A young man wakes up. He smokes a quick joint, grabs some breakfast and goes to meet his good friend.
They hit up a local convenience store, where they end up robbing the place and assaulting the elderly store clerk.
Later that day, they end up in an altercation with local police because they refuse to stop walking in the middle of the road. The young man confronts the officer, reaches into his car, punches the officer repeatedly – The officer’s face is a swollen mess after the altercation.
The young man then reaches for the cop’s pistol.
A struggle occurs inside the squad car, and a shot is fired from the officer’s gun. The young man runs away momentarily and is then pursued by the officer.
The young man decides that the cop can not or will not shoot him, so he turns around and charges at the policeman. With the young man being 6’4 and over 250 pounds, the officer is rightfully afraid for his personal safety in that moment. He opens fire after commands to halt are ignored, first trying to immobilize the young man with shots to non-lethal areas of the body, but eventually having to shoot him in the forehead at point-blank range when the young man could not be subdued.
The young man in my story is 22-year old John Smith: A middle-class white kid that I made up to prove a point.
You thought he was black? You are a racist.
Michael Brown Allegedly Assaults Store Clerk
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The Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson makes me absolutely despise the media. It’s a manufactured circus that we as a society have let be morphed into a Rodney King-Like “Can’t we all just get along?” debate over racial tensions in America.
Let me preface the rest of what I’m writing with this:
Yes, racism absolutely still exists in America.
Yes, black men are regularly the target of law enforcement, sometimes unfairly.
Yes, a VERY small minority of our police force will abuse their power and overstep their authority on occasion.
Yes, it’s a shame that Michael Young had to be shot and killed that day.
No, his race had nothing to do with his death.
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Do you know what happened at the same time that Michael Brown got killed? 29 people were shot in Chicago, 7 people were killed including 16-year old Shaquise Buckner. Shaquise aspired to be a doctor and to the best of my knowledge, did not rob a convenience store or attack a cop prior to her death.
Every year, thousands of people in the United States are killed by a gun. Some are killed by police. Some by an angry spouse. Some by a shady drug dealer. Some are suicides. The fact is – Every day people are shot and killed in the United States – Moreso than any other country on the planet… By far.
Gun Deaths in America vs. The World – WE’RE NUMBER ONE!!
The aftermath of the shooting in Ferguson has been disgusting. Riots, looting, more people being shot, more violence, more tension. The media absolutely plays a role in this, and should quite frankly be ashamed of itself. I had to turn on the BBC just to find out what has been going on in Iraq, and Syria, and how the Ebola outbreak is – You know… News.
If we are talking about Michael Brown, we aren’t having the bigger conversation that we should be having about how to reduce the number of gun-related deaths in the United States every year. We aren’t talking about gun safety. We aren’t talking about why in some towns the police look like the U.S. Army. We aren’t talking about why Congress can’t get a background check bill that 92% of the country supports passed. We have been hoodwinked by this story, bamboozled if you will… Distracted.
When it turns out (and it will) that Officer Wilson was justified in his actions, the media will cry foul. More violence will erupt. More people will be hurt. They will, in effect, be creating the news instead of reporting it.
Michael Brown was NOT “unarmed.” EDIT – New reports claim that Officer Wilson did NOT suffer a fractured orbital bone. HOWEVER, his face was confirmed to be a swollen mess. Just because his face wasn’t broken does not mean that he wasn’t being assaulted. Let’s keep it in perspective, people.
Any time you are in an altercation with a cop, there is a gun involved. Thus, there is the potential to be shot involved.
What happens if instead of just breaking Officer Wilson’s orbital bone, Brown manages to knock him out? Then he takes the gun…
… Then what?
Nevermind that – Another black teenager was just gunned down. We have to get Rev. Sharpton down there immediately to host a rally.
Wait… He wasn’t shot by a white guy?
Nevermind.
-Sean Kemmerer is a freelance writer, administrator of Politics Without The Crazy Pills , and has several black friends.