broken as a democracy may be as a governing system, it can work. But this one is way beyond broken. It’s fixed for those with money and skin color. If you have one of those it’s possible to live, if not good, at least passably.
    If you have neither of those you are fucked.

  74. 74.

    cmorenc

    November 25, 2014 at 9:56 am

    If the grand jury had returned an indictment for say, voluntary manslaughter – how would the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s office have proceeded with um, actually prosecuting the case, assuming this was not at all the result they expected from how they had presented the case to the grand jury for their consideration? It would have been intolerably awkward for them to seek to have the indictment dismissed without going to trial with it, but just as awkward to appear at trial to be deliberately tanking on it. The tap-dance they would have needed to put on would have been at once awesome and horrifying, requiring far more mendacious, brazen chutzpah on their part to pull off than if they successfully led the grand jury to return “no indictment”. No one would have been more terrified of a surprise indictment than the St. Louis County County prosecutor’s office.

  75. 75.

    WereBear

    November 25, 2014 at 9:56 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I’m all for reducing shopping frenzies.

    It’s all fun and games until someone gets killed.

  76. 76.

    Spinwheel

    November 25, 2014 at 9:57 am

    Meanwhile eleven hundred civilians have been killed by U.S. drones with no trial or no grand jury investigation at all, so I expect you all to be infuriated by that.

  77. 77.

    WereBear

    November 25, 2014 at 9:59 am

    @p.a.: Sadly, I have to agree.

    On the other hand, that day is coming right soon.

  78. 78.

    A Humble Lurker

    November 25, 2014 at 10:02 am

    @Spinwheel:
    Hey, is that another dollar I can donate to Zandar? I think it is!

  79. 79.

    D58826

    November 25, 2014 at 10:02 am

    @Mudge: According to the prosecutor there ware a number of African American witnesses who backed up the cops version of events. Now maybe that is true but am I being a bit suspicious if I I think that this is a case off a reverse jail house snitch.The snitch tells the prosecutor a story that gets someone convicted. In this case the snitch aids the defense. The prosecutor said that some of the witnesses said one thing on TV and something before the Grand Jury. I wonder if a local cop dropped by the home of a witness and said ‘nice boy you have there. would be a real shame if he was holding drugs. Would ruin his life and all’.

  80. 80.

    Tractarian

    November 25, 2014 at 10:04 am

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s not really the system that’s the problem, it’s the people within the system?

    That is to say, if we had honorable people working in the system we’d get a different result. But we don’t so we shan’t.

  81. 81.

    LAC

    November 25, 2014 at 10:08 am

    @rikyrah: and I give another amen, Rikyrah. A damn righteous post. Take notes, Cole.

  82. 82.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    November 25, 2014 at 10:08 am

    The officer testified that when he first approached Brown and his friend to tell them to walk on the sidewalk instead of in the middle of the road, Brown responded “fuck what you have to say.”

    Oddly enough, that’s pretty much how I feel about the entire grand jury. And America’s political system. And the hopelessly, horribly crippled media.

    Fuck what you have to say.

  83. 83.

    Mumbles

    November 25, 2014 at 10:13 am

    @Ruckus:
    Oh, I know, and I wouldn’t expect it to change too much. We’ll still have police jumping around a corner and immediately shooting John Crawford III (amazing how most NRA members didn’t seem to care much about that), or a cop strangling Eric Garner from behind, the many black people who get tazed or maced by cops just for walking by, and so on. We can work on those later.

    But could we at least get rid of the folks who thought that it would be a good idea to have a cop, with no badge, dressed in camo in a city, on top of a mine-resistant vehicle, pointing a sniper rifle at unarmed protestors with their hands up? That’d be a good start.

    No? Well, okay then.

  84. 84.

    Ella in New Mexico

    November 25, 2014 at 10:18 am

    Some of my less reflective Facebook friends are sharing this Ted Nugent post this morning.

