Grand jury reaches decision in Ferguson case (Announcement Monday night)

[pbrower2a]

There are protests in more than 100 cities today according to the Ferguson National Response Network.  The lying, racist thug needs to end up in jail.

The acquittal is definitive. We need to live that. We have other problems that need to be addressed, including severe inequality of opportunity.   

[pbrower2a]

Well done, Anvi. Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson could have easily been a scapegoat for a situation that he did not bring about upon himself. Contradictory testimony would have mandated an acquittal had he been brought to trial. He would have become a poster boy for police brutality to be sacrificed to left-leaning interests while allowing the Ferguson police force to operate pathologically.

Let's get this straight -- however tragic the result, Michael Brown got himself killed by violently resisting arrest. The handful of cigars that he stole would have been good at most for a misdemeanor conviction. Resisting arrest was a bigger crime, a felony in most jurisdictions. Once resisting arrest turns violent, all bets are off for the one who resists arrest. Darren Wilson did not have a taser at the time -- a mistake.  

If I were a cop and I started to be beaten by a crook, I too would resort to my gun to solve the situation. The situation forces a response in which tragedy is highly likely.

What's necessary? That the Ferguson police department change its ways. It needs new training. Community policing has been tried in Dallas -- and it works. The cops set up storefronts, get to know the people in their precincts, and get to know who the honest citizens are and who the troublemakers are. That makes a police force more efficient in dealing with such problems as drug trafficking (the cornerstone of much crime) and in dealing with petty crime before it escalates into major crime. Police can direct people to social-service agencies when such have more appropriate resources, as for dealing with poverty and mental illness.

The best tribute to the loved ones of Michael Brown (if not him) is major reform of the local police force so that it can better deal with crime, whether through prevention or through arrests.      

[pbrower2a]

Violence is an absolutely justified form of political action if you are first attacked and you have absolutely no other recourse. The people of Ferguson are never going to get justice through their racist courts and from their racist cops. They realize that and have acted accordingly.

No recourse? Turnout was barely 10% in Ferguson's last mayoral election, and only about 6% among black voters. You don't expect that to change next April?

Elections have consequences -- and Ferguson is in need of change that fits the realities of the population.