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Ferguson Grand Jury Announcement Coming Down Today
It’s being widely reported this afternoon that the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri has reached a decision as to whether they’ll be bringing charges against Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown earlier this year. The Washington Post waits until the last paragraph of its coverage to address the biggest consequence of the story:
If Wilson is not charged, government officials are bracing for protests in the St. Louis area and nationwide. They have discussed emergency plans in the event of a violent reaction, while protest and community leaders have mapped out their response in the hopes of avoiding the unrest that exploded after Brown was killed.
Drudge links to a story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch with some details on the preparation:
Richard Schademann, a teacher at Johnson Wabash Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, was taking a break at the Corner Coffee House in Ferguson.
“The school’s mood is pretty tense. We’ve been going through lockdown drills,” Schademann said. “We want the kids to be safe.”
Children seem to be taking the situation in stride, he said. But after one drill, a fifth-grader asked him, “Why would they want to attack our school?”
Here’s what bothers me about this story: if an eruption occurs, no on in the media will ask the question that student posed. No one will ask how destroying the community and creating an environment of fear for ordinary citizens will rectify whatever injustices were supposed contained in the grand jury’s decision. Because the press will take the protesters’ grievances as legitimate — regardless of the details of the case — they will countenance whatever means they use to express their outrage, regardless of the human cost.
Here’s a quote from the Post-Dispatch piece that strikes me as stunningly inhumane:
Some hope that, if the grand jury opts not to call for an indictment, protests that follow will send a message. “If it doesn’t blow up, I’ll be very disappointed,” said Ardester Williams, a security guard at the Buzz Westfall Plaza shopping center in Jennings. “People have been putting up with this kind of thing for 300 years. I want people around the world to know we’re tired of it.”
Now, I don’t know what “blow up” means in this context, but, given the visceral nature of the quote, I doubt Mr. Williams is thinking of strongly-worded placards. Can you imagine any scenario in which you’d be actively rooting for that kind of chaos to come to your community?
Let’s just imagine for a moment that the original reporting on Ferguson was entirely correct: that Brown, with hands up, had essentially been murdered in cold blood. Any outrage over a lack of charges would, of course, be entirely justified. Even under those circumstances, however, I don’t know how you get to a justification for violence. There is no coherent moral calculus by which the remedy for injustice is “break stuff.”
The media’s repeated indulgence of this behavior strikes me as, to borrow a phrase from George W. Bush, the soft bigotry of low expectations. Why should we expect — and, for that matter, implicitly accept — that the highest expression of anger that African-Americans are capable of is pandemonium in the streets? Why isn’t the expectation that black leaders in Ferguson would immediately go to work trying to upend the local power structure, replacing public officials and attempting to heal whatever wounds had been inflicted on their community?
I happen to think that African-Americans are capable of self-government. I sometimes get the feeling that the partisans of the Ferguson protesters don’t share that view.
Published in General
This strikes me as insufficiently cynical. It is not so much that pandemonium is expected or accepted no, it is rather that in news offices around this nation many are actively rooting for it. Citizens going about their daily business makes for boring news, riots however are exciting.
She can tell you ’bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
It’s interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0xr31XbSOU
maybe I’m just being cynical. I don’t think so poorly of your average citizen to think they’d be stupid enough to carry those signs, thinking that this is actual justice for anyone.
Unless, of course, they’ve been listening to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton tell everyone all about how the word “justice” can mean whatever you want it to if you add the word “systemic” in front of it. Reminds me of the Jihadi “defensive warfare” doctrine.
The vast majority of the tension seems manufactured. For days I’ve heard that “the situation is tense in Ferguson, Missouri as protesters wait for the grand jury ….” Don’t these people have jobs and things to do? The protesters waiting for their moment to strike seem like characters on a Maury Povich or Jerry Springer show waiting their cue to show their backsides for all the world to see and get their 30 seconds of fame.
I don’t mean to suggest there are no reasons for tension here, but give me a break. Maybe the folks there should be getting their ire up at the communists and race baiters who lied about what happened with the young robber and then set about destroying the effects of people who had nothing to do with the situation, all in the name of some racial justice.
