You go to a lot of the news sites and the response from the conservative commenters down in the abyss that is the comments section amounts to “but he robbed a store…”
An alleged robbery where the guilty party has not yet been established that had fuck all to do with cop pulling Michael Brown over and shooting him six times and additionally had nothing to do with everyone in a position of authority with any jurisdiction on the situation acting like incompetent clowns.
Not that it matters, that police chief knew what he was doing, all you have to do is toss a little mud and at least as far as a lot of police apologists are concerned, it’ll cover up all that nasty blood good and proper.
Michael Brown wasn’t even shot because of the robbery. Wilson wasn’t aware of Michael Brown having robbed the store.
Wilson shot Michael Brown because he was jaywalking.
Saadsays
Infinitely better than any of the news coverage I’ve seen of this so far.
Wilson shot Brown because he wanted to murder a young, black male.
Kevin Kehressays
That almost makes me want to re-subscribe to HBO.
Alverantsays
@mickll
Not to mention the evidence he robbed the store is iffy at best. They say his friend confessed, but considering what the police have done I would say he’s (justifiably) afraid of the cops and hopes that making a false confession the won’t shot him too as part of their cover up.
gardengnomesays
Thanks Daz, ‘preciate that.
Pteryxxsays
Alverant: and his friend that may have confessed to shoplifting was also the one begging police to formally take his witness statement from the very day Mike was shot dead.
But then there would have been a record, with witnesses, and we can’t have that. (We *still* can’t have that. No police statement about the shooting has been released even now. All the information comes from witnesses who have gone public and from Anon’s release of the dispatch tapes.)
Bernard Bumnersays
I’m no great fan of John Oliver, who is a little smarmy for my tastes, but that sets it all out precisely.
The expansion of the military-industrial complex to law enforcement is absolutely terrifying, although the links between industry and the penal system have established that American capitalists have long been happy to profit from a racist legal system.
The level of hatred and fear required to make any of this seem reasonable has been cultivated by an industry dripping in blood and violent rhetoric – execution as a response to relatively minor criminality (a lie), killing in response to a minor threat, the crushing of dissent by force, the militarisation of police forces, the deployment of militia to quell angry citizens. A significant constituency is clearly lapping it up, and others are profiting from it.
This is the brutality to be expected of desparate tyrants, and as bad as I know things can be there, I am still surprised that it is allowed to happen in the US. This is the sort of thing that the right wing media would loudly condemn if it happened in a nation other than the Land of the Free.
Saadsays
Gruesome mafia execution style killing.
Suspended with pay. LOL.
Shot at least six times. Two to the head (one bullet went through the top of the head). And most significantly, the bullet entry on the right arm, according to the forensic pathologist Shaun Parcells, “… was consistent either with having his back to the officer or facing the officer with his hands above his head or in a defensive position.” – [BBC article]
I think we all know the conversation they’re having with Wilson behind the scenes is basically, “C’mon Darren! You’ve gone too far. Did you not think of the damage control we’d have to do?!”
Pete Shankssays
Great piece. I’m glad to see Oliver tied in other jurisdictions, too. And I’d like to note that the reference to “animals” (and elsewhere, IIRC, “4000 animals”) is flat-out eugenic language that needs to be highlighted, explained if necessary, and condemned in the strongest terms. The intersections of class and race are worth exploring, too … if this tragedy can lead to deeper conversations, that would be great. Right now, I’m not feeling too hopeful about that.
I won’t blame Wilson (he’s still a cold blooded killer) for the police chief’s inability to consider the safety of the residents and not incite violence (by releasing a video and giving two different statements about whether Wilson knew about the robbery on the same day) with his shear stupidity at answering questions. The chief is clearly inept at his job and the fact that he did this behind the backs of the State Police (the feds were against showing the tape of the robbery and the State Police didn’t know about it until it was shown) in charge of restoring order (he couldn’t handle a hostile situation if his life depended on it) shows his contempt for the minorities within his community. The best that could come of this is the chief forced to step down or resign, and the police of the county put under federal command until a new chief, (preferably someone from the community they are to protect is elected) but I don’t know how likely that is to happen. One can only hope that the governor is found to be negligent in his duties and can be removed from office, his actions have done no better to help the community heal. The actions of a curfew on a Saturday night (this is pretty much most peoples day off and you can’t go hang out with friends and try to get back to normal). Then to deploy more tear gas (because a bunch of residents unable to breathe because you deploy the gas without discretion is the best way to react, shooting people on their front lawn) and rubber bullets (I don’t care if their rubber they still fucking hurt). What also should be mentioned is racing down the street towards protesters in an armored vehicle (nothing says you care like making people run in terror for their lives). But I think the best part is about their inability to play soldier. They have the gear but not the ethics to proper use them, even in Iraq until fired upon soldiers aren’t aiming their weapons at anyone.
