Firestorm in Ferguson
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
August 19, 2014
Shots are fired, a young man is dead, a community reacts
in a criminal and emotional manner even before either the body is cold or
before any of the facts are known.
Enter Al Sharpton, race-hustler extraordinaire and
agitator, to emerge on the scene and make matters worse, not quell the
violence, rioting, looting, and overall thugery by criminal opportunists in the
name of civil rights and justice.
Prior to casting aspersions, save for the decades-long
reputation legitimately earned by Sharpton, cooler heads prevailed in an effort
to sift through the chaos, then determine where guilt or innocence lies and how
to proceed from there.
What we have here is a classic failure to communicate –
where actions clearly have spoken louder than words in the immediacy following
the death of 18 year old Michael Brown. Brown has been held up as an innocent
victim assassinated because of his color by a racist police force in a town
that has endured revolutionary demographic change in the past four decades.
In 1970, the population of Ferguson, MO was 99 percent
white and one percent black. Fast forward to 2010, and the black community had
grown to reach a majority population of 67 percent, with the white population
dropping to 29 percent. During this same period, the Ferguson police department
has hardly changed with the times as but three of the 53 members of the force
are black.
But in spite of those changes and lack of changes, one of
the community’s own, Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol said
“It’s not a black or white issue, it’s a community that needs to communicate.”
However, it’s hard to communicate when the two sides are speaking different
languages.
But as time has passed since the August 9 shooting death
of Brown, reality has unfolded – officer Darren Wilson is probably not a
racist, but perhaps an overzealous officer; and Brown is not the innocent
“gentle giant” as his family described him. Six bullets struck Brown at close
range – not in the back as a so-called witness averred, but in the front.
Whether Brown was armed or not, his size, six foot-four inches tall and 290
pounds, was certainly imposing enough to warrant fear for the officer’s safety
Regardless of the circumstances behind the shooting of
Brown, an adult, not a child as some of his supporters have called him, there
was no excuse for the pillaging, plundering, looting, mayhem, and overall
destruction of property that has allowed Ferguson to resemble downtown Beirut,
Baghdad, or Benghazi.
What goes through the minds of these miscreants that foment
this kind of violent behavior – and in their own communities? There is a
historic consistency with these kinds of riots perpetuated in the false name of
justice – a black man is killed and a feeding frenzy is authored by other black
men not actually seeking justice, but seeking merchandise from their own
community almost guaranteeing that community a further economic decline.
Destruction in less affluent neighborhoods by thugs living in those
neighborhoods only makes them less affluent and less of a neighborhood. In some
cases businesses are forced to close and/or move leaving the residents with
fewer choices and fewer jobs. While these hooligans are not the majority of the
black community, they are the faces of that black community seen on worldwide
news reports and private video gone viral.
An overwhelming white police department, apparently not
adroit enough to combat this brand of domestic terrorism – first came out in force
where battle ensued, then they held back, allowing more and more protests to
occur, but with fewer arrests. The problem with the paucity of arrests is not
the protests, peaceful protest is part of what the United States was founded
upon, but the increase in assaults on local businesses – most black owned. Many
of those owners arrived at their businesses with employees and/or friends armed
to protect what they had worked hard to build and what the police could
apparently not protect.
Eventually, Governor Jay Nixon (D) weighed in with calls
for calm, yet supportive of peaceful protesting. This was further reiterated by
Barack Obama. Neither voice has helped much as community outrage still reigns
even following the footage depicting Brown robbing Ferguson Market & Liquor
– stealing a box of cigars and roughing up a clerk much smaller than Brown.
The attorneys for the Brown family have described the
film footage as an attempt to smear and assassinate Brown’s character. How is
that possible? The camera doesn’t lie.
Stepping up attempts to squelch the felonious behavior of
the reprobates who have violated the imposed curfew and continued thieving
rampages, the National Guard have been marshaled to Ferguson by Nixon. Perhaps
they might have a better notion of control over the situation versus the police
force from Ferguson at times seeming as inept as that of the fictional
Mayberry. In spite of the lack of preparedness of the local police in Ferguson,
there is still no excuse for the rampant violence by the protesters – there is juxtaposition
between the two situations.
The shooting of Michael Brown must be properly
investigated and adjudicated if Wilson used excessive force and he should be
held accountable. If not, Wilson should be abrogated of any wrong doing. Regardless
of the disposition of any case against Wilson, all those involved with the
criminal activities following Brown’s death also need be held accountable
regardless of the severity of the violation.
School officials have cancelled classes for the remainder
of the week – another mistake in the handling of this ugliness, especially in
light of the curfew being lifted. The decisions being made in Ferguson by those
in charge seem counterintuitive at best. If anything, Ferguson’s children need
to be in school with as normal an existence as possible.
Nearly 50 percent of young black males are unemployed in
Ferguson and the contiguous areas. This is a product of a dearth of education,
which more often than not is a byproduct of the poor choices made by young
people who have little in the way of a home life, often single-parent homes. There
is a definite link to the bad behavior perpetrated in Ferguson.
Regardless of the origin of the violence, rioting, and looting,
this is the kind of behavior that neither encourages businesses to move to a
Ferguson nor promotes job growth, both keys to an economically stable
community.
Ignoring or allowing these riots to continue only sends
the message that this behavior is acceptable – further sinking the United States
into anarchistic chaos and a deeper racial chasm. Having the likes of Al
Sharpton present only makes matters worse with his incendiary language as he
has made a career of racial strife and animus for decades. Obama did not help
the situation with his on the one hand, on the other hand attempt to equate the
riots and connected behavior with the shooting of Brown. None of the
lawlessness should be tolerated and none of the looting or rioting is
defensible.
What are needed are more voices of reason. “The role of
Obama should be to condemn the lawbreakers,” said Jason Riley, editorial board
member of the Wall Street Journal and
author of Please Stop Helping Us: How
Liberals Make It Harder For Blacks To Succeed.
Additionally, Kevin Jackson, founder of The Black Sphere
(www.theblacksphere.net) agreed
that Sharpton “does more harm than help and makes matters worse.” Jackson also
does not excuse the degenerative behavior of the past week calling for personal
responsibility and not the continued violence, theft, and destruction pandemic
in far too many black communities.
“I am not going to let the criminals define this
community,” said Captain Johnson.
There are no apologies for these statements above of fact
and truth that others may deem racist. Problem is, far too many condemn truth
as racist when the truth is ugly and painful. Recognize the truth and change
the reality to create a new truth and a new dynamic – that of personal
responsibility and pride in being able to resolve problems with brains, not
belligerence or bellicosity.
Sanford D. Horn is
a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
