The arguments I’m hearing about the Ferguson case are just fantastical. Michael Brown was a big man. He robbed a convenience store. The evidence about what happened on August 9 is contradictory. What distractions!
You don’t gun down an unarmed person in the middle of the street shortly after telling the person to walk on the sidewalk. You just don’t.
Yes, once the case enters the legal system, it’s relevant that the law protects police officers when they use lethal force. Rules of evidence come into play. Definitions of manslaughter do as well. Michael Brown’s death does not have to get tangled in our complicated legal system, however. To argue this case on legal grounds does not address the legitimate grievance that lies at the bottom of this resistance movement: police officers mistreat black people, black men in particular.
Stay focused on what counts here. Everyone wants to argue whether the…
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aynrkey
bostonteapartygoer
Kenn Jacobine
mattdharris
Mike Seebeck
Miche
paulie
Jim Davidson
ponggod
Stuart Richards
Todd Andrew Barnett
“police officers mistreat black people, black men in particular.”
Whether police officers mistreat black people more than they mistreat other people is a more complicated question than usually claimed. For a careful and interesting discussion of the evidence—on law enforcement in general, not limited to police officers—see:
http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/25/race-and-justice-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/
It’s from Slatestarcodex, currently my favorite blog.