Jeff Ssays
I’m cautiously optimistic that this series of events is going to lead to real change. This sort of issue will become an ongoing media narrative, and future similar incidents will receive more coverage, and there will be more public outrage expressed.
More and more people in the mainstream are thinking… “Wait a minute, this is fucked up!”
Police departments are far too often “above the law”, and that needs to change, given the ridiculous amount of power/access to military equipment that they now have. The pictures and facts of this situation speak for themselves, and attempts at distracting from the issue are not ringing true. I really think that this is hitting home for a huge number of people.
Maybe I’m naive, but I think that the reaction to the “Michael Brown incident” is going to be a significant step towards improving race relations, and law enforcement ethics in America. The power of peaceful protest is great, let’s hope that the american people and politicians stand up and take notice.
This should be a campaign issue. A promise to drastically improve accountability for police departments. Restore the focus on keeping the peace, not controlling the populace and abusing power.
Drolfesays
Said, elsewhere, but here’ stood too:
That bit about the governor is SO ON POINT. When I saw him say that shit the other day I tweeted
@dorolfe: Hey @GovJayNixon, “no peace, no justice” is exactly the wrong way around. #Ferguson
If the authorities are every going to make this stop they must arrest killer cop Darren Wilson. They must take the first step toward justice, because the threat is both real and true: no justice, no peace.
Drolfesays
Oh, autocorrect, you scamp. “Here’s good” I mean.
magistramarlasays
I used to live on a military installation, and the military police were less militarized than the local police are now.
robrosays
I totally agree with Oliver’s position on police militarization, as opposed to Rand Paul’s where he took the opportunity to rant about “big government.”
The Ferguson police force is 90+% white, while the town is 70% black. The police chief is white. So is the mayor. According to this Slate article, 5 of the 6 city council members are white, one is black, and 6 of the 7 school board members are white, one is Hispanic (although later the writer suggests one is black).
In 1970 the town was 90% white. It was still 50% white in 2000. The government represents a population that moved away. How does a town that is now black continue to be lead so dominantly by the minority population? That article suggests one rationale, but you have to wonder if there isn’t systematic denial of voting rights.
That article also relates the story of the young, black school superintendent who was suspended by the white dominated school board in 2013 “without explanation.” More evidence that the picture painted by the mayor and others of Ferguson as a town without racial tension is bull shit.
Esteleth is Grootsays
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little resemblance to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
So spoke a white 5-star general (retired) of the US Army in 1953.
Seems prescient.
Bronysays
I heard a phrase (I think it was on Maddow) that I really hope takes off as a way to describe this sort of response by law enforcement: police riot.
No efforts at deescalation, de facto treatment of a group as if they are all threats regardless of intent, active use of dominance and aggression displays against a whole group without reason, and a focus on hiding what is really going on. Add in the lack of personal human relationship between the community and the authorities and it’s a perfect storm of behaviors that are likely to trigger a riot as a group rationally responds to being treated like a group in hostile fashion*. There are similarities in how this sort of thing is making things worse between Israeli authorities and Palestinians. This shit is mirrored all over the place.
That’s right, I’m discovering that a riot is in fact a rational response to hostile group treatment. How to effectively point that out is another matter.
mindnoodlesays
Brown was killed by a handgun, what’s militaristic about that?
Esteleth is Grootsays
Mindnoodle, have you looked at any of the photos from the protests? Such as, say, the photo that Oliver made so much of in the video above (you know, the one with the row of camo-clad rifles-at-the-ready cops, one black guy with his hands in the air, and a “fuck the police” decorated mailbox)?
Bronysays
@ robro 19
That article suggests one rationale, but you have to wonder if there isn’t systematic denial of voting rights.
I agree that suppression of voting rights is a thing to look for. But don’t disagree with the items the piece listed either. Voter turnout can be affected by disengagement with a social system that feels like it is actively against a person globally, or by the fact that a person can’t get socially established and can’t develop emotional bonds with a community. I have to admit that my outrage at problems that I care about tends to put me off of the whole system since the stuff I want to see addressed don’t really get prioritized and tend to apply to both parties and many social institutions at some level.
antepreprosays
mindnoodle:
Brown was killed by a handgun, what’s militaristic about that?
Yes, nothing could possibly be considered militaristic about police shooting an unarmed teenager at least six times and then being escorted quietly out of town. Nothing militaristic about it at all. Ferguson is practically a hippie commune, what with their puny semi-automatic handguns!
mindnoodle:
Please read up on the militarization of American Law Enforcement Agencies.
Pierce R. Butlersays
Brony @ # 21: a phrase … that I really hope takes off as a way to describe this sort of response by law enforcement: police riot.
That apt combination of words goes back to at least 1969, when it was used (repeatedly) by the commission examining the extreme response to demonstrations at the previous year’s Democratic convention in Chicago.
