Ripped From The Headlines

This promises to be one of my more disjointed posts.  I just need to vent.  

I typically try to stay away from political or controversial social topics; generally speaking I'm not going to add anything new to the conversation.  Unfortunately, while I was at the gym tonight, I realized that I've had enough. With Ebola now out of the limelight (for now), all of the headlines have a current theme.  As I write this post, here are the headlines that the various news agencies have running:

"FBI warns that Ferguson grand jury decision 'will likely' lead to violence."  -Fox News

"Governor declares state of emergency in Ferguson." -CNN

"Ferguson prepares for the worst ahead of grand jury decision." -MSNBC (How irrelevant are they these days?)

The whole thing disgusts me.  

Back in September, TIME ran this cover.  Really, TIME?   No investigation, no facts, no step back for a moment, just an image of an African American kid politely surrendering.  Trying to affect the jury pool much?

 

I'm not saying that I know the truth of what happened.  I don't.  I readily admit that I don't.  But the thing is, these people don't either!  Maybe the cop is a terrible, racist individual as many people would have us believe.  Or perhaps he isn't an awful human being, but the situation just escalated too quickly and he made a poor choice.  But maybe, just maybe, Michael Brown wasn't the angel that his parents would like us to think that he is, and the police officer acted appropriately for someone who's life was being threatened.  You'd better believe that if I had a gun and my life was being threatened, one of us wouldn't be walking away.  If either of the first two scenarios are true though, then the police officer absolutely deserves to be held accountable in an appropriate way and it would be wrong if he wasn't.  But if the third option, or a derivative thereof is true, then he is being sorely misjudged and falsely vilified.  

People talk about getting "justice for Michael."  Listen to them, really listen to them; they don't want justice - they want revenge.  Justice would be reviewing all of the facts and reserving judgement until everything had come out.  That isn't what these people are about.  The Brown family even admitted last week that there was nothing that could come out that would change their mind.  Tried, judged, sentenced...their mind is already made up.  They even went to the United Nations to "get redress for our son."  I don't understand that.  Injustice hasn't happened!  An individual was shot, an investigation is taking place.  Period.  Should be the end of the story for now.  Oh, and while all of this was going on, an African American cop shot an unarmed white kid in Utah.  Not only did Utah not explode, but the media largely left that one alone.  They wouldn't be able to continue fanning the flames of racial inequality in Missouri if they admitted that there were other (reverse) racially involved shootings going on in other parts of the country. 

I guess I'm glad that the city is bracing for the decision; better to be prepared than not.  Bring in the National Guard, bring in the Marines if that's what it takes to protect law-abiding citizens.  But I don't understand, no, I can't even fathom a sub-culture that advocates behavior like this.  One where if you don't get your way,  you will injure others and destroy their property.  One that has a city "bracing for violence."  It's animalistic and it doesn't belong in a civilized society. 

I really do hope that the grand jury gets it right; that they come to the correct decision based on the evidence and the evidence alone.  I hope that emotion and politics and social commentary are left out of it.  Race shouldn't even enter their minds in any way; they should be looking at an officer involved shooting, nothing more.  I hope that if the officer is guilty of a crime, that he is made to pay for that crime.  I hope that if he isn't guilty, that he (and his family) would be protected, because I fear what people might do.  And I hope that those who would break the law and commit crimes against people and property just to show their displeasure are rounded up, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

I hope that our justice system works, and that we won't be given over to and forced to simply react to mob mentality.  Because that isn't justice in any way, shape, or form.