Content of Character
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” MLK
That quote has been running through my head for a few days now. I have written and deleted thousands of words concerning the death of Micheal Brown, I wrote about justice, I wrote about riots and I wrote about the facts. But nothing I wrote conveyed how pissed and frustrated I am with this whole big mess. So now for better or worse I’m going to write what I think. I have read a large part of the “Data Dump” I have listened to the interviews.
Micheal Brown’s parents and supporters would have the world believe that Officer Wilson made a choice to kill their son and now hero. Truth behind that fiction is Officer Wilson gave Micheal Brown every opportunity to live. Brown is the one who made the choice to die. I know that is harsh but it is the truth.
Officer Wilson was a good police officer by all accounts. He had earned praise and commendation from the City of Ferguson in the months prior to the shooting. He had served the public trust. Everything I have learned about him points to a man that any police department in the country would be lucky to have. He did his job with diligence and devotion, there is nothing to indicate that he was a racist or that he was anything other than a man of good character.
Micheal Brown is something of a puzzle. He had been 18 for only 3 months before the shooting. He did have a juvenile record but it is sealed. It is rumored to contain a charge of second degree murder as well as ties to a street gang. The Juvenile Court system has refused to release that record due to privacy concerns but has stated that it did not contain any Class A or B felony charges. His family has claimed that he was a regular teenage boy. They paint a picture of him that simply does not stand up to scrutiny. They say the pictures of him with known gang members mean nothing, that he was able to adapt to his surroundings. They claim he has recently found religion but at the same time there are stories from his friends that he regularly drank and used drugs. From everything I can see he was a man of questionable character.
I said earlier that Brown made the choice to die. I stand by that statement for allot of reasons. Brown made the Choice to commit strong armed robbery and simple assault on a store owner. Brown made the choice to assault Officer Wilson, Brown made the choice to grab for Officer Wilson’s weapon. Brown made the choice to turn and charge the officer instead of surrendering. Brown had several opportunities to change the outcome of that day, but at every turn me made the worst possible choice.
Browns family would have us believe that Officer Wilson drew his weapon and shot with no provocation other than the fact that Brown was Black. I don’t think that the color of Brown’s skin had anything to do with it.
All one has to do is look at the Content of Brown’s Character.
Category: Politics
Enigma….
“Annnnnnd we’re done here…..”
/someone get the lights.
//Nailed it.
Nice sumation of the facts!
When the facts are laid out for all to see it’s difficult to twist this into something other than what it always was: a Cop who defended himself and made it home at the end of the day. Bravo Zulu to you sir.
By coincidence I’ve been reading Peter Duffy’s Double Agent. The “double agent” in question was Peter Sebold, a naturalized German who decided his loyalty to his (adoptive) country was more important than loyalty to his “ethnic community” – and so he helped break up a serious spy ring in New York. I hadn’t known it, but German propaganda of that era played a lot of “victim cards”…claiming that Czechs and Poles were persecuting ethnic Germans, right before the heroic Reich came charging in to save them. But Sebold wasn’t affected, and didn’t bow to the pressure (which in his time and place was considerable) to put his race first.
A lot of the commentary I’ve heard on Brown’s case is from people with the opposite priority. I know which I admire more.
How true and well said!
Yep. You are not the only one for whom that quote has been resonating of late. Been feeling complete disgust at how what MLK worked so hard to attain has been squandered.
Well said, E4U.
Word.
Life is a continuous series of choices. The wrong choice can sometimes be your last, as young Michael Brown has shown us.
Well said E4U. Candidly, your last two paragraphs should be emphasized as speaking loudly to define much of what is going on in this country today.
The notion of personal responsibility has been discarded.
Thank you.
Addressing Mike brown’s character, his stepfather, who exhorted the mob with “Burn this bitch to the ground” is “alleged” to be a member of the Bloods street gang. His mother “allegedly” assaulted and robbed Michael’s grand mother, who was selling t-shirts profiting from Michael’s death. With those people as role models, it’s only surprising he wasn’t already in prison or dead.
With those people as role models, prison or early death (or both!) was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
Inevitable.
And now a good Cop will never work in his chosen profession again and will have to hide the rest of his life because he now has a target on his back for trying to protect himself from an overgrown young adult thug.
As an internet meme said, “MLK was able to change civil rights without once throwing a brick or torching a business”….
Guess some people forgot that.
My prayers go out to Officer Wilson and all the LEO’s in Ferguson and the rest of the country.
“Check please, no need for dessert”, said the man who is satisfied with the meal!
Master Chief…I second that and well said Sir!
Beautiful.
It would be nice to put people like Enigma and Benjamin Watson in a room together to talk out the problem of race in America. People who may disagree on some points but think about their opinions and express them well. A cockpit the rioters can’t s=m to grasp.