Then and now, Official Commentators found difficulty in getting the phrase to flow off their tongues.
Ichthyicsays
…as opposed to Rand Paul’s where he took the opportunity to rant about “big government.”
None of these so called “Libertarians” actually ARE.
When one of these con-men says they want to defund the Dept of Homeland Security instead of defunding public education, i’ll start looking at what else they have to say.
None of them will.
Ichthyicsays
Brown was killed by a handgun, what’s militaristic about that?
Mindnoodle… that’s an apt nym for you.
A mind is a terrible thing to boil in salted water.
Ichthyicsays
I’m cautiously optimistic that this series of events is going to lead to real change.
Sad to tell you, people said the exact same thing about the protests for civil rights and against the Viet Nam war in the 60s.
In some ways, it’s actually gotten worse instead of better.
Akira MacKenziesays
mickll @ 1
You go to a lot of the news sites and the response from the conservative commenters down in the abyss that is the comments section amounts to “but he robbed a store…”
Yeah, about that. (Long story, short: the attorney for the convenience store says NO ONE at the store called the police about a robbery.)
Bernard Bumnersays
There is no cause for optimism when the state turns troops onto the street to punish it’s citizens for demanding justice, humane treatment, and an end to racism.
And not even the most powerful man in the land, steeped in law, celebrated for breaking through the barriers of race to achieve that highest office, not even he can be allowed to declare the obvious outrage for what it is.
mindnoodlesays
Re: #26 “Please read up on the militarization of American Law Enforcement Agencies.”
Yes, but how is this an example of it? And I don’t mean in trying to quell subsequent riots. You can’t think of any circumstance in which shooting someone is justified?
robrosays
Brony @ 24
But don’t disagree with the items the piece listed either.
I don’t disagree either. In fact, the main speculation was transient residents moving from apartment to apartment. What better way to keep people away from the poles than to have a social, political and economic situation that keeps them continually on the move. I’ve lived in the same place for 22 years, and I have to look up my voting location every election because it moves. Or I did, now I vote by mail, but that would be impossible if I didn’t live in one place. Minimum residency. Proof of residency. All of these are strategies for denying people, particularly poor people, their right to vote.
Another is, of course, to see to that many poor people are denied civil liberties because of felony convictions.
There are more active forms. There is out-and-out intimation of blacks registering to vote and trying to vote by whites in the South, particularly the rural areas. There are also more quasi-ligitimate approaches, like cleaning up voter records and just accidentally dumping a lot of black people in error (a la Florida in 2000).
robrosays
Ichthyic @ #28
None of these so called “Libertarians” actually ARE.
Oh, I know. I don’t trust Paul or any other so called Libertarians. I guess I a wizened old codger. When the story hit Google news, the pull quote was about race, but you can see immediately that race wasn’t his main issue.
However, I am surprised at that pull quote: “Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.”
That’s a fairly blatant admission from a mainstream politician. I can’t imagine even Obama coming out with something so straight forward about the role of race in the application of criminal justice in this country. Of course, Paul softens it with the suggestion that it might be “inadvertent” sometimes…bull. But, it’s the kind of thing that could undermine the dog whistle politics the Republican party relies on to win elections. I say “could” by which I mean, I wish it would, but don’t hold my breath. Needless to say, the paragraph was buried deep in the article but it did get noticed.
cksays
Ichthyic wrote:
I’m cautiously optimistic that this series of events is going to lead to real change.
Sad to tell you, people said the exact same thing about the protests for civil rights and against the Viet Nam war in the 60s.
I had hoped for the same thing during the Rodney King riots. Sadly, it seems that almost nothing has changed, except that the police are deadlier than ever.
antepreprosays
mindnoodle
And I don’t mean in trying to quell subsequent riots.
Then you are deliberately ignoring the fucking point.
You can’t think of any circumstance in which shooting someone is justified?
Irrelevant strawman, because this is clearly NOT one of those circumstances.
Just fuck off already.
mindnoodlesays
Re: #37
So the point is all about the militarism of the police dealing with civil disorder and not the initial shooting?
and
” this is clearly NOT one of those circumstances”
How can you be so sure? And please don’t be a dick about it.
Esteleth is Grootsays
The conduct of the police after the shooting is the primary example of the militarization of the police, yes. But I daresay the mentality that they had all those cool toys back at the precinct house may have affected the attitudes of the local PD.
Ichthyicsays
How can you be so sure?
what information do we have so far?
several eyewitness testimonies that agree on the details, and a late autopsy by a forensic expert.
have you read those?
I’ll wait….
….
