I got on facebook to check out my moms rad cakes and was horrified to find many posts that were incredibly insensitive and ignorant of whats going on in Ferguson right now. I dont often talk about current happenings (or talk on facebook at all) so I hope you understand the gravity of the situation--I already know many on here may disagree, but I also know to my core that if I were to remain silent on these issues that it would be a moral atrocity and corruption of integrity that I cannot commit. For those of you who do not know: In early August, a teenage boy of eighteen years, Michael Brown, was unlawfully shot at least six times by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was unarmed and his body was left in the street for four hours. (You can find photographic evidence of this, but the Brown family wishes for images of his life to be circulated, not his death. Please respect their wishes.) Though news reports and corrupt officials claim that the witness accounts of this traumatic event are conflicting, the accounts actually line up quite closely. You can view how they line up HERE: https://youtube/watch?v=fRbiEZ_vIOQ I highly suggest watching that video to learn more in-depth what happened. Or read up on Dorian Johnsons claims: msnbc/msnbc/eyewitness-michael-brown-fatal-shooting-missouri (Dorian being Mikes friend who experienced the situation first-hand) and video (https://youtube/watch?v=tfy5FiqzWHI) for a more specific account. One of the few contradicting claims is that of Officer Darren Wilson, himself. He claims that Brown tried to wrestle away his gun and attack him after he told Brown and his friend to get the f--k on the sidewalk. But according to Johnson, after a confrontation on the Officer Wilsons part where he gripped Brown by the neck then shirt, Wilson then pulled his gun on Brown and shot him at point blank range on the right side of his body. Brown and Johnson were able to get away briefly, but after another shot Brown turned around with his arms in the air and said, I dont have a gun, stop shooting! After this, Brown and Officer Wilson were face to face and Wilson shot him several times in the head and chest until he was finally dead. There were three autopsies of Michael Browns body, all of which show that he was shot in his front and not in his back while supposedly running away as certain false rumors have claimed. In an informative article ( nytimes/2014/08/18/us/michael-brown-autopsy-shows-he-was-shot-at-least-6-times.html?src=twr ) about the autopsies Benjamin L. Crump notes Wilsons reckless behavior: “The sheer number of bullets and the way they were scattered all over his body showed this police officer had a brazen disregard for the very people he was supposed to protect in that community. We want to make sure people understand what this case is about: This case is about a police officer executing a young unarmed man in broad daylight.” Here are some more important highlights from the article that involve medical expert Dr. Baden: Dr. Baden said it was unusual for the federal government to conduct a third autopsy, but dueling examinations often occur when there is so much distrust of the authorities. The county of St. Louis has conducted an autopsy, and the results have not yet been released. He stressed that his examination was not to determine whether the shooting was justified. In my capacity as the forensic examiner for the New York State Police, I would say, ‘You’re not supposed to shoot so many times,’ said Dr. Baden, who retired from the state police in 2011. Right now there is too little information to forensically reconstruct the shooting. No matter what conclusions can be drawn from Dr. Baden’s work, Mr. Brown’s death remains marked by shifting and contradictory accounts more than a week after it occurred. The shooting is under investigation by St. Louis County and by the F.B.I., working with the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the office of Attorney General Holder. There have been some other false rumors surrounding the event including Brown going for a gun ( msnbc/all-in/watch/police-shooting-draws-massive-protests-317336131948 ), Brown attacking Darren Wilson first ( cnn/2014/08/11/us/missouri-ferguson-michael-brown-what-we-know/index.html )--those two rumors have been debunked--and Brown robbing a grocery store. Though not completely debunked, there is some debate about that last rumor. Particularly as footage was released days after the murder, the cop who released the footage lied about the reasons of releasing it ( huffingtonpost/2014/09/05/ferguson-chief-lied-about-michael-brown-tape_n_5773420.html?