    Here’s the lessons from Ferguson America- Don’t let your kids growup to be thugs who think they can steal, assault & attack cops as a way of life & badge of black (dis)honor. Don’t preach your racist bullshit “no justice no peace” as blabbered by Obama’s racist Czar Al Not So Sharpton & their black klansmen. When a cop tells you to get out of the middle of the street, obey him & don’t attack him as brainwashed by the gangsta assholes you hang with & look up to. It’s that simple unless you have no brains, no soul, no sense of decency whatsoever. And dont claim that “black lives matter” when you ignore the millions you abort & slaughter each & every day by other blacks. Those of us with a soul do indeed believe black lives matter, as all lives matter. So quit killin each other you fuckin idiots. Drive safely.

    If we are going to make it open season on “assholes” who make provocative, obnoxious, disrespectful and threatening statements against someone in an official position of authority, can we go ahead and summarily execute “Poop my Cowardly Pants” Ted first?

  85. 85.

    Morzer

    November 25, 2014 at 10:21 am

    @Spinwheel:

    Any minute now Glenn Greenwald is going to march in and say:

    “Who’s been sitting in my chair?”

  86. 86.

    BretH

    November 25, 2014 at 10:23 am

    What I just don’t get and haven’t see much discussion about is, why would a young man just graduating High School, with no previous history of violent crime

    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/no-top-felony-convictions-michael-browns-juvenile-record-court-n194701

    confront an officer in such a manner that he was seriously risking either his life, or life in prison for killing an officer? That simply does not make sense to me. I mean, no matter how obnoxious the cop behaved, a person would absolutely have to take leave of his senses to reach in the car and try and take a cop’s gun, because best case scenario is you shoot a cop. Worst case scenario is you die.

    Does. Not. Make. Sense.

  87. 87.

    PaulW

    November 25, 2014 at 10:44 am

    @BretH:

    the person testifying that Brown was reaching for the gun was the sonofabitch who shot him. I wouldn’t trust Wilson’s word on anything because he’ll say that to justify what he did.

  88. 88.

    PaulW

    November 25, 2014 at 10:46 am

    Lemme just rage here for a minute.

    http://noticeatrend.blogspot.com/2014/11/fergusonfail.html

    We Should Be Rolling Lighter Than This.

  89. 89.

    Steve from Antioch

    November 25, 2014 at 10:48 am

    The officer testified that when he first approached Brown and his friend to tell them to walk on the sidewalk instead of in the middle of the road, Brown responded “fuck what you have to say.”

    And for that, Michael Brown was summarily executed, and without consequence.

    I thought there was some further interaction between the two before the shooting started …

  90. 90.

    Paul in KY

    November 25, 2014 at 10:48 am

    @James B Franks: In KY, the Grand Jurors & prosecutor ask questions. Any ‘cross examination’ would come from a skeptical grand juror.

  91. 91.

    PaulW

    November 25, 2014 at 10:49 am

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    Ella, tell your FB friends that the lesson here is that cops can shoot anybody they like – ignore the fact they’re denying their victims any rights of fair trial or protection from cruel punishment – and get away with it.

    Tell your FB friends the lesson here is that justice isn’t blind, it’s broken.

    Tell your FB friends Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes. That if they don’t even think or consider that, then YES they are white privileged a-holes who have no idea what black and hispanic communities go through on a DAILY basis.

  92. 92.

    Paul in KY

    November 25, 2014 at 10:52 am

    @Elizabelle: They would have had to go to the Walmart over in O’Fallon. That’s over 30 miles away. Just too far to drive with the high gas prices and all that…

  93. 93.

    Kryptik, A Man Without a Country

    November 25, 2014 at 10:53 am

    @Ruckus:

    I may not have as many years under my belt, but it’s hard not to feel like, at this rate, it only gets worse before it gets even worse. And any hope that the new generation will be any more enlightened is put to paid upon seeing the deluge of celebratory and/or frothingly accusatory bs on most of my contemporaries’ fb walls or twitter timelines.