Like Ryan M, I don’t think that the average person blessed with a darker complexion than me is the one just hanging out waiting to start trouble. These folks have lives to lead, like everyone else.
This is damn inconsiderate. Don’t these people know what a pain late-breaking news is for all those people trying to put together indispensable daily e-mail news digests?
Well said.
Relax guys CNN is already in 24-hour talking head mode. How can we feel nervous when they have such astute jaws flapping from now till Thursday.
1. Doesn’t it seem like a bad idea to make the announcement about the grand jury indictment AFTER DARK??? If they go ahead with that it seems like yet another screw up in handling this situation.
2. Am I the only one who doesn’t give 2 damns whether there is an indictment or not?
I thought of that too. Seems like an invitation to trouble.
The more cynical part of me thought that it might be intentional. Darkness covers up police mischief and cops in black are harder to see.
The other choice was to make it during the day, when the protesters would have more time to get up a full head of steam and righteousness.
Hopefully, by doing it later, the less-inclined-to-violence folks will let the fear keep them at home, instead of ending up in front of a whole bunch of looters and creeps.
Why do you think the Grand Jury delayed until Monday, instead of dropping this on Friday afternoon?
I was actually thinking the opposite… in this case, it seems like the cops are pretty well justified in their lack of patience. I’d be far more concerned with “protester” mischief at this point.
I can’t believe this is how we’re spending our Monday night, watching on Fox instead of football on ESPN, but here we are. What a weird juxtaposition of the gathered crowd/protestors standing under a “Season’s Greetings” banner.
Now that Wilson isn’t being indicted, let the battle begin…
With only 30 more looting days until Christmas, I wonder how many “activists” are saying right now, “Siri, find Ferguson Best Buy.”
One of their colleagues killed an unarmed civilian a few months ago. The police closed ranks and didn’t start an actual investigation for a week. Now he walks away sans any indictment. If we’re talking about incentives, one side just got a big one to use more force.
Obama is going to speak soon about the verdict. Because that’s totally what presidents do. Will he say that if he had a nephew, he would look just like Michael Brown?
The Congressional Black Caucus said the verdict is a slap in the face to all Americans, and Brown’s family said they need to fix a “system” that “allowed” their son to be killed.
I. Just. Can’t.
Obama needed the “wrap it up” music that they play at awards shows when they ramble on and on. Painful.
I don’t know but I could take a guess. It isn’t a big leap to go from heading out on a Friday night to drink and chase girls to drink and break stuff.
The police are trained to not speculate or discuss these events in public. The intent of this policy is to prevent uninformed speculation or rumors from becoming accepted as the “real” account of events ahead of an investigation’s findings.
Put another way, police following their training is not “closing ranks”.
I agree. People feel less inhibited about conducting lawless activities (e.g., looting) at night because the darkness gives them a sense of anonymity.
Maybe Bill Cosby can perform a benefit there. Show them a better way.
Exactly. Especially when the media and “protesters” (and even some Ricochetti, apparently) had already made up their minds. It doesn’t matter if you’re operating on the prejudice that all cops are evil because you’re black or because you’re Libertarian… when that ideology is your guide, facts don’t matter. Good lord, Fred – I’m a defense attorney who doesn’t trust cops, and even I am not so stupid as to ignore individual facts. We tell our clients to clam up and never talk to anyone, but cops are guilty when they don’t want to talk to a media that hates them.
You know, it is possible to disagree with civil forfeiture without having to side with lunatics and gangsters based on some ridiculous “the enemy of my enemy” mentality. There are plenty of sensible libertarians out there, but the wrong ones are the loudest and the most confident, and they cost everyone else making decent headway.
Whether you’re a police agent or someone outside of government service, the best thing you can do after you’ve just shot someone in self defense is shut your pie hole and let your lawyer do the talking. The police understand this, because as agencies they’ve learned from past mistakes. Some regular folks understand this and know it’s better to shut up, take the ride to jail and wait for their lawyer to do the talking rather than risk putting out information that could be bad or errant. In either case, blabbing to the public or a prosecutor about what you did and why it’s justified without a good lawyer on your side is very risky even if you know you’re perfectly justified in your actions.