Shouts “There is no justice; no peace,” and “Hands up; do not shoot” has been the mantra of protesters in Ferguson, Mo. since the shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
The first is the most traditional protest song after racially charged cases, and has been for many years. Philosophically, it makes sense. Any society that neglects the pursuit of justice or applies it selectively cannot have peace because it has wrongly managed the balance between peace and chaos. Without true justice, there can be no true peace. Did this philosophical understanding play into Ferguson or did protesters and activists hijack the terms “justice” and “peace” according to the conclusions they reached long before all the evidence was gathered and Officer Darren Wilson had his day in court?
Perhaps the answer to that question can be found in the second protest cry: “Hands up; do not shoot.” While eyewitness accounts differ with regard to the actual altercation between Wilson and Brown, the one that’s most widely accepted is that Michael Brown raised his hands in surrender and Officer Wilson shot him in cold blood. Other witness reports suggest that Brown may have lunged back at Wilson in the house threatening to trigger the gunfire and new evidence is now emerging that officer Wilson received serious facial injuries following his initial confrontation with Brown in the squad car. Amid the myriad details that have emerged in the days since the shooting, some information that was in fact critical may have been swept under the rug as a result of the hasty conclusions reached by the angry populace… information that may be critical if true justice is the goal.
Even the widely trusted major media outlets appear to have sacrificed journalistic integrity as a result of public outcry. A New York Time the report from 19 August describes in detail how accounts vary on several aspects of the shooting with only brief mentions of what the majority of witnesses claim happened. Apparently there were many collaborative eye witness reports that Officer Wilson’s gun was fired during the initial altercation in the car which prompted Michael Brown to flee while the cops continued firing. Accounts differ as to what happened next, but it seems that either Michael Brown stopped, turned and raised his arms in surrender (a view shared by public opinion) or he stopped, turned and lunged at the officer in a threatening manner prompting him to shoot the unarmed teenager dead.
That Time missed the true story here. If Officer Wilson opened fire on Michael Brown as he fled, That is a crime and most witnesses seem to agree that this is what happened. They did not take the ball and run with it, opting instead to focus on the more ambiguous parts of the story but which became the focus of public outrage. When Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC pointed this out, he called it lazy journalism. Possibly, but there’s a real possibility that it was deliberately left out in support of the conclusions that protesters and activists have already drawn. If that’s true, it isn’t laziness; that’s cowardly. Either way it’s irresponsible and has an impact beyond just media coverage.
If the media can be persuaded to miss something of this importance, the implications for subsequent investigations and prosecutions are profound. Will this case be shaped by something with strong collaborative evidence or by something the public wants but may not have enough evidence to support? While it’s unlikely that shooting and killing Michael Brown was the mandatory action for Officer Wilson to take, it is crucial that the influence of public opinion from the media is not carried over into the investigation or prosecution.
Excessive and unquestioned force here and the police in Ferguson and the authorities in Missouri have strengthened the case against Officer Wilson with their response to the situation. From police using military-grade vehicles and tear gas to pacify protesters and imposing curfews to governors appealing to the National Guard for help, it is becoming more and more difficult for the public to believe Officer Wilson is innocent of the pointless use of a deadly weapon. forces when the police department he is in pulls out the heavy artillery and the governor sends in troops. Governor Nixon and the Ferguson Police Department were clear rookies to the game of racing and they faced seasoned professionals like the Rev. Al Sharpton and the NAACP. None of this advances the reason behind justice. Even if all of this made Darren Wilson guilty by association, it was still important that he be found guilty with supporting evidence. If public influence continues on its current trajectory, that may not occur.
No one can argue that there has been tension between the African American community and law enforcement for years in cities across the country. The police and community leaders need to address this problem and work together to find solutions and tools that respect one another between police and citizens.
This did not occur in Ferguson. Justice has been determined by the protesters and activists. Officer Wilson is guilty of the murder of Michael Brown and must be arrested and punished for the crime. Period. It does not matter if Officer Wilson is given due process. It does not matter what other evidence is presented in court. That may be true in the end, but if Wilson is not convicted and jailed for killing Michael Brown, it may be because the public is pushing the prosecution away from a stronger case that cannot stand under examination of evidence. Stronger evidence may support that Officer Wilson used unnecessarily deadly force when he shot a fleeing suspect than that he simply shot dead an unarmed youth who was trying to surrender. The second approach may evoke stronger feelings, but weak support.
If prosecutors are barking up the same tree as activists and the media, acquittal is more likely than if they follow a clearer path to punishment. If the case fell apart on itself, there would be no “justice” by anyone’s standards. At that time, the cry of “no peace” was no longer a philosophical consequence of an unjust system, but a threat from an angry mob. God help Ferguson if that happens.