Couldn’t be put any better, Enigma. Brown had all the opportunity in the world to stop, put his hands above his head, and comply with the officer. He’d be still alive today, and awaiting a court date in order to discuss a (relatively) short jail time if all he had done was surrender when the police officer asked him to.
Ultimately, it was Brown himself who is responsible for his death. It’s tragic, but that is the reality of the situation.
Excellent. Well said.
Reality is we are dealing with black supremists that openly advocate for black terrorism. The no holds bar outrage here is how dare whitey not be killed by a black whom attempted to murder him. It’s that simple.
Society pussy footing around calling it what it is will continue to contribute to a problem that’s been a festering sore on our nation resulting in a criminal class unaccountable but overwhelmingly demanding everyone walk on egg shells or else.
Michael brown was a scumfuck raised by a scumfuck culture by a scumfuck fail of a father, and even after ending up dead from failed attempted murder of a police officer scumfuck institutions champion him.
Every police officer in the country should be outraged about Eric holder and Hussein Obama after his shit fest.
I saw this shirt for sale at RangerUp.com . The shirt says “I hunt the Evil you pretend does not exist” and I think it puts it very eloquently. Below is the description:
“We have police because the majority of the population is unwilling to do the work to protect themselves. We have police because the majority of the population would rather be shielded from the criminal element than confront it. The police are that voluntary force that hunts the evil that others pretend doesn’t exist.
There are bad people in our society. Some are bad because of circumstance—that’s a societal problem. Others are bad simply because that’s the way they’re wired—that’s a human problem.
But there is a small minority that is willing to do everything in their power to stop the evil from creeping in on the majority. These are our police. They can be violent when they need to. They can meet evil head on.
The overall population sleeps peacefully at night because of the brave few who battle the evil few
Trayvon Martin – the rerun.
Has da pres. (Mr. Transparent) nobama come out yet and said: “If I had a second son, his name would be Mike Brown.”)
To the Brown parents, pillars of the community, who raised such an upstanding son, I can recommend a “top flight” attorney from Oregon… He says he’s good however he may be a couple gallons shy.
In at least one respect, worse. Trayvon Martin likely didn’t know that George Zimmerman was armed before he decided to teach Zimmerman a lesson. Brown knew that he was assaulting a man armed with a deadly weapon who was professionally trained to use that weapon. Martin decided to beat up a pudgy little guy who was annoying him; Brown decided to beat up a police officer who he knew, going in, had the ability to kill him. This speaks very clearly to Brown’s intelligence and judgment.
The shirt says “I hunt the Evil you pretend does not exist” and I think it puts it very eloquently. Except that police don’t seem to hunt the evil within their own ranks. It is they who also pretend evil does not exist. It is easy to paint the situation in Ferguson simplistically as “Brown was bad, therefore Wilson was good.” Life is much more complicated than that. Wilson was part of a police department in Jennings that was so bad and so corrupt that it was disbanded. Some officers were hired back onto the rebuilt Jennings PD but Wilson was not. Does that mean that Wilson was part of the corruption? No, but it does show that he wasn’t “hunting evil” within the department. The Ferguson PD had and has issues as well. Before Wilson was hired by the FPD (after being turned down by the St Louis County Sheriff’s Department) the Ferguson PD had been subject of an investigation where serious deficiencies were found in the department. Recommendations were made to the city and the PD – the majority of which were not and have not been implemented. One of the main complaints is that the FPD was more concerned with money than crime. The sad statistic is that 44% of the income the city receives is from fines and court fees. It is one of the highest percentages in country for a city the size of Ferguson. Does that mean the Wilson was a ticket machine? No. But once again, the evil was there and there is no indication he was actively “hunting it.” While there are those who are painting Wilson as some paragon of virtue while saying Brown was the product of a bad community, bad family, etc, what is Wilson the product of? For example, after the shooting, Wilson was allowed to get into a car and drive himself back to the station. What citizen would be allowed to do that? To leave the scene of a crime and drive to the police station unsupervised? What citizen would be allowed to leave the scene… Read more »
please cite your source for Wilson destroying evidence
Wilson’s testimony.
See Grand Jury Volume 5, pages 241 – 242.
Just to be clear, you are talking about Officer Wilson washing his hands because they had blood on them as him destroying evidence?
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1370518-grand-jury-volume-5.html
Yes.
But it goes deeper than that.
The FBI agent who testifies before Wilson notes that the vehicle in which Wilson came back to the station doesn’t appear to have been sealed. No photos of Wilson were made showing the blood on his hands, etc.
How does that happen?
It really appears that the FPD closed ranks around Wilson immediately following the shooting. There was and remains no justification for that closing of ranks because at the time there was no evidence that showed who attacked who or who was right or wrong.
Wilson was allowed to leave the scene unsupervised and not detained, mess up or destroy evidence and be accorded courtesies that no other citizen would have been granted.