…
OK, now that you have read those, what information contained therein can YOU FUCKING POSSIBLY USE TO JUSTIFY SHOOTING AN UNARMED MAN TO DEATH.
now, what could OTHER motives have been, that are much more likely, given the history of the deep racial divide that has has been fomented by the white community in Ferguson for generations now.
oh? you say you had no idea about the history of Ferguson?
right.
so, why don’t you admit you HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE what you are talking about, and bugger off like a good chappy?
antepreprosays
mindnoodle: Not all about, but yes, it is largely about their oppressive dealings with the protesters. Have you even watched the fucking video, let alone informed yourself about the fucking BASICS of what has been going on for the last week in Ferguson?
How can you be so sure? And please don’t be a dick about it.
I’ve already warned you on another thread to stop this line of disingenuous JAQing off regarding the shooting of an unarmed man, who had his arms raised, at the entirely unthreatening distance of twenty yards.
This being a separate thread, I’m choosing to believe that you’ve not yet seen that warning, and so I’m repeating it here.
Stop it.
antepreprosays
Just FYI y’all, mindnoodle got banned in the other thread they were posting in.
Bronysays
@ Pierce R. Butler 27
That’s good to know. I wonder what the difficulty in using it was. I’m not so sure speaking it was as much of a problem as every person with knee-jerk defensiveness about the police applying pressure when it was spoken. I’m going to try to use it more often in any case.
dorknesssays
The militarization reminds me of the ideas of the Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld.
He uses the metaphor of an adult fighting a child to explain why you should not engage hugely inferior opponents: if you win, you’re a bully and a monster, if you lose, you’re a fool. The other side, no matter who or what they are, are heroes or martyrs just for facing impossible odds.
Of course that assumes that morale and morality matter.
Ferguson can help ensure that its leaders more closely resemble its population, however. They just need to hold their elections at a time when voters are actually likely to show up.
To explain, a major contributor to the disparity between Ferguson’s population demographics and that of its leaders is Ferguson’s unusual elections calendar. Under the Ferguson City Charter, “[t]he regular city election shall be held annually on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in April,” and these elections are held in odd-numbered years. Thus, Ferguson chooses its leadership at a time when there is no state or national-level general election, and it is unlikely that there are even any major primary candidates on the ballot. Missouri, like the federal government, holds its gubernatorial and state legislative elections in even-numbered years.
The fact that Ferguson’s elections are held at a time when few, if any, high-profile candidates are on the ballot contributes to an almost comically low voter turnout rate in these elections. In 2013, for example, just 11.7 percent of eligible voters actually cast a ballot.
[…]
Diminished turnout, however, appears to be a much greater problem in Ferguson’s municipal elections than it is in presidential elections. Though Ferguson’s whites turned-out at nearly three times the rate of African Americans in 2013, black turnout during the 2012 presidential election was almost equal to that of white turnout. Fifty-four percent of Ferguson’s African American voters turned out in November of 2012, as opposed to 55 percent of whites.
Yes, the scheduling of local elections can be a voter access issue. How many of us even know when our municipal elections happen, if they aren’t scheduled concurrently with bigger state or national elections?
Ferguson’s people have been organizing voter registration drives at the protests.
The conversation here has shifted from the immediate reaction to Michael Brown’s death and toward the underlying social dynamics. Two men I spoke with pointed to the disparity in education funding for Ferguson and more affluent municipalities nearby. Another talked about being pulled over by an officer who claimed to smell marijuana in the car as a pretense for searching him. “I’m in the United States Navy,” he told me. “We have to take drug tests in the military so I had proof that there were no drugs in my system. But other people can’t do that.” Six black men I spoke to, nearly consecutively, pointed to Missouri’s felon-disfranchisement laws as part of the equation. “If you’re a student in one of the black schools here and you get into a fight you’ll probably get arrested and charged with assault. We have kids here who are barred from voting before they’re even old enough to register,” one said. Ferguson’s elected officials did not look much different than they had years earlier, when it was a largely white community.
Compare this to the United States where most states prohibit felons from voting. The two states that allow it are Maine and Vermont. These two states also happen to be the whitest states in the nation. Another 13 states and the District of Columbia allow felons on parole to vote. Most of these 13 states have incredibly small black populations such as Montana, New Hampshire, and Utah. An additional four states allow those on probation to vote. Nineteen states allow voting once release is final. And the real kicker is that 12 states stop felons from voting permanently if they don’t meet certain requirements.
[…]
I don’t need to tell you that African-American voting rights and the southern United States don’t exactly have a glorious history. None of the 21 states where incarcerated felons, those on parole, or on probation can vote are in the south. In Alabama, 15% of voting-age blacks are kept from voting by felon laws, and 14% of voting-age blacks are stopped in Mississippi. This percentage climbs to 19% in Tennessee.
Missouri’s state law bars anyone imprisoned, on probation, on parole, or convicted of a “felony or misdemeanor connected with the right of suffrage”. Source, PDF via felonvoting pros and cons
As far as I can tell, after all those conditions, Missouri allows voting rights to be restored but it is not listed among those states that restore voting rights automatically. That means, most likely, an ex-felon wanting to vote would have to fill out an individualized clemency petition to the governor, including an essay and character references.
