ferguson « Robin Writes

What is justice? Webster defines it as “the process or result of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals.”

In the Michael Brown case, I’m afraid many, many people don’t understand the word.

We’ve all seen the signs being help up during the Ferguson protests—people want justice. That’s natural, that’s normal. Any thinking, law-abiding citizen wants justice.

How do you get justice? You look at the evidence, indict or not; if an indictment is handed down, the accused goes on trial. If he’s found guilty, he goes to prison. If there is no indictment, the accused is exonerated—he gets to go home.

Most people want to see justice for Michael Brown, but you can’t have justice without all the facts, all the evidence. It’s not simple.

What do we know? Michael was shot by Darren Wilson. At this point, that’s ALL we know.

In some circumstances, that would be enough. In this instance, it’s not. Officer Wilson was on duty as a police officer.

My fear is that those who do not understand the term “justice” are merely looking for a guilty verdict—and that’s something that won’t come for a long time, if ever. We’re told that the grand jury deliberations could take weeks, even after all the evidence is presented, and that itself supposed to take up to two months or longer.

It takes time.

For those who knew Michael, they’re in disbelief that this happened—surely many have known him for years, personally, and are stunned. Maybe they can’t imagine him attacking a cop, or stealing, or threatening; all these things have been reported, which doesn’t make them true.

On the other hand, maybe they can imagine it. I don’t know. I didn’t know Michael. I think it’s a shame that this happened at all, but I can see where it could have gone down like this. I can see the other side too.

I’ve heard of “bad” cops, but mostly from those who were doing something wrong or those who mouthed off at the officer. I know quite a few officers, and can’t imagine them doing something like this for no reason whatsoever. Every single officer I have ever encountered has been polite and respectful.

Every one of them.

Then again, I didn’t argue with them or call them names or threaten them in any way at all.

Oh, and I’m not black. Yes, I know it happens. I’ve heard stories.

I’m not saying that Michael did any of that, not at all, but please try to see my side—everyone has a side, whether it’s wrong or right, black or white, or for any other reason.

Here’s what I know:

Michael was shot by Officer Darren Wilson.

You can’t get and won’t have justice any time soon.

There are a lot of stories circulating, some true, some false.

People are riled up, perhaps with good cause.

Most police officers are decent and professional.

But here’s what I’d like to know:

What does the protesting accomplish?

Are you going to keep protesting until the grand jury is finished with the case?

What happens if Darren Wilson is indicted? What happens if he’s not?

Since this, after all, my blog, I can comment on these things:

Why the protesting? I know you’re protesting because Michael was shot by a police officer, but what does it accomplish? Kids are missing school. People are scared. People have limited access to their homes. I’m not going to cover the looting, because we can all agree that that’s being done by a small element, using the protesting as a cover.

Two months, the estimated time to present all the evidence to the grand jury, is a long time to continue disrupting people’s lives. If the objective is to bring awareness to the situation, to the issue, I’d say you’ve accomplished your goals.

If Officer Wilson is indicted, then what? Keep protesting until he’s convicted? It could be months, or a year or more, before the trial is heard. A long, long time to continue marching.

And if he’s not? If it’s over then, legally speaking? Then what?

Let’s try something, for both sides of this issue:

First, if you believe that the officer just whipped out his sidearm and shot Michael for no reason, take just one moment and ask yourself, “What if Michael had an altercation with Darren Wilson and punched him and/or tried to grab his gun and then charged him?” Take a deep breath, and ask again, “What if?”

Would the officer’s reaction not be justified? Don’t add all the qualifying issues, all the extraneous matters, just stop and think about it.

For those of you who believe that Michael was a bad guy and deserved everything he got, maybe more, what if Michael was indeed simply jaywalking? Forget the rest, forget what you’ve heard, just think. Did he really deserve to be killed for that?

Now, I think most people believe that no, Michael should not have been killed for jaywalking; a lot of us might be in real trouble, if that’s the case. Those who respect the police, and authority, might believe that Michael shouldn’t have tried to grab the officer’s gun, if that’s what happened; or maybe he shouldn’t have said anything but “Yes, okay,” when told to walk on the sidewalk instead of what his friend said: “We’re almost where we’re going.” Of course, thinking people realize that’s not a reason to pull out a gun, either.

