Ferguson & St. Louis, MO -- Deaths and Protests

[HairOfTheDog]

The problem stems from a lack of courageous black leaders coming out and speaking intelligently to the black community.

Again, it's been proven that this kid assaulted a cop INSIDE his squad, then ran, and according to which version you believe, was either mercilessly gunned down while he simply stood there or was shot as he was charging and ready to attack the officer.

If cops were slaughtering innocent blacks we'd have heard about it by now.

I have 2 black co-workers who are my age, educated AND work for a living. They concur that if someone assaults a cop in his squad all bets are off and they acknowledge that they'd be much more likely to believe the cops version of events at this point than the kids friend.

It's interesting, to me, how (collective) we have different perceptions about what is and isn't happening.

Over the last 18 months or so, I've been seeing and hearing a lot about the perception that cops are murdering innocent blacks and how groups of black advocates and citizens of all ethnicities are trying to confront and address what they consider a systematic problem.

This is a headline mainstream media piece I saw just two days ago: They're Murdering Our Kids and Getting Away with It: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/26...25776.html

The fact that your black friends from your peer group are inclined to believe the same source or version of events that you believe isn't surprising to me.

The fact that many white civil rights advocates and citizens against militarized police are less trusting of the police officer than are you and your peers (of any color) isn't surprising to me either.

How close or far removed we are from the types of environments and situations where these contested police killings are going down (along with many other factors) has a lot of influence on our beliefs and perceptions, IMO.

I've read some of the Grand Jury transcript -- I don't think much was proven; very much of the witness testimony and physical evidence was open to interpretation. But, IMO, it didn't contradict Wilson's versions of events and therefore there wasn't probable cause to charge him.

So, I personally understand the lack of indictment. But, I've spoken to a few people in my neck of the woods over the last few days who do not understand (one got up in my face a little, then cooled down and kissed me -- haha). They believe the Grand Jury should have indicted Darren Wilson and a trial jury should have heard the case and evidence.

I think that what we see and what we hear has a lot to do with what our eyes and ears are tuned into.