Well heck, a year later my comment on Ed’s thread is still awaiting moderation. So here it is:
Some states only allow voting rights to be restored after parole or probation (which can add years or decades of disenfranchisement, and more via parole violations or probation taken as plea bargains rather than risk going to trial). Some have waiting periods, such as Florida (five or seven years) or Wyoming (five and ten years plus direct application to the Governor). And some won’t restore voting until incarceration AND parole AND probation AND financial obligations are ended, such as child support, fines, or legal fees. Combined with the rising trend in US debtor’s prisons these requirements can effectively result in permanent disenfranchisement.
Pteryxx
I’m shocked by the voting system. The fuck you need a character reference to get your right to vote??
Also, robro @34: there’s ways for the law to get around that whole transient part, too. I don’t believe for a second that they can’t change the law to reflect the fact that a lot of people do move (often), and to take that into account. Not that they’d want to.
Ferguson’s people have been organizing voter registration drives at the protests.
This – is just awesome. Ferguson has shown itself to be the definition of a community, of a community trying to do better, and yet people refuse to see them as anything but a bunch of violence-hungry hooligans, and keep placing obstacles in their way.
Sorry, cops, you can’t fool us. They’re, overall, better people than you are. Hands down (or hands up?).
Pteryxxsays
rq – that’s why I’m trying to talk more about felon disenfranchisement, because most people in the US let alone the world don’t even know such a concept exists, much less that it takes the vote away from one in every five or ten black citizens (or thereabouts, depending on region). And it’s voter disenfranchisement in the hands of police and prosecutors like those in Ferguson, followed by the for-profit probation system.
It’s another vestige of Jim Crow laws. I put more references under Brayton’s article.
Bronysays
@ Pteryxx 46
Thank you for that. I like to have all the elements in my head.
I am endlessly amazed and depressed that the best source for news in the US today is Comedy Central. It’s like something straight of out Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” – The Comedian is the one guy who’s not kidding at all.
At least there is a media telling some truth. I’m surprised and happy about that.
Crimson Clupeidaesays
Felon disenfranchisement is just one of many strategies that mostly republican/teabaggers have used to keep the wrong people from voting. It’s a feature, not a bug. (From their perspective, obviously.)
You go to a lot of the news sites and the response from the conservative commenters down in the abyss that is the comments section amounts to “but he robbed a store…”
An alleged robbery where the guilty party has not yet been established that had fuck all to do with cop pulling Michael Brown over and shooting him six times and additionally had nothing to do with everyone in a position of authority with any jurisdiction on the situation acting like incompetent clowns.
Not that it matters, that police chief knew what he was doing, all you have to do is toss a little mud and at least as far as a lot of police apologists are concerned, it’ll cover up all that nasty blood good and proper.
That, I have to say, was fucking awesome.
(For non-US viewers. [Link])
Didn’t the city erupt into violence last night after the curfew was enacted?
Marvelous, marvelous.
@mickll:
Michael Brown wasn’t even shot because of the robbery. Wilson wasn’t aware of Michael Brown having robbed the store.
Wilson shot Michael Brown because he was jaywalking.
Infinitely better than any of the news coverage I’ve seen of this so far.
Wilson shot Brown because he wanted to murder a young, black male.
That almost makes me want to re-subscribe to HBO.
@mickll
Not to mention the evidence he robbed the store is iffy at best. They say his friend confessed, but considering what the police have done I would say he’s (justifiably) afraid of the cops and hopes that making a false confession the won’t shot him too as part of their cover up.
Thanks Daz, ‘preciate that.
Alverant: and his friend that may have confessed to shoplifting was also the one begging police to formally take his witness statement from the very day Mike was shot dead.
But then there would have been a record, with witnesses, and we can’t have that. (We *still* can’t have that. No police statement about the shooting has been released even now. All the information comes from witnesses who have gone public and from Anon’s release of the dispatch tapes.)
I’m no great fan of John Oliver, who is a little smarmy for my tastes, but that sets it all out precisely.
The expansion of the military-industrial complex to law enforcement is absolutely terrifying, although the links between industry and the penal system have established that American capitalists have long been happy to profit from a racist legal system.
The level of hatred and fear required to make any of this seem reasonable has been cultivated by an industry dripping in blood and violent rhetoric – execution as a response to relatively minor criminality (a lie), killing in response to a minor threat, the crushing of dissent by force, the militarisation of police forces, the deployment of militia to quell angry citizens. A significant constituency is clearly lapping it up, and others are profiting from it.
This is the brutality to be expected of desparate tyrants, and as bad as I know things can be there, I am still surprised that it is allowed to happen in the US. This is the sort of thing that the right wing media would loudly condemn if it happened in a nation other than the Land of the Free.
