So, which side are you on? When it comes to Ferguson, most have a clear idea of which side of the picket line they’d stand behind in. Are you there chanting with the angered community holding up a “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” sign? Whether it’s from the news, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart or that meme that may just have been posted a bit too soon, you know the gist of the situation in Ferguson. If you haven’t, it might be time to take a break from studying, video games or the Kardashians and have a peak at what the Ferguson community has been dealing with.
After being fatally shot by a police officer, unarmed teenager Mike Brown’s death has sparked a series of protests in Ferguson and many other cities around the country. Through a grand jury, a decision has been reached: Officer Darren Wilson will not be indicted. This has caused a huge uproar country wide and especially in Ferguson’s community turning protests into a destructive riot. But why is the grand jury’s decision so controversial, and why should we care?
The victim, being an 18-year-old kid, compounded with the facts that he was unarmed and black, has caught the attention of the media and a very angry community. The victim could’ve been you, your friend or that guy you always just saw on campus. Alright, so he had engaged in a minor illegal activity by getting high; and it was also found that he was involved in a store theft prior to the interaction with a police officer. The case is blurred even more when the white Officer Darren Wilson claims to have acted in self-defense. Officer Wilson drew his gun on Mike Brown and after having fired his gun six times, killed Mike Brown. The grand jury consisted of 12 people, nine of which were white and the rest black. Only a majority of nine people would be enough to pass a decision. Officer Darren Wilson was found not guilty and Mike Brown is still dead.
Scour the Internet about this issue and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a heated debate: Is this about race? This seems to be beside the fucking point. It’s about injustice. You could think that the teenager shouldn’t have been killed and that officer shouldn’t have walked. Or you could believe that the officer was right in firing his gun several times, as a form of self-defense. Either way, the sides should not be tainted with the color of either the victim or culprit’s skin.
It’s unfortunate that Mike Brown happened to be black and that police officer white. The race card magnifies the underlying issues about this situation. But could this have happened to a white kid instead? Of course it could’ve, it fact it did happen. Not only two days later after Mike Brown was shot, another case of police brutality was caught through the bodycam of a Utah police officer.
Is the Ferguson situation still completely devoid of any racial sentiment? A lot would argue that it isn’t. After all, Ferguson has a rich history of discrimination and oppression. And nobody would find it surprising that minorities are faced with a much harsher reality in all aspects of life. The most haunting case you may come across, the case of a black man being beaten by four Ferguson cops, for who knows what, but in any case what kind of policing finds beating a man necessary? The black man was charged for property damage by bleeding on the officers’ uniforms. How the fuck?
The fact remains: the issue is about injustice and power exploitation, both clouded by our inability to look past the colors of our skin. It is complicated and it won’t always be black and white.
Featured image via Montecruz Foto on Flickr