All that does not mean that Wilson was a bad guy, but that he worked for an organization that treated civilians and officers differently when there was a crime committed.
This case turned out for the police and Wilson being cleared. That’s fine and dandy, but the underlying perception – the difference of treatment – still remains.
Many people are focusing on the outcome of the case – whether Wilson was charged or not charged.
What I look at is the difference in treatment afforded to Wilson, the closing of ranks around him, and the thin blue line all of which contributes to the perception that police are above the law.
Clearly there is a lot of work that needs to be done by citizens in how people are raised, morals, etc. But the police have a lot of work to do as well.
I agree that a lot of work need to be done of both sides. What I am not doing is saying that In this instance Officer Wilson was wrong. I know anyone can dig into any investigation and find fault. Does it appear that anyone hid or changed anything that would alter the outcome of the Grand Jury findings? That answer is no. What I am pissed off about is in this case and only this case the shooting was justified. We can all play arm chair quarterback and say he should have done this or that but the facts remain, Wilson did nothing to provoke the attack, he defended himself. He did not shoot brown in the back, or while his hands were raised in surrender. Those are facts that are held up but not only the physical evidence but the Witnesses as well. Wilson is being persecuted by a lynch mob. What about his civil rights? I spoke of content of character, Wilson’s character and past actions do nothing to indicate that this was the premeditated murder that Al Sharpton and Browns parents would have you believe. Lets go step further, In Browns pockets were at least 10 dollars and a bag of pot. He had just robbed a store., why did he steal? he had the money to pay for what he took. That answer is a little more complex, he stole because he could. It was no big deal to him to take something that was not his and assault the store owner after wards. Why did he go into the patrol SUV after Wilson? these are acts that no person would think sane. Brown set out that day to cause trouble, he did what he set out to do. The grand Jury returned the right findings in this case. This case cannot be held up to others because in this case the shooting was justified. That makes every argument the protesters are using void. Again I agree that changes need to happen. I am not foolish enough to think that there is no such thing… Read more »
E4Y: Well, that was the be all and end all as far as I am concerned. Others think you knocked it out of the park with your original post. I think you did so in that 11:22 comment.
Enigma, Your initial post on the “content of character.” In it you wrote: Officer Wilson was a good police officer by all accounts. He had earned praise and commendation from the City of Ferguson in the months prior to the shooting. He had served the public trust. Everything I have learned about him points to a man that any police department in the country would be lucky to have. He did his job with diligence and devotion, there is nothing to indicate that he was a racist or that he was anything other than a man of good character. Yet we know the FPD had internal problems. This was Wilson’s second job stint with a PD that had massive issues with the way they conducted themselves in the policing of the area. “Content of character” is also the idea realized in the oath taken by members of the military academies which says something along the lines of the person will not lie, cheat or steal and will not tolerate those who do.” So how does that explain Wilson staying in not one, but two corrupt police departments? You say that the card may have been a fellow officer helping another one out. I will respond with the idea that unless that cop helped every person who had pulled the trigger on a gun by offering the same information, he was more interesting in closing ranks and not crossing the “blue line.” I agree with you that Brown was no shrinking violet and that the shooting was justifiable. I agree that Sharpton, the family and a whole lot of other people have tried to mis-represent what was said and done in this case. I have plenty of anger to go around in this case. I am as angry as you are as how Brown has been portrayed. I am angry at the violence that has resulted from the false narrative from the race baiters. But I am also incensed by the angelic treatment Wilson received. I am incensed at the way the FPD responded to this whole disaster. I am incensed… Read more »
What you perceive as “No assertion of 5th Amendment rights, just “here…. call a lawyer.” may have been the supervisor making sure that Wilson was aware of his Garrity rights.
“Does that mean the Wilson was a ticket machine? No. But once again, the evil was there and there is no indication he was actively “hunting it.”” Writing tickets is “evil”? ReallY? And “hunting it”?
UpNorth,
The testimony doesn’t read that way. There is a difference between advising him of the rights and making sure he knows about them and providing contacts to call.
Writing tickets is “evil”? ReallY? And “hunting it”?
Yes. If you are writing tickets to simply generate revenue, it is evil.
Maybe his bargaining unit has, in their contract with the city, the provision that, before any questioning, his Garrity rights are automatically invoked? I don’t know. But a brother officer providing him with a card with an attorney’s name on it is not evidence of a corrupt department.
So, what’s the cutoff, when do the cops stop writing tickets? Is one a day enough, or too much? 5? You do know that most warrant arrests stem from traffic stops?
Perhaps I worded it wrong. Maybe the supervisor was a friend who didn’t want to see Wilson go into an interview without asserting the rights that he was guaranteed?
I think I need to clarify a few things.
I have no doubt that how the police in many towns and cities across the US need to handle incidents involving minorities better. I think that often minor confrontations escalate.