Gruesome mafia execution style killing.
Suspended with pay. LOL.
Shot at least six times. Two to the head (one bullet went through the top of the head). And most significantly, the bullet entry on the right arm, according to the forensic pathologist Shaun Parcells, “… was consistent either with having his back to the officer or facing the officer with his hands above his head or in a defensive position.” – [BBC article]
I think we all know the conversation they’re having with Wilson behind the scenes is basically, “C’mon Darren! You’ve gone too far. Did you not think of the damage control we’d have to do?!”
Great piece. I’m glad to see Oliver tied in other jurisdictions, too. And I’d like to note that the reference to “animals” (and elsewhere, IIRC, “4000 animals”) is flat-out eugenic language that needs to be highlighted, explained if necessary, and condemned in the strongest terms. The intersections of class and race are worth exploring, too … if this tragedy can lead to deeper conversations, that would be great. Right now, I’m not feeling too hopeful about that.
Well put, John Oliver.
I won’t blame Wilson (he’s still a cold blooded killer) for the police chief’s inability to consider the safety of the residents and not incite violence (by releasing a video and giving two different statements about whether Wilson knew about the robbery on the same day) with his shear stupidity at answering questions. The chief is clearly inept at his job and the fact that he did this behind the backs of the State Police (the feds were against showing the tape of the robbery and the State Police didn’t know about it until it was shown) in charge of restoring order (he couldn’t handle a hostile situation if his life depended on it) shows his contempt for the minorities within his community. The best that could come of this is the chief forced to step down or resign, and the police of the county put under federal command until a new chief, (preferably someone from the community they are to protect is elected) but I don’t know how likely that is to happen. One can only hope that the governor is found to be negligent in his duties and can be removed from office, his actions have done no better to help the community heal. The actions of a curfew on a Saturday night (this is pretty much most peoples day off and you can’t go hang out with friends and try to get back to normal). Then to deploy more tear gas (because a bunch of residents unable to breathe because you deploy the gas without discretion is the best way to react, shooting people on their front lawn) and rubber bullets (I don’t care if their rubber they still fucking hurt). What also should be mentioned is racing down the street towards protesters in an armored vehicle (nothing says you care like making people run in terror for their lives). But I think the best part is about their inability to play soldier. They have the gear but not the ethics to proper use them, even in Iraq until fired upon soldiers aren’t aiming their weapons at anyone.
I’m cautiously optimistic that this series of events is going to lead to real change. This sort of issue will become an ongoing media narrative, and future similar incidents will receive more coverage, and there will be more public outrage expressed.
More and more people in the mainstream are thinking… “Wait a minute, this is fucked up!”
Police departments are far too often “above the law”, and that needs to change, given the ridiculous amount of power/access to military equipment that they now have. The pictures and facts of this situation speak for themselves, and attempts at distracting from the issue are not ringing true. I really think that this is hitting home for a huge number of people.
Maybe I’m naive, but I think that the reaction to the “Michael Brown incident” is going to be a significant step towards improving race relations, and law enforcement ethics in America. The power of peaceful protest is great, let’s hope that the american people and politicians stand up and take notice.
This should be a campaign issue. A promise to drastically improve accountability for police departments. Restore the focus on keeping the peace, not controlling the populace and abusing power.
Said, elsewhere, but here’ stood too:
That bit about the governor is SO ON POINT. When I saw him say that shit the other day I tweeted
If the authorities are every going to make this stop they must arrest killer cop Darren Wilson. They must take the first step toward justice, because the threat is both real and true: no justice, no peace.
Oh, autocorrect, you scamp. “Here’s good” I mean.
I used to live on a military installation, and the military police were less militarized than the local police are now.
I totally agree with Oliver’s position on police militarization, as opposed to Rand Paul’s where he took the opportunity to rant about “big government.”
The Ferguson police force is 90+% white, while the town is 70% black. The police chief is white. So is the mayor. According to this Slate article, 5 of the 6 city council members are white, one is black, and 6 of the 7 school board members are white, one is Hispanic (although later the writer suggests one is black).
In 1970 the town was 90% white. It was still 50% white in 2000. The government represents a population that moved away. How does a town that is now black continue to be lead so dominantly by the minority population? That article suggests one rationale, but you have to wonder if there isn’t systematic denial of voting rights.
That article also relates the story of the young, black school superintendent who was suspended by the white dominated school board in 2013 “without explanation.” More evidence that the picture painted by the mayor and others of Ferguson as a town without racial tension is bull shit.
So spoke a white 5-star general (retired) of the US Army in 1953.
Seems prescient.
I heard a phrase (I think it was on Maddow) that I really hope takes off as a way to describe this sort of response by law enforcement: police riot.
