In Times Square yesterday

AMONG THE THOUSANDS of people protesting the Ferguson decision in the last two days are those carrying signs that read, “Black lives matter.”

That is very true. Black lives do matter. And they have probably never mattered anywhere more on earth than in America, where blacks are treated with a level of judicial respect and given civil rights that have been historically unknown in much of Africa, where murder is still often treated with indifference.

Almost every single day in the week, a black person in America is killed by another black person. Most of the time it is white policemen who find and apprehend the people who kill blacks, often at the risk of their own safety. And black violence has gotten worse under the reign of judicial leniency and concepts of racist injustice.

The striking thing about Darren Wilson’s testimony to the grand jury is the contempt Michael Brown, assuming the testimony is true, showed from the very beginning of their encounter on the street. That’s not to say that Wilson had to shoot Brown. It was tragic that he did, but his reaction appears to have been within the limits of reasonable self defense. 

Every person protesting the grand jury’s decision should be forced to live in a black neighborhood without white police protection. Let them have their own country. Then they may discover just how little both white lives and black lives matter.

— Comments —

Buck writes:

Happy Thanksgiving.

Why do you suggest that police officer Wilson did not have to shoot Brown?

Laura writes:

My wording was poor. I should have written, “That’s not to say that Wilson had to shoot Brown dead.” I don’t know whether there was something else he could have done short of a lethal injury to Brown. That’s all I meant.

Doren writes:

Laura writes:

Thank you for your confidence in my judgment.

I don’t think I was expressing doubt of Wilson so much as the idea that I just don’t know whether there was something else that he could have done that would not have resulted in the death of either of them or injury to Wilson. If he had not shot Brown in the head, for instance, and had incapacitated him with a shot to one of his limbs. I read most of his testimony and think the grand jury made the right decision. I agree entirely about the tragedies for others.

When the story first broke I said that Dorian Johnson’s account was believable. That was a hunch based on initial interviews and how intensely he defended Brown, but obviously it was very wrong.

Mrs. Beauvais writes:

I noticed that among all the paraphernalia left at the site of Michael Brown’s death were most of the ingredients for a drink known by various names. “Drank,” “Purple Drank,” “Lean,” are just a few of its names. Other ingredients include Skittles and fruit drink such as Arizona watermelon juice drink.

As you recall, Trayvon Martin had purchased Skittles and an Arizona drink that was erroneously reported to be “Arizona Iced Tea.” It was really Arizona’s watermelon drink.

After Trayvon Martin died, the media kept repeating (and persists in doing so) that Martin was just going about his business that night, after innocently buying some refreshments.

I’m a 64-year-old married woman, Caucasian, with grown, self-supporting sons. I am reverted to traditional Catholicism. I am a retired editor, who worked in publishing.

I have no experience in drug use. I knew from the many times I heard the Skittles and Arizona iced tea story repeated that it must “mean something,” and a few minutes searching on the Internet led me to the information about how those ingredients are combined with codeine cough syrup to create the popular drink. Lacking a prescription for codeine cough syrup, the user can substitute Robitussin DM cough syrup. One of this drink’s known side effects is extreme aggressiveness.

Trayvon Martin was a known user. With these ingredients among the items at Michael Brown’s memorial, I am left to wonder whether Brown was a user and whether such use can explain his extreme aggression, or contempt, as you put it.

I am also puzzled why I have seen nearly no one bring this issue up. Has the “script” been agreed upon by which the [mainstream] media reports on these crimes? Have these drugs been tested for during post mortem procedures? We hear about marijuana having been used by these decedents. Surely criminal autopsy physicians would look down such avenues to explain behaviors that witnesses or victims have described… Mr. Martin was said to have used a mixed martial arts fighting style. Some witnesses to the Brown shooting described Brown as “charging” the officer, head down.

Do such drug investigations, if done, get hushed up? Is such information outside the script’s permitted talking points?

I have read that the officer who shot Mr. Brown described that Brown’s demeanor was demonic, certainly a leap beyond “mere” contempt.

I suspect that the Enemy may be himself the scriptwriter, and his stable of assistants include the peoples of power who want to benefit in every material way from the chaos we see in every arena, spiritual and secular.

Of course we can’t possibly discuss spiritual causes, can we? And our Church hierarchy doesn’t want to bring up such unpopular realities either, whether to save face or because they don’t themselves believe in spiritual causes anymore.

Still, I am daily appalled at how little curiosity or competence our “journalists” possess. And my recourse more and more is to prayer, avoidance of current events, sticking to traditional Catholic news sources, and reading Catholic literature with imprimaturs.

And of course I read cookbooks and spend a LOT of time chopping vegetables.

I enjoy your blog, only recently having discovered it.

Neil writes:

I’ve seen legal commentators who are sympathetic to Officer Wilson say that the criminal justice system treats blacks unfairly.  For some reason, this has never gone challenged.

