Sunday, November 16, 2014

Awaiting the grand jury, dread in Ferguson and America...

There's not a lot of dread in my life. A few worries, to be sure, but not that cousin of depression and anxiety, dread. Oh, like everyone else I dread root canals, sitting in holiday traffic that delays a reunion with family, and waiting on the lab report from a biopsy. Dread is the feeling I get when something bad seems to be on the way, and I know that there's not a damn thing I can do about it.

These days, I find myself heavy with dread over what looks to be coming down the pike in Ferguson, Missouri, in the next few days, and I feel powerless to stop it. And if indeed, as I fear, the grand jury in St. Louis County decides not to indict Darren Wilson, the cop who shot unarmed Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson this summer, what will I, as a white man, do about it?

Much as they did immediately after the shooting of Mike Brown and the demonstrations that followed, local police appear to be preparing for war, rather than keeping the peace. We saw how such provocative actions only inflamed passions and escalated the unrest. The use of military-style protective gear and combat vehicles purchased from the Pentagon, along with embattled attitudes that are appropriate to real war, if employed, will once again bring increased conflict, not peace in Ferguson. Its citizens will feel assaulted, not protected.

The grand jury process, managed by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, has not inspired confidence. The point of a grand jury is quite simple, really: to determine if there is enough evidence pointing toward a crime having been committed to move forward with a trial. Its purpose is not to try the case, seek both sides of the argument, or weigh the relative merits of each. Its purpose is to answer one question: Is there enough evidence to warrant a trial? Full story...

Related posts:
  1. 7 important details nobody mentions about Ferguson...
  2. It isn't Ferguson: It's the USA...
  3. John Oliver: Ferguson, MO and police militarization...
  4. Nationwide outrage at 'racist' policing after Michael Brown killing...
  5. Is Ferguson our future?
  6. Autopsy shows Michael Brown was shot six times, two bullets hit head...

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