With a heavy heart, I’ve been watching the “blowback” from the ruling against the Cop who killed Michael Brown.
I wasn’t in the courtroom, I wasn’t privy to the details that exonerated the cop.
But I have seen a zillion videos. So here’s my 2 cents.
First off, the video of Michael Brown STEALING cigars from the store, and then ASSAULTING the owner. (Stealing and assault are crimes, and the person who commits them can be arrested.)
How would you feel if you were the store owner?
We know someone called the police because the the robbery and assault. We know the police were looking for Michael Brown.
Now we have conflicting stories on what happened next. Some say Michael Brown attacked the cop, punched him in the face, and there is a picture of the cop with black and blue on his face. Some people say Michael Brown put his hands up and said, “Don’t shoot.” I don’t know if we will ever know the FULL truth.
I don’t believe Michael Brown should have been killed. Arrested, yes. Killed, No.
Personally, I feel the cop should be expelled from the force, and find another profession.
But someone PLEASE explain to me how looting and destroying other peoples’ businesses is helping to solve the race issues in this country? Why are Sharpton and Jackson allowed to stir this up?
No, I don’t know what it’s like to be African-American. But I have known LOTS of African-Americans who are GOOD PEOPLE, EDUCATED, AND HARDWORKING.
There seems to be a sub-culture (both White and Black) that does not value education, and that is where a lot of the problem starts. Without an education, how can you get a good job? How can you lift yourself out of poverty? You can’t.
Once again, our president has chosen to talk out of both sides of his mouth, at once saying he has “no sympathy for those who destroy businesses in their own communities” but at the same time saying he understands the frustration that drives them to do it. (Wink, wink, it’s okay.)
We thought that having a “half-white/half black” president could open up conversations, education, and bringing together of the races in this country, but sadly, he has decided instead to push us further apart.
***
Yes, I’m white. There are probably LOTS of things I don’t understand.
Here’s a few stories that I have experienced in my lifetime:
1. Two years ago, I worked with a woman at a church to collect hats, scarves and gloves for inner-city youth.(She lives in the inner-city and works at the Rec center.) She told me of one young African-American man (17 years old) who had to WALK to school because the bus would only pick up if you lived *further* than a mile and a half from school! I had no idea. I stopped and tried to put myself into his shoes: Would I be willing to WALK a mile and a half at 8 am when it’s 0 degrees outside?! What an obstacle to overcome. ** This should not be. In this day and age, they can’t get the school bus to pick up kids who live that far away.
2. I worked with an African-American woman who was very dark. She was a really nice person and helped me very much when I took a job in a department that she worked in, and she trained me. She told me terrible stories of prejudice that she had endured in her life. One instance was after she bought her house and was trying to get a home improvement loan to add a sunroom. The bank officer came over and evaluated her house, and said, “You have all this, what do you want more for?” That was pretty rude. She told me stories of being picked on in school. As an adult, she went to night college, and the professor told her, “You shouldn’t be here.” (He was a Pakistani man.)
**
Can someone explain why they think LOOTING is going to solve the problems?
SueAnn Porter 
I agree with you. There are photos of this young man pointing a gun and drinking alcohol like a thug…..that doesn’t mean that killing him was right though. And whether or not the policeman was injured by him or was in fear for his life could have been the reason for the shooting. I think it was one of those terrible moments of fear where things go wrong. I never have understood why destroying property is the best way to protest outcomes like this or celebrating a win of a sports event. It’s just craziness.
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Terri, I don’t understand all the destroying of property either. Especially when some of it is owned by Black people. I’m sure you heard the story of the woman whose cake business was destroyed. I feel bad for the cop…I think he made a mistake. I know that there have been a lot of instances of cops overstepping their authority lately too. I don’t know if we will ever find out the truth of what happened in Ferguson. But the “unarmed teen” was 18, a MAN, and as the picture shows, he didn’t really NEED a weapon.
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I don’t see where your two examples are exclusive to black people. I am white, and when I went to school in the 70’s and 80’s our county had a 2 mile rule for the school bus, and yep, I lived inside those two miles and was expected to walk or ride bikes (which would get stolen from time to time) every day to school, round trip 3.25 miles a day, until I went to high school which fortunately was 8 miles away! As for the comments the other lady endured I cannot tell you how many times a bank officer has looked at me and my husband and thew out off hand jokes about us, our situation, or our five children, some people just have no couth and are just going to make rude comments. Maybe it’s why they’ve got the job they’ve got. They get to act like a little god and get to watch your reaction to their offhanded comments and they take pleasure from it somehow.
As for why people loot and burn that is just simple human psychology. They feel cheated, they feel like something has been taken from them, and they want someone else to feel loss just like that. They think if they can make you feel a loss like they are feeling a loss, you will understand! I cannot imagine the hole losing a child leaves in someones soul, but I do know it is not even going to come close to being filled by watching things be destroyed, watching others hurt and suffer. I don’t think the people of Furgeson understand that yet, and that the only thing that is going to start filling that hole is Love! In the end, they will though. And maybe they will come together stronger because of it!
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Thanks for your comments spinnermom. I grew up myself sleeping in an OLD house with cracks in the walls, and feeling the cold winter wind blow into my bedroom, as I tried to wrap myself in an old army blanket to get warm. And I was tortured in school for being overweight (I hate the f*t word) and also for having frizzy hair. I was pushed into lockers by bullies.
Also, I had a cousin who was smart and did well in school, and some black kids were jealous or whatever, and used to rip up his notebooks. He had to have a set of notebooks at home and copy the notes down because he got his notebooks ripped up so often at school!
I hope that GOOD can come out of the situation in Ferguson too!
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This is a news story we haven’t had over here or at least not one I’ve seen. I’m glad guns are illegal over here and even the police don’t carry them. Even so we do seem to have a culture developing where every time someone is faced with something they don’t like they shout racism, sexism, homophobia or discrimination of some kind. It seems to me this is crying wolf a little and people need to realise things happen to everyone and it’s not all about discrimination. One of the bus drivers I work with was recently accused of racism for throwing two young girls off the bus. They were using fraudulent tickets but, in their minds it was about the colour of their skin.
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Marie, it’s very complicated. Like you said about the 2 girls, they had fake tickets, but they got caught so they blame it on racism. That happens a lot here. In this case, Michael Brown was a thief, and assaulted the store owner. It’s a crime no matter what color your skin is. Ugh. I do hope that good can come out of all this mess, though.
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