Nowadays, there are sentencing guideline that require judges to give sentences within certain limits.  Defendants can appeal their sentences to panels.  If first time Black DUI defendants got prison sentences while first time White DUI defendants got diversionary programs, I think we would have heard about it by now.  Considering prison overcrowding, prosecutors are under pressure not to seek prison sentences.  Had Big Mike been charged with assault on the store clerk, he probably wouldn’t have gone to prison since it was apparently his first offense.

Curiously, there have been some high-profile criminal cases concerning Black NFL players (Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson) where there has been “outrage” that the justice system didn’t punish them severely enough.

Doren writes:

B.E. writes:

Laura wondered about the shooting, saying “… I just don’t know whether there was something else that he could have done that would not have resulted in the death of either of them or injury to Wilson. If he had not shot Brown in the head, for instance, and had incapacitated him with a shot to one of his limbs.”

The short answer is no.

Pistols are inaccurate even at short range, and many lack adequate stopping power.

Furthermore, trying to hit a moving target is hard enough, but trying to hit a small moving target, such as an arm or leg, is even harder. On top of that, many people are able to continue moving and attacking even with fatal wounds; it can take hours, even days, to die from gunshot wounds, and sometimes, police follow a surprisingly long trail of blood before finding a wounded criminal. Even if Officer Wilson had shot Michael Brown in the leg, if the bullet did anything less than shatter a bone such that Brown would no longer be able to stand―an unlikely result―Brown would have been able to continue his charge.

Standard handgun training focuses on shooting the torso and head; typically, paper targets with human outlines lack limbs altogether. Many training programs emphasize fighting until the threat is gone; this is why police officers empty their clips, reload, and, if necessary, empty them again. Once the decision to use deadly force has been made―in this case, it was Brown who made it― then people who are trained will continue to use deadly force until the threat is neutralized. Unfortunately, this can result in serious injury or death to the threat.

So, had Officer Wilson aimed for Michael Brown’s legs, he would have almost certainly failed to neutralize the threat, and would probably be dead now.

Laura writes:

It must be extremely hard to hit a moving target. And it was as if nothing would deter Brown. He kept going even though he had already been hit. He tried to shoot Wilson during the struggle in the car. And, the physical evidence confirms this account. As Mrs. Beauvais said, and as Wilson suggested, it was if he was possessed.

Perfesser Plum writes:

So many lessons to live by.

1.  Paraphrasing Doren, “If you live by the Skittle, you die by the Skittle.”

2.  When out for your evening constitutional, don’t walk in the street like some kind of Hoosier.  Use the sidewalk…..like a normal person.

3.  When a cop aims a .40 caliber at your head, say, “Oh, Hi!”  and charge the other way.

4.  If you just robbed a man of cigars, don’t be waving them around like a two year old with an all-day sucker. Or a Hoosier.  Put them in your pocket.

5.  The short kid always gets away.  Try to be that short kid.

6.  If a cop has his door open, just leave it that way.  If he wants it shut, he’ll do it himself.

7.  If you bully your way into the cop car, don’t immediately punch the cop in the face.  No one likes a rude guest.

8.  Don’t make a cop shoot you 10 times.  Ammunition doesn’t grow on trees.  Instead, say, “Okie dokie, Smokey,” as you gently lower yourself to the ground.

Nov. 27, 2014

Laura writes:

In thinking about Wilson’s testimony, I find it difficult to understand why an armed officer could not better deal with an aggressive, unarmed 18-year-old than Wilson did that day. I understand that Michael Brown was out of control, but aren’t policemen trained to deal with that kind of thing?

Yes, Michael Brown was charging toward him. But he was already shot. It’s hard to believe he could have killed Wilson in that condition. After the encounter in the car, why didn’t Wilson wait for backup and not try to then arrest Brown alone?

By questioning this, I am not saying that the riots were justified.

Paul writes:

The reason the officer kept firing is he was in a sudden emergency, a legal defense in probably all but a few states.  You can’t expect a human being to respond dispassionately while in a life or death situation/emergency.  I would have emptied one of my pistols on this charging monster.

I was surprised to hear the caliber was 0.40.  For many years, the stupid police forces used the 9 mm (about 0.35 caliber) Glocks because of the large number of rounds in the clip: supposed firepower, a key to combat.  But they had no stopping power.  I knew they needed a 0.357 magnum or a 0.45 APC.  I have both.  Either would have dropped Brown with one round, two at most.  A 357 will penetrate an engine block.  The Model 1911 APC 45 round (taking its name from the year) will penetrate a four-by-four piece of lumber, which I have verified and which the American military used for decades and which I got from my Marine father who fought across the Pacific hand to hand.  Maybe professionals would dispute me about effectiveness in police situations.  The reliable 45 semi-auto was invented by the brilliant John Browning, who invented a number of famous reliable hand weapons. See About Face by Colonel David Hackworth, who extolled the BAR, the Browning Automatic Rifle, a precursor to the assault rifle, invented by the Germans in WWII with Hitler’s close support.

Too little too late for Hitler, thank God. It was the Sturmgewehr.

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