No efforts at deescalation, de facto treatment of a group as if they are all threats regardless of intent, active use of dominance and aggression displays against a whole group without reason, and a focus on hiding what is really going on. Add in the lack of personal human relationship between the community and the authorities and it’s a perfect storm of behaviors that are likely to trigger a riot as a group rationally responds to being treated like a group in hostile fashion*. There are similarities in how this sort of thing is making things worse between Israeli authorities and Palestinians. This shit is mirrored all over the place.
That’s right, I’m discovering that a riot is in fact a rational response to hostile group treatment. How to effectively point that out is another matter.
Brown was killed by a handgun, what’s militaristic about that?
Mindnoodle, have you looked at any of the photos from the protests? Such as, say, the photo that Oliver made so much of in the video above (you know, the one with the row of camo-clad rifles-at-the-ready cops, one black guy with his hands in the air, and a “fuck the police” decorated mailbox)?
@ robro 19
I agree that suppression of voting rights is a thing to look for. But don’t disagree with the items the piece listed either. Voter turnout can be affected by disengagement with a social system that feels like it is actively against a person globally, or by the fact that a person can’t get socially established and can’t develop emotional bonds with a community. I have to admit that my outrage at problems that I care about tends to put me off of the whole system since the stuff I want to see addressed don’t really get prioritized and tend to apply to both parties and many social institutions at some level.
mindnoodle:
Yes, nothing could possibly be considered militaristic about police shooting an unarmed teenager at least six times and then being escorted quietly out of town. Nothing militaristic about it at all. Ferguson is practically a hippie commune, what with their puny semi-automatic handguns!
But more seriously: what Esteleth said.
mindnoodle:
Please read up on the militarization of American Law Enforcement Agencies.
Brony @ # 21: a phrase … that I really hope takes off as a way to describe this sort of response by law enforcement: police riot.
That apt combination of words goes back to at least 1969, when it was used (repeatedly) by the commission examining the extreme response to demonstrations at the previous year’s Democratic convention in Chicago.
Then and now, Official Commentators found difficulty in getting the phrase to flow off their tongues.
None of these so called “Libertarians” actually ARE.
When one of these con-men says they want to defund the Dept of Homeland Security instead of defunding public education, i’ll start looking at what else they have to say.
None of them will.
Mindnoodle… that’s an apt nym for you.
A mind is a terrible thing to boil in salted water.
Sad to tell you, people said the exact same thing about the protests for civil rights and against the Viet Nam war in the 60s.
In some ways, it’s actually gotten worse instead of better.
mickll @ 1
Yeah, about that. (Long story, short: the attorney for the convenience store says NO ONE at the store called the police about a robbery.)
There is no cause for optimism when the state turns troops onto the street to punish it’s citizens for demanding justice, humane treatment, and an end to racism.
And not even the most powerful man in the land, steeped in law, celebrated for breaking through the barriers of race to achieve that highest office, not even he can be allowed to declare the obvious outrage for what it is.
Re: #26 “Please read up on the militarization of American Law Enforcement Agencies.”
Yes, but how is this an example of it? And I don’t mean in trying to quell subsequent riots. You can’t think of any circumstance in which shooting someone is justified?
Brony @ 24
I don’t disagree either. In fact, the main speculation was transient residents moving from apartment to apartment. What better way to keep people away from the poles than to have a social, political and economic situation that keeps them continually on the move. I’ve lived in the same place for 22 years, and I have to look up my voting location every election because it moves. Or I did, now I vote by mail, but that would be impossible if I didn’t live in one place. Minimum residency. Proof of residency. All of these are strategies for denying people, particularly poor people, their right to vote.
Another is, of course, to see to that many poor people are denied civil liberties because of felony convictions.
There are more active forms. There is out-and-out intimation of blacks registering to vote and trying to vote by whites in the South, particularly the rural areas. There are also more quasi-ligitimate approaches, like cleaning up voter records and just accidentally dumping a lot of black people in error (a la Florida in 2000).
Ichthyic @ #28
Oh, I know. I don’t trust Paul or any other so called Libertarians. I guess I a wizened old codger. When the story hit Google news, the pull quote was about race, but you can see immediately that race wasn’t his main issue.
However, I am surprised at that pull quote: “Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.”
That’s a fairly blatant admission from a mainstream politician. I can’t imagine even Obama coming out with something so straight forward about the role of race in the application of criminal justice in this country. Of course, Paul softens it with the suggestion that it might be “inadvertent” sometimes…bull. But, it’s the kind of thing that could undermine the dog whistle politics the Republican party relies on to win elections. I say “could” by which I mean, I wish it would, but don’t hold my breath. Needless to say, the paragraph was buried deep in the article but it did get noticed.
Ichthyic wrote:
I had hoped for the same thing during the Rodney King riots. Sadly, it seems that almost nothing has changed, except that the police are deadlier than ever.
mindnoodle
Then you are deliberately ignoring the fucking point.
