No indictment for Darren Wilson

[MommieDearest]

I'm not surprised. At all.

Thoughts?

ETA: I'm watching the coverage and several buildings have been looted and set on fire. I see NO fire trucks coming in to put out the flames. I don't even hear sirens. WTF????

[CrazeeDCoil]

I'm not surprised either. I think the jury was stacked against a positive verdict. We're starting another cycle of social change. People in positions of popwer have gotten very complacent and thing that they can step on people with out fear of impunity. Sadly, the law is backing them up and I think those being stepped on are about to have enough.

I wish there wasn't rioting and looting but people are upset and frustrated.

[underthehood]

No, not surprised at all either. I know the importance of 'being a witness' but I honestly can't bring myself to keep watching everything unfolding right now. Too much raw emotion.

Prayers and love out all those affected. Stay safe everyone!

[~GAN~]

I'm not even mad at the protestors. I understand their pain. People keep saying "stay non-violent" but what the hell did that get Martin Luther King? He was killed with the help of the US Government and he didn't even fit white people's "thug" criteria since he was wearing a suit, well spoken, and peaceful. F*ck all these white folks trying to tell people how to react like we aren't allowed to feel anger and pain. If being "peaceful" worked, people would still be doing it. Instead, we now see that it doesn't matter if you are peaceful or not, justice will never be served so people don't have anything to lose. They'll go to jail anyway. They'll get killed anyway. So now, people don't give a f*ck.

This isn't anger over just Michael Brown, its anger from hundreds of years boiling over since this country likes to ignore the issues of racism. I have never been more disappointed with Obama either on this issue. He's a great president but I feel like he let a whole lot of people down when it came to Ferguson.

[MommieDearest]

I'm not even mad at the protestors. I understand their pain. People keep saying "stay non-violent" but what the hell did that get Martin Luther King? He was killed with the help of the US Government and he didn't even fit white people's "thug" criteria since he was wearing a suit, well spoken, and peaceful. F*ck all these white folks trying to tell people how to react like we aren't allowed to feel anger and pain. If being "peaceful" worked, people would still be doing it. Instead, we now see that it doesn't matter if you are peaceful or not, justice will never be served so people don't have anything to lose. They'll go to jail anyway. They'll get killed anyway. So now, people don't give a f*ck.

I understand your sentiment. I still don't agree with how some of the folks are taking out their frustrations. Non-violence may have gotten MLK killed, but not before he accomplished his mission. In fact, he knew he was going to die, but he stuck with his plan and it worked. There is no way the Civil Rights movement would have been successful if it was not centered around non-violent protest. Yes, lives were still lost, but a whole HELL of a lot more black lives would have been lost if there would have been and all-out war, and in the end the mission would not have been accomplished.

On the flip side, when has burning, looting and destroying your own community ever worked? Certainly not in Watts or Detroit, or anywhere else for that matter. The shells of the burned out buildings from the rioting in Ferguson will still be there in 5 years. Meanwhile, people, BLACK people, have lost their livelihoods that they spent years building up. People have lost jobs. People have been hurt and devastated, all because a few knuckleheads wanted to get a free television or free liquor or free cash from the register or whatever else they could grab. They didn't give a damn about Michael Brown or his family. All they saw was an opportunity to get free stuff and jumped on it. Even though it was still wrong, I can accept turning over and burning cop cars. At least the aggression was aimed at the appropriate target. But there is no reason or excuse to destroy private property and the businesses of folks who had NOTHING to do with what happened to Michael Brown.

So what is the solution? I don't know what is ultimately, but it needs to start with voting (the grand jury was comprised of 9 whites and 3 blacks; if more blacks were registered to vote there would have been more blacks on the grand jury) and using economic power. The Montgomery bus boycott was so successful because it hit white folks where it hurt them the most- in the POCKET!!!! We need to create our own economic power base and use it as leverage to get what is rightfully ours.

I'm not an advocate of violence, but I do understand that in the real world, sometimes it is necessary. It just needs to be used strategically and purposefully. Rioting and looting and destroying your own neighborhood is not the way to go.

[Beautifully Human]

Dee Shared this on FB and I thought it was spot on in dealing with social media friends. Also, this extends to respectability politics having black folk as well
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/08/how_to_deal_with_friends_racist_reactions_to_fergu son.html

[MommieDearest]

Awesomely Luvvie wrote a blog post and started a twitter hashtag about Darren Wilson's injuries.

Pure hilarity.

[Karibana]

It's not the just the fact that the jury was mostly white. What really killed the case was like just like Trayvon, the prosecutor didn't even try. Seriously, they let the medical examiners say that pot made Brown all kinds of crazy, so of course the jury sided with the cop. And that's all I got.

[MommieDearest]

^^ I didn't know that. It's not surprising, I could tell by the way that the prosecutor was reading the verdict that the fix was in. Also, just like Trayvon, the only person alive to tell his side of the story was the killer. Also, the prosecution normally works WITH the police, not against them. So of course they wouldn't try too hard to indict a cop.

I haven't read up on the testimony yet, and probably won't. No need to get my pressure up more than it already is.


ETA:


Ok, so I couldn't resist. Not that we need more proof of the gross incompetence and favoritism on behalf of the prosecution, but here it is.

[Beautifully Human]

The prosecutors (much like the one's from the Trayvon case) had no intention of prosecuting Wilson. This is all calculated.
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/w...y-364273731666

ETA: Sorry. Didn't realize you already posted the Lawrence O'Donnell segment MD.