Why I am Dissapointed

I think the Missouri Grand Jury’s acquittal of Darren Wilson was a legal, political, and moral failure.

Let’s say you disagree. That’s okay. I don’t hate you, but here’s why I think you should change your mind.

My understanding is that the majority of black people in America see themselves as oppressed, rather than protected, by the police. They think they have no official recourse to justice when their rights are abused. Statistics support this view, but it’s easy to ignore statistics. Wilson and Brown have created an extreme and public example of this oppression and given us an opportunity to improve American race relations.

Because the normal justice system doesn’t work for black people, there is no other way for them to get recourse than by making a national spectacle. That’s bad. And it’s also bad that Fergeson has become a flashpoint for American race relations, but that’s what happens when a country doesn’t have a working justice system. The Yugoslav War “began” “because of” a soccer game (http://www.onthisfootballday.com/…/may-13-the-match…)

(Of course the war had other beginnings and other, deeper reasons for starting, but the soccer game was a flashpoint of the kind I am hoping Fergeson doesn’t turn out to be.)

Whether or not Wilson did anything wrong or illegal when he shot Brown (I think he did, but maybe I’m wrong), he and the Ferguson police department and the county government and the state government of Missouri have all handled the situation abysmally. As in, I have lived through three summers of political protests in Bulgaria (and watched Turkey and Ukraine closely), and the comparison does not go in the US’s favor. When a former Soviet satalite on the Balkans with a history of ethnic tensions handles a violent riot better than you, it is time to re-examine your policies.

A gesture of peace and good will from the city or state government (such as putting bodycams on police officers) might help. National guard parading down the street with gasmasks and automatic weapons will not.

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I generally try to keep a low and uncontroversial profile on this blog because (a) it’s a waste of time to argue with someone on the internet and (b) I don’t want to offed anyone and (c) damage my career. But as a friend of mine reminded me the other day, we can’t convert other people to our way of thinking by insulting or ignoring them. Maybe I can do some good with this post by convincing someone.

Also, ha! What career?