Three people know the whole story: Michael, Darren Wilson, and Michael’s friend Dorian Johnson who was present. That’s it. You can be angry, you can speculate and guess, but you do NOT know what happened.

So again, what are you protesting? Something to which you do not have all the facts. Facts are what make a legal case. You can be angry that a young man was shot—you can even qualify it with the word “black” if that makes you feel better. It shouldn’t make a difference, though; white or black, if the shooting was wrong, it was wrong.

What are you teaching your children when you bring them along? Besides potentially putting them in danger, what are you telling them? That it’s okay to demonstrate against authority without knowing all the facts? Is your reasoning that the police have a history of profiling? Or something else?

I’d really like to know. So far, no one has come forward to sit down and talk, as I asked last week. I guess no one has answers, or are too busy being angry and marching in front of the TV cameras, because honestly—you aren’t accomplishing anything this way.

All the marching, the signs, the chants, are only telling the world that you’ve assigned blame and want retribution, right this minute.

Do you want true justice by the law, or only a vigilante type?

More stuff going down around these parts—again, if you haven’t seen the news, you’re living under a rock. It’s tense, all over the area, and the 24/7 coverage is really, really wearing.

And yes, I can only imagine how it feels to actually be living in Ferguson right now.

Sad, mad, glad, and afraid. The four basic emotions. On the one hand, there are the law-abiding citizens; on the other hand, the ones who are out-of-control. The latter are making things very, very difficult and dangerous for everyone.

Remember when your kids were small, or, if they still are, how you taught them appropriate responses to emotional angst? Things like “it’s not okay to scream when you’re only playing,” “it’s not okay to steal,” “it’s not okay to rip out your brother’s hair because he breathed on you.” We teach our kids that it’s okay to feel whatever emotion they’re having, but their responses must be tempered and socially acceptable.

Why, then, is Ferguson having such a hard time?

Go home. Talk to your family and friends. At home. Rant and rave. At home. Write letters, make phone calls, blog, go on social media. At home. Punch a pillow. Punch the walls. At home.

Do you really think that marching around your town, chanting “hands up, don’t shoot,” or any other slogan, is going to—what? What is that going to do? Show solidarity? I would hope you already have that, among your family and friends. You should know that the majority of Americans also stand firmly against injustice already.

It’s like posting a pink ribbon on your Facebook page. The purpose of that is to raise awareness of breast cancer, right? Who in the hell is NOT aware of breast cancer? Likewise, NO ONE in the world is not aware of what’s going down in Ferguson.

Now, I get it—the Constitution says you have the right to peacefully assemble. Great! The Constitution guarantees many things; common sense and common decency promote many things, but there’s a catch: there may be consequences.

For every action, there is a reaction. Michael Brown was shot, people are angry. Cause and effect. I’m not going to comment on the incident itself, because that, too, is cause and effect. If this had happened, if something else had not happened, wherever you stand on the cause, there is an effect.

If you argue with an officer, there is an effect that will follow; if you break the law, there’s consequence; either of these things could have many outcomes. If you fail to make dinner, you will be hungry; if you fail to work, you will have no money. You certainly have the “right” to do any of these things, and many more, but there will still be a consequence from whatever right you choose to exercise.

Sometimes, if you peacefully protest, someone will do something bad. It could be blocks away from you; it could be the person standing next to you. Either way, there’s a cause and an effect.

Last night, there were reports of kids being tear-gassed. Why in the hell were there kids outside in that mess in the first place? I’ve heard parents say they want their kids to be a part of this. Shouldn’t they, long before 9:30 in the evening, be in bed? School night or not, doesn’t matter.

What are some of these people teaching their kids? Go ahead, you can get mad at me for saying “these people” if you want to, but if you have half a brain you’ll realize I’m talking about people who bring children to a “protest” that, based on events of the last week, has a high potential to turn violent.

That, my friends, is the highest example of stupidity. Period.

My concern, and the reason I filed this under “Prep Monday,” is if things spread to the surrounding areas—and that’s already begun—we’re prepared. We’re ready, just in case, but not actively holed up. There’s no reason. Not yet.