&ir=Politics&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016&utm_content=buffer4b04d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer ), it cannot proven its even footage of Brown, and the store owner himself repeating that Brown stole nothing from the store. And regardless of whether or not he robbed the store (some rumors claiming it for some candy and others for a pack of cigarettes) I hope that you have enough sense and decency to realize that execution without trial and execution for petty theft are wrong and go against the sense of justice and order we have based our beliefs in. After teenager Michael Brown was murdered and his body left in the street, a group of around a hundred individuals went to the police station to protest peacefully. Things escalated as they were met by martial law; including tanks, heavy artillery, K9s, and the like. After the presence of heavy police presence things have gotten worse and riots have been taking place in response to this. You can see here ( socialjusticekoolaid.tumblr/post/95060907883/hours-before-the-curfew-and-pigs-are-already ) some of the frightening brutality in response to the protests that started three months ago. Media was and has been banned from Ferguson ( libertyunyielding/2014/08/12/warzone-media-in-ferguson-asked-to-leave-or-face-arrest/ ). Media outlets are being threatened with arrest. Police vehicles lineup on the borders to prevent people from entering/leaving. There is a No-Fly zone ( thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/08/12/3470567/why-theres-a-no-fly-zone-over-ferguson-missouri/ ) above Ferguson. All of this makes it incredibly difficult to find out from the source itself whats going on there, though you can find horrific vines ( https://vine.co/v/O1XVd955Mau ) and like of what it looks like right now. A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King Jr. Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Brown, has been on paid leave, claimed to be grievously injured from the event (these are photos of him right after he shot the teenager: 33.media.tumblr/4a2c5d3e16254a56dba100a177e36f0c/tumblr_nfkw4wwusv1r3e226o1_500.png 38.media.tumblr/a87475f007703a8fd7a135478f26c3d6/tumblr_nfkw4wwusv1r3e226o2_1280.jpg) and has been supported by neo-nazis and the Klu Klux Klan: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2842947/Pro-Darren-Wilson-demonstrators-face-claims-KKK-infiltration-imperial-wizard-apparently-spotted-anti-police-demonstrators.html aattp.org/darren-wilson-supporters-remove-photo-showing-three-kkk-members-at-rally-after-it-becomes-public-knowledge/ alan/2014/11/19/klansmen-changing-profile-pictures-i-am-darren-wilson-threaten-to-shoot-hoodsoff-activists/ and aattp.org/kkk-promises-lethal-force-against-terrorists-protesting-michael-browns-murder-video/ . (Please, if you are supporting someone the literal KKK is siding with, please just take a step back and consider your choices.) And tonight Darren Wilson has failed to be indicted (by a grand jury that consisted of nine white individuals and only three black [as a note the way grand juries work in Missouri is that only nine individuals have to agree to pass the decision]). Though Browns grieving parents can file a wrongful death claim (which has more chance of convincing Wilson than the grand jury case) right now, Darren Wilson will not be charged at all for fatally shooting an unarmed teenager. If you want to find out further about what is happening RIGHT NOW after the decision, please look through this list of links xvarice.tumblr/post/94746886143/ferguson-masterpost that includes accounts of how protests are being met with rubber bullet attacks, use of violence, derogatory slurs, gassing of neighborhoods (even those not involved in the protests), and the like. To those who wish to help, do your best to educate others. Spread around links such as these videos of what has happened and is happening ( https://youtube/watch?v=qXhtvd0o2Fw https://youtube/watch?v=GVrziJOe5x0&list=UUT64XxI_0lu7SvbIOwBUpNA https://youtube/watch?v=46uNT-pDH38&list=UUT64XxI_0lu7SvbIOwBUpNA ), links to articles such as these ( journolist.tumblr/post/94563772619/michael-brown-remembered-as-a-gentle-giant-st cnn/2014/11/17/us/ferguson-state-of-emergency/ ), instructions on how to make a tear gas mask ( black-culture.tumblr/post/94529711883/hey-guys-i-need-your-help-spreading-this-on-social ), and a livestream link to the peaceful protests ( new.livestream/accounts/9035483/events/3271930 ). You can also help start a food drive set up for school kids in Ferguson ( https://twitter/hashtag/FeedFerguson?src=hash ), participate in a national moment of silence ( https://facebook/NMOS2014 ), and check out things like this: bustle/articles/36153-5-ways-you-can-help-ferguson-its-protesters-and-mike-browns-family. Also, as an ending note I will conclude with a quote being from Mike Browns parents just after the failed indictment as they call for change through police wearing body cameras (which would ensure an inescapable representation of truth and a cut down on police brutality) and ask for protestors to remain peaceful: We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions. While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen. Join with us in our campaign to ensure that every police officer working the streets in this country wears a body camera. We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful. Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction. Lets not just make noise, lets make a difference. To my friends who are still in the Missouri area: I miss you. I pray for you. I hope you remain safe and unharmed.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 10:50:49 +0000
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