    Face it, much as it makes me sick to my stomach: this country is racist at its core, and its only becoming more and more open about it as it re-mainstreams itself.

  94. 94.

    Paul in KY

    November 25, 2014 at 10:54 am

    @Face: Actually ‘dog eats my homework’ is a bit more plausible than the no batteries & just can’t find any in St. Louis County lie.

  95. 95.

    TooManyJens

    November 25, 2014 at 11:06 am

    @Spinwheel: Is this Zandar’s stalker again? Get a hobby.

  96. 96.

    Mike E

    November 25, 2014 at 11:26 am

    @Seanly:

    I made the mistake of watching a little CNN

    That’s ok, everybody makes the same mistake.

    Don’t let it happen again tho ;-)

  97. 97.

    cckids

    November 25, 2014 at 11:34 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    As for Wilson himself, the police chief has said he’d be reinstated if there were no charges, although that was before the reports that his resignation was being negotiated. It will be interesting to see if and how Wilson resumes his duties in the current atmosphere.

    Hasn’t that sickening GoFundMe campaign raised something like $400,000 that goes to him? Why in the world would he go back to being a cop?

  98. 98.

    TooManyJens

    November 25, 2014 at 11:44 am

    @cckids:

    Why in the world would he go back to being a cop?

    Why wouldn’t he? $400,000 doesn’t last forever, and clearly he can do whatever he wants as a cop, so why not?

  99. 99.

    cckids

    November 25, 2014 at 11:51 am

    @TooManyJens: To me, because he’ll be a target forever. And he’s shown himself to be a person who gets terrified pretty damn easily.

    Mostly because I am 100% confident that even more money is pouring in to him right now. And some admirer somewhere will give him a duff job that won’t expose him to those scary “other” people who can hulk out & break the laws of physics as they get shot.

    The overwhelming unbearable ugliness of the reactions to this has worn me out.

  100. 100.

    Seeya

    November 25, 2014 at 12:17 pm

    @CarolDuhart2:

    Zimmerman is also a dumbass who has broken the law several times since being acquitted. The right wing washed their hands of him and his family pretty quickly once the trial was over and more and more instances came to light about what a absolute loser Zimmerman was.

    I get the feeling Wilson will be protected far more than Zimmerman was.

  101. 101.

    Svensker

    November 25, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    @Morzer:

    The Jets are just the icing on the shit cake. Horrible.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    November 25, 2014 at 3:05 pm

    @BretH:

    Sure it does, if you’re a racist. If you’re a racist, then every black male you encounter in the course of your daily life is an irrational, rage-filled animal poised to violently explode at any moment if you so much as speak to him. That’s what Those People are like, after all.

  103. 103.

    Jebediah, RBG

    November 25, 2014 at 3:38 pm

    In this case, how does a civil wrongful-death suit work? Is Wilson immunized, so that the family would have to sue the city/PD, or can a suit be brought against him? Would he have to testify under oath, swearing to the transparent horseshit he has been able to spew so far?

  104. 104.

    Tree With Water

    November 25, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    “I believe I’ve had enough of this bullshit”.

    Stewie Griffin [cartoon character]: “To black America- thanks for taking it all in stride”.

    I had a good laugh when I heard that line years ago. It’s not so funny anymore. I suppose it never really was..

  105. 105.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 25, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    @cckids: Agreed. I was thinking the same thing. He probably has raised more $$$ than the $400,000 from GoFundMe. I’m sure by now he’s a millionaire and doesn’t need to be a cop anymore.

  106. 106.

    Mike Jones

    November 26, 2014 at 12:31 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I’ve been seeing a lot of demonizing of Mike Brown by people who really want to believe Wilson was justified. Exhibit A is the number of times I’ve see him called “thug”, apparently by people who value the two characters saved over just typing “nigger”.

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