No indictment for Darren Wilson leads to national outcry
Hundreds of state militia marched into Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 24, after a night of protests and rioting over a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown.
The Brown killing has inflamed tensions throughout the state, starting a national conversation about police brutality and racism. Darren Wilson, the officer responsible for the 18-year-old’s death on a residential neighborhood on Aug. 9, had been on paid administrative leave for months while the jury was hearing testimony and deliberating evidence. Wilson, who testified in court, was not charged on any of the five potential indictments presented to the jury, including first-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
The grand jury found based on evidence that “no probable cause exists” to file charges, according to St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch.
The verdict was publicly announced Nov. 23, Monday night, instantly sparking a chain of angry protests and violent clashes with police across the country, with people demanding justice.
In the St. Louis capital, at least 300 demonstrators marched from a park to the courthouse, chanting “You didn’t indict. We shall fight.” Police used pepper spray and arrested demonstrators blocking major intersections.
In Ferguson, protests became even more chaotic than the turmoil that followed Brown’s death a few months ago. Similar to a war zone, local businesses were looted and burned down during overnight riots, cop cars were set ablaze, and officers in riot gear had to use tear gas to disperse the angry mobs.
Gunshots were heard, and dozens were arrested.
“The system failed us again,” one woman said.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon already declared a state of emergency prior to the grand jury’s decision, bringing the state’s National Guard and the St. Louis County Police Department involved in maintaining order. He said at least 2,200 more state militia would be in place in the region, protecting homes and businesses in the event of more civil unrest.
“No one should have to live like this,” Nixon said at a news conference Tuesday. “No one deserves this. What they’ve gone through is unacceptable.”
In New York City, thousands of marchers took to the streets, chanting and holding banners with the trending slogan, “Black Lives Matter.” They blocked traffic on busy Manhattan streets, marching through East Village and Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive, through Times Square, across the Manhattan Bridge, and at Lincoln Tunnel while police frantically tried to barricade.
“We have to take to the streets to protect our children,” one New York protester said, carrying his 1 ½-year-old son on his shoulder.
In response to the jury’s decision, other large public rallies and demonstrations sprung up in dozens of cities coast to coast, including Washington, Chicago, Oakland, and Los Angeles.
In Oakland, near the San Francisco Bay, rioters vandalized police cars and attacked businesses in the center square. At least 43 arrests were made as police struggled to control a crowd of some 2,000 people. Long-standing grievances about Oakland’s police department are believed to have a hand in fueling the vicious protests.
Los Angeles was greeted with unruly chaos throughout the area. Police arrested 130 demonstrators overnight on Nov. 25 and early morning of Nov. 26. Officers in riot gear surrounded a group of several dozen protesters near the busy intersection of Temple St. and Broadway, taking them into custody around 12:45am on charges of “disorderly conduct.” Activists also stopped to sit or lie down on busy street intersections, closing down traffic and even briefly shutting down the 101 Freeway, which was also barricaded by demonstrators.
Demonstrators said they felt a sense of defeat and helplessness after the grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson. Many who side with the Brown family wanted to express their frustrations, but did not know what to do.
“I just want a peaceful movement,” said Elan Lee, 27, a Los Angeles resident. “Enough is enough.”
“I am angry and I feel powerless to change the way things are,” said Brittany Farr, 26. “It feels good to register my frustrations in a public way.”
The Brown family issued a statement expressing their sorrow, but encouraged for peaceful protests and a campaign to require police officers to wear body cameras on duty.
“While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change,” the family stated. “We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen.”
Following the verdict, President Obama urged a major review of policing and law enforcement practices in the US and especially in Ferguson, but condemned the ongoing violent riots from city to city.
“To those who think that what happened in Ferguson is an excuse for violence, I do not have any sympathy for that,” Obama said. “For those working to make change, I want to work with you and I want to move forward with you.”
(With reports from Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, ABC News, and BBC)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(OCIE November 28 – December 4, 2014 Sec. A pg.1)
I have experience abuse from law enforcement. My ordeal started in Cincinnati, Ohio about 2 years ago. It has been a terrifying experience. The abuse included Cincinnati Police marked cars, Hamilton County Sheriff’s helicopters, and a plethora of plain clothes officers or agents, which I believe were state or federal law enforcement.
The ordeal started after I wrote letters criticizing a well-connected corporation in Cincinnati for not having African Americans on its 16-panel board, even though African Americans make up part (I believe about half) of the company’s customer base. African Americans constitute approximately 45 percent of Cincinnati’s population. (I have also addressed abuse of women, anti-Semitism, homophobia, American Indian genocide, Islamophobia, reverse discrimination, kidnapping, and many other issues via Juggling For A Cure.)
I do not know why law enforcement has been making an incursion into my life, but do know that the terror started after I wrote letters criticizing the company for not having African Americans on its board.
A Hamilton CountySheriff’s helicopter flew daily low flights over my home. I believe the officer(s) intent was to bring terror to my life. This is an example of the huge abusive egos that are rampant in law enforcement. The impetus of the low helicopter flights was not law enforcement. It took several of my calls to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s leadership before the harassment stopped.
The Cincinnati Police chief and mayor were African Americans. The Chief of Police’s officers participated in the abuse, and the mayor never responded to my letters. (Eventually a new mayor, a White mayor, in Cincinnati did respond to my letter to him.) Several Black ministers ignored my pleas for help. The officers that were terrorizing me included African Americans. The lesson here is that African American leadership is implicit in the police abuse and other problems that plague the African American community.
I sometimes wondered if my experience would have been the same had I been Jewish. If Cincinnati was 45 percent Jewish (or even less), and a well-established corporation had Jewish people at approximately half of its customer base, and the company did not have any Jewish representation on its 16-panel board, I believe the Jewish leadership would repel the corporation’s board practice. Jewish leaders would not allow a corporation to be unfair to the Jewish community. If I was Jewish, I believe Jewish leaders would have had my back.
My experience pleading to Black leadership was that they were not only scared and silent, but participated in abusing me. The corporation has power and standing in the city, and has the connections to help people. The Black leaders wanted to be in the position to be helped by the corporation—via political, financial, employment, and social resources. And they did not want to jeopardize this opportunity.
There exist as much anti-Semitism towards Jewish people as there exist racism against African Americans. The key difference in my opinion is where one leadership mostly looks out for their people, the other leadership mostly looks out for themselves.
I have always been fearful of criminals, but am now more frightened by the people who are supposed to uphold laws and respect American citizens. Law enforcement officers have me scared to go about my daily business. This harassment is occurring while I have not been afforded the opportunity to have this matter taken before a jury of U.S. citizens.
Taking this matter to a court of law and putting the issue out in the open should expose any wrongdoing—whether by me or by law enforcement. That is, if I am alive and able to tell my story. If I am deceased and have to depend on a prosecutor to tell my story, I doubt that the truth would prevail.
Unfortunately, the law enforcement abusers have not been willing to take this matter to a court of law – while I am alive and able to defend myself. They have instead chosen to terrorize me outside of court, creating a prison outside of prison.
Letting the American people know about my abuse would, I believe, be beneficial to our country. Taking the matter before a court would allow me to expose how law enforcement can take an American life and arbitrarily bring terror to it. I am probably not the only person that this has happened to.