Word against Word
2December 7, 2014 by Aleksandra Łuczak
Author: Joanna Bejm, Kozminski University
– If I hadn’t killed Brown, he would have killed me. He was very strong. It was like a five year old has struggled with Hulk Hogan – says Wilson. His point of view shared the grand jury (pol. ława przysięgłych) from St. Louis, who decided on Monday evening local time, that there are no grounds to accuse the police officer.
This provoked a wave of anger and aggression in nearby Ferguson, where in summer Darren Wilson shot at a black 18-year-old teenager, Michael Brown. There are widespread allegations that the 18 – year – old was killed “because he was black” and his death is a result of the police´s bias of black youth. Wilson argues, however, that Brown was aggressive and he had no other choice but to use the gun.
After the decision of the jury the complete records of the officer´s hearings were shown to the public.
On 9th August Wilson spotted Brown walking up the sidewalk and decided that most likely he had before him the perpetrator (pol. sprawca) of the earlier attack on a small shop. The policeman called for support, but after a while, he decided to stop the 18 – year – old on his own.
The Police in Ferguson argue that the teenager behaved aggressively, while witnesses allege that Wilson shot at Brown, while he had his hands raised and was unarmed.
The death of Brown is considered by the local black community as a racially motivated crime. Violent protests have started, which quickly escalated into rioting, arson and looting shops (pol. zamieszki, podpalenia i grabież sklepów).
In Ferguson more than 60 percent of the residents are Afro-Americans, but the mayor and police chiefs are white, and – as “Los Angeles Times” enumerated in September – with 53 police officers, only three have black skin color.
If you would sit in the grand jury, who would you believe – the police officer or the witnesses? Have your say!
Category criminal law, discrimination, judicial mistake, police, prison, punishment, racism, USA, violence | Tags:
It’s hard to say who to belive in such a case. In fact both theories might be right. Maybe the policeman was a racist but that boy was also strong and agressive? He had to have a reason to shoot him. It’s one thing to be a racist and the other to sacrofise your reputation and career without a good reason.
Nowadays, especially in america, officers are facing situation when they are beeing accused of racism, or unjustified use of force. In the ferguson case we can only speculate, but i’m pretty sure that most of the witnesses who say that Mr. Brown was not behaving aggresively are black, and defend the boy only based on the color of his skin. At the same time afro-americans are accusing the officer of a crime mostly because he is white. Is that racism? Personally i think that in America, both sides are one way on another racists. No one is innocent, we can only try harder to avoid using “racism” as the argument, and look at the facts objectively.