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#SomeMothersMatter
I have a fairly high tolerance when it comes to grieving parents: It may be a cliché, but it’s likely true that none of us can understand the anguish and sorrow of losing one’s child without having gone through it. However, I have a very low tolerance for those who enable parents to present thugs and thieves as victims and martyrs. Whatever one’s other feelings about police shootings and #BlackLivesMatter, justice and decency should have demanded that Lezley McSpadden — the mother of Michael Brown, pictured below in the blue dress — not be featured on a stage of victims at the DNC. But as you can see, she was.
To recap briefly, Ms. McSpadden’s son shoplifted at a convenience store and assaulted one of its clerks who attempted to intervene; we know this because it was captured on the surveillance tape. Less than fifteen minutes later, Officer Darren Wilson — responding to another call — yelled at Brown and his accomplice to get off the median line; shortly thereafter, Brown punched Wilson in the face, attempted to wrestle away his handgun, and charged Wilson before the latter shot him dead. If you don’t believe me, check out the report from the Obama Administration’s Justice Department. For a summary, you might check out this piece from Reason, a publication hardly known for being overly deferential toward police.
In the days and weeks that followed, Brown’s accomplice spread the false rumor that Brown had been surrendering to Wilson when he was killed. This and other calumnies contributed to the riots that engulfed the town of Ferguson, heated racial tensions across the country, and played no small role in the eventual murders of police officers this month in Dallas and Baton Rouge. McSpadden’s husband made his own contributions to the violence, urging fellow protesters to “Burn that mother [expletive] down! Burn this [expletive] down! Burn this [expletive] down! Burn this [expletive] down!“
And this person was given a place on the stage at the convention of one of our two major political parties for the purpose of calling attention to injustice.
I am not surprised that Hillary Clinton would have her on stage. I am amazed — if not surprised — that the other mothers* would besmirch their own reputations, as well as the memories of their dead children, by doing so.
* I could make the argument that the same should apply to Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother. We do not know precisely what precipitated the scuffle that left him dead, but we do know that it left George Zimmerman with gashes in the back of his head, which had been slammed repeatedly onto the pavement. On the other hand, Zimmerman’s behavior these last few years has been so disgusting and dishonorable that I think his initial accounts of what happened — which I largely accepted — deserve some skepticism. I would not share a stage with her, but I would not condemn others for it in the way I do those who shared one with McSpadden.
Published in General
Tom,
Did you happen to see this story.
Freddie Gray case: Charges against three remaining officers dropped
An incompetent DA stoking the fire of race hatred, drums up a lynch mob to attack police. Now that the jury is in and her false charges have been dropped she still doesn’t give up the narrative.
Regards,
Jim
Amen, Kate. Amen.
I did. Looks like @jackdunphy was right.
I found this image when looking for something else and thought immediately of this comment.
I’m pretty patient with a lot of the nonsense I hear about police officers. When I spent some time as a Field Training Officer (FTO) I not only evaluated new officers I also tried to teach them the skills that would keep them alive. I have had someone try to take my gun in the course of making an arrest. I have had to fight with people. I have responded to cover calls, one cover call was an officer being attacked with a hatchet. I raced to calls that involved citizens being beaten or threatened by someone with a gun. That doesn’t make me Superman, in fact I could probably teach just about any Ricochet member enough skills to get them through a shift.
The harshest critics of a police officer should go on a ride along, not just one but several ride a longs. Some officers are quiet, some are funny, some are cynics, but they have one thing in common they will bust their asses to come to the aid of another officer, or a citizen.
I’ve seen intended mayhem and unintended mayhem I have seen stupid people and evil people. Good qualities in human beings transcend all races, colors and creeds. Human beings that cannot behave themselves transcend all races, color, and creeds.
I will always speak up for street cops and I will criticize those that after a complete investigation are found to be dishonest or incompetent. You will never hear me say that it is too bad the officer didn’t kill the bad guy and save the taxpayer the cost of a trial and incarceration. The last thing you want to do is to shoot and kill someone.
During the Republican convention they had one of the Benghazi mothers making a speech denouncing Hillary Clinton. I’m not crazy about trying to pull on people’s heartstrings by putting grief on display for political purposes. Right after that I saw Rachel Maddow and her MSNBC co-panelists express extreme distaste — even disgust — for such emotional manipulation. Fine, I figured, let’s see how they react when the Democrats do it. I saw the Mothers of the Movement and hung around to see the reaction of Maddow and friends. As you might expect, there weren’t the slightest misgivings of emotional manipulation on behalf of Hillary Clinton. So it’s bad when it’s used in opposition to Clinton, but admirable when it’s used for Clinton.
Like you, Tom, I was struck that they portray an aggressor or two who were killed in self-defense as murder victims.
The only thing that stayed the lynch mob was the wise decision of the attorneys for the cops to request bench trials rather than to submit to the good citizens of Baltimore. Although, to be fair, I believe the first case went before a jury which couldn’t reach a verdict.
You know, it crossed my mind that if you got rid of McSpadden and Sabrina Fulton (Trayvon Martin’s mother) — and had the mothers of some of the slain officers sharing the stage that would have been extremely powerful.
Of course, that didn’t happen and this is my surprised face:
The first trial ended with a hung jury, I believe 8 jurors voted for acquittal and 4 jurors voted to convict.