The minority communities need to put a halt to the us vs them attitude when it comes to dealing with police. All to often criminals are allowed to walk free because no one is willing to work for justice.
I am all for change, however in the case of Mike Brown and Darren Wilson those that want change have backed the wrong horse.
We can talk all day about what happened after he was shot, but nothing will change the fact that Brown was the aggressor. Those that are using him as the poster child for the cause gloss over that fact. They change the subject when the point that he caused the confrontation, the wont speak to the fact tghat he had just committed a crime.
My question is this, are we as a society going to allow criminals to go free because of skin color? Are we so entrenched in being politically correct that we will allow a police officer that was only doing his job to be persecuted and hounded?
I will say it again those that are protesting with out knowing the facts and those that are protesting trying to cany coat the facts have backed the wrong horse. They are however in the right race.
Show me a police officer or anyone else that is the aggressor and I will be at the front of the line of protesters. Here is the thing, I dont care about color, we all have rights and justice should be blind.
In the case of Mike Brown Justice was served. Wilson should not be prosecuted. Its a hard pill to swallow for those that want him to be another Emmit Till. The big difference between the two was Emmit Till was innocent Mike Brown was a Criminal.
The minority communities need to put a halt to the us vs them attitude when it comes to dealing with police. Would you also agree that the police need to stop the “us vs them attitude that is seen too often when dealing with people in general? All to often criminals are allowed to walk free because no one is willing to work for justice. Agreed. But that work has to take place from both ends of the justice stick. It has to take place from the citizen end and the law enforcement end. Show me a police officer or anyone else that is the aggressor and I will be at the front of the line of protesters. Here is the thing, I dont care about color, we all have rights and justice should be blind. Agreed. My point was that we want our police to be knights in shining armor but they seldom are. They are flawed individuals just as you and I are. One of the things that you mentioned in your original article was that Wilson had been given an award by the FPD. It sounds great and not to take away from the award, but as the FDP has all sorts of issues they refuse to correct, what is the actual value of that award? When a flawed or maybe corrupt organization gives an award to someone, is that something to cheer about? (And I am not trying to beat on you because I thought your article was well written and I agree with the vast majority of it.) In the area in which I live, an officer was given “officer of the year” by the local police department. During that year, he was living with a convicted felon who was selling and using illegal drugs in his home and in his presence. Other officers knew about this arrangement. The issue came to public light when he was out working and she called a friend who came and stole his second weapon provided by the local PD and sold it for drugs. :Officer of the year”… Read more »
gitarcarver,
From what I’ve read there are problems with the Ferguson PD and they should be addressed at the state level. God forbid under the slime of eric holder, who is a 180 degree opposite. I have no doubt there are other towns and counties around that need some dressing up too. LAPD has had a problem too. That has been being corrected for sometime now. I can’t speak for everywhere.
As a retired LE I can tell you in Northern Calif. you better tow the line. I give these agency’s a 100% mark. All good calls.
In reference to Michael Brown: he picked his own fight. I’ve read everything I could about this.
Michael Brown fu*ked up. Yes he was a “big boy” and tried to pick a fight with a police officer. Micheal Brown attempted to take this officer down, he had many chances to surrender without further escalation. He made a bad choice. Officer Wilson gave him every chance to survive. “You get to go home to your family” is the issue. Or from my thought: “your family gets to see you return home,”
If the problem is with civil rights, I repeat what I’ve said before: in the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights protestors were peaceful. The police and others who opposed them were not.
So, what are civil rights?
They include the right to:
– eat in a restaurant of your choice
– use the same restroom as other people
– not have to purchase merchandise just because you touched it
– vote in an election, without intimidation from an opponent
– speak your mind freely, without intimidation from an opponent
– go to school where you can get a good education, without intimidation from an opponent
– work at a job that pays a living wage
– live and raise your family in a decent neighborhood
– get a fair trial with real legal representation
– be treated like a human being
Those are just a few things off the top of my head. Those are some of the things we take for granted. I’m sure there are many more I could list, but those are pretty basic. Those items were what people were after in the 1950s and 1960s, and those are what civil rights protestors sought.
This virulent anger and hatred and violence has nothing to do with civil rights, or with whether or not Michael Brown’s rights were violated. I don’t believe they were violated.
What about the storeowner’s rights? Didn’t he have the right to protect his property, which Brown stole before he yanked the storeowner around?
None of this was about anyone’s civil rights. It was simply an excuse to defy the police and trash a small town, and nothing else. These idiots who are protesting display nothing but ignorance.
How about some justice for the storeowner?
I’m late to this party but the lights are still on so…
A police officer was physically attacked. He defended himself and killed his attacker. The End.
Succinctly put.
[…] who doubt whether slain Michael Brown deserved the movement that rallied behind his “questionable character” should look to the Jena Six’s Mychal […]