Irrelevant strawman, because this is clearly NOT one of those circumstances.
Just fuck off already.
Re: #37
So the point is all about the militarism of the police dealing with civil disorder and not the initial shooting?
and
” this is clearly NOT one of those circumstances”
How can you be so sure? And please don’t be a dick about it.
The conduct of the police after the shooting is the primary example of the militarization of the police, yes. But I daresay the mentality that they had all those cool toys back at the precinct house may have affected the attitudes of the local PD.
what information do we have so far?
several eyewitness testimonies that agree on the details, and a late autopsy by a forensic expert.
have you read those?
I’ll wait….
….
…
OK, now that you have read those, what information contained therein can YOU FUCKING POSSIBLY USE TO JUSTIFY SHOOTING AN UNARMED MAN TO DEATH.
now, what could OTHER motives have been, that are much more likely, given the history of the deep racial divide that has has been fomented by the white community in Ferguson for generations now.
oh? you say you had no idea about the history of Ferguson?
right.
so, why don’t you admit you HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE what you are talking about, and bugger off like a good chappy?
mindnoodle: Not all about, but yes, it is largely about their oppressive dealings with the protesters. Have you even watched the fucking video, let alone informed yourself about the fucking BASICS of what has been going on for the last week in Ferguson?
Hah. Again, just fuck off.
Monitor Note:
mindnoodle
I’ve already warned you on another thread to stop this line of disingenuous JAQing off regarding the shooting of an unarmed man, who had his arms raised, at the entirely unthreatening distance of twenty yards.
This being a separate thread, I’m choosing to believe that you’ve not yet seen that warning, and so I’m repeating it here.
Stop it.
Just FYI y’all, mindnoodle got banned in the other thread they were posting in.
@ Pierce R. Butler 27
That’s good to know. I wonder what the difficulty in using it was. I’m not so sure speaking it was as much of a problem as every person with knee-jerk defensiveness about the police applying pressure when it was spoken. I’m going to try to use it more often in any case.
The militarization reminds me of the ideas of the Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld.
He uses the metaphor of an adult fighting a child to explain why you should not engage hugely inferior opponents: if you win, you’re a bully and a monster, if you lose, you’re a fool. The other side, no matter who or what they are, are heroes or martyrs just for facing impossible odds.
Of course that assumes that morale and morality matter.
Re voting rights, per Brony #24 and robro #19:
ThinkProgress – The most important reform Ferguson can enact to give its black residents a voice
Yes, the scheduling of local elections can be a voter access issue. How many of us even know when our municipal elections happen, if they aren’t scheduled concurrently with bigger state or national elections?
Ferguson’s people have been organizing voter registration drives at the protests.
From the New Yorker:
For a quick read on felony disenfranchisement: Ed Brayton – Restore voting rights of ex-felons
Missouri’s state law bars anyone imprisoned, on probation, on parole, or convicted of a “felony or misdemeanor connected with the right of suffrage”. Source, PDF via felonvoting pros and cons
As far as I can tell, after all those conditions, Missouri allows voting rights to be restored but it is not listed among those states that restore voting rights automatically. That means, most likely, an ex-felon wanting to vote would have to fill out an individualized clemency petition to the governor, including an essay and character references.
State-by-state PDF from the Brennan Center
Well heck, a year later my comment on Ed’s thread is still awaiting moderation. So here it is:
Pteryxx
I’m shocked by the voting system. The fuck you need a character reference to get your right to vote??
Also, robro @34: there’s ways for the law to get around that whole transient part, too. I don’t believe for a second that they can’t change the law to reflect the fact that a lot of people do move (often), and to take that into account. Not that they’d want to.
This – is just awesome. Ferguson has shown itself to be the definition of a community, of a community trying to do better, and yet people refuse to see them as anything but a bunch of violence-hungry hooligans, and keep placing obstacles in their way.
Sorry, cops, you can’t fool us. They’re, overall, better people than you are. Hands down (or hands up?).
rq – that’s why I’m trying to talk more about felon disenfranchisement, because most people in the US let alone the world don’t even know such a concept exists, much less that it takes the vote away from one in every five or ten black citizens (or thereabouts, depending on region). And it’s voter disenfranchisement in the hands of police and prosecutors like those in Ferguson, followed by the for-profit probation system.
It’s another vestige of Jim Crow laws. I put more references under Brayton’s article.
@ Pteryxx 46
Thank you for that. I like to have all the elements in my head.
I am endlessly amazed and depressed that the best source for news in the US today is Comedy Central. It’s like something straight of out Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” – The Comedian is the one guy who’s not kidding at all.
At least there is a media telling some truth. I’m surprised and happy about that.
Felon disenfranchisement is just one of many strategies that mostly republican/teabaggers have used to keep the wrong people from voting. It’s a feature, not a bug. (From their perspective, obviously.)