The Right to Surrender

Mike Brown is dead. By the accounts of multiple witnesses, he stopped running away, turned around, put his hands up in the air and surrendered, but the shooting didn't stop. According to multiple witnesses, Darren Wilson continued to fire on the unarmed Brown until he literally put him down.

Does this make Darren Wilson a racist cop? Not necessarily. We all have our moments when we lose it. I like to believe that Wilson had one of those moments. He lost control and a terrible tragedy occurred at his hands.

Does Brown have to be sinless for us to care about his death? No. Brown's friend admitted that they stole from the store, but how can anyone use stealing $50 worth of products as a legitimate reason to be put to death? Some of the comments that I have seen have been downright disgusting. When did Americans become so evil? To justify the death of an 18 year old, unarmed teen, because he stole from a store, is to forget that America has this crazy thing called due process. We don't chop off people's hands when they steal things. We don't shoot them down in the middle of the street like they are an animal. We arrest them and give them their day in court. It is the American way. It is part of what makes us civilized.

It is interesting to note that the store did not call the cops. A customer at the store called the cops. My first question was why didn't the store also call the cops? There have been several rumored answers, but I can't verify any of them so I won't repeat them.

It is also interesting to note that the police chief admitted that Darren Wilson did not stop Brown on suspicion of involvement in the robbery. To that, some people have responded, "well Mike Brown knew he was a robbery suspect, so he probably attacked the cop and that's why the cop had to shoot him." I can see part of that argument, but the argument falls short when you remember how it all ended. Mike Brown was done running. He was trying to give up and his right to surrender was taken away.

Now for the protests. Since when do we point guns at peaceful protestors and arrest journalists to try to scare them out of reporting the story? Don't we condemn other countries for doing that type of thing? Speaking of which, am I the only person who remembers that they brought the dogs out one night? Did I miss a memo? Are the people of Ferguson not really American citizens? I don't understand the justifications for the initial militarized response to the protests.

As for the looting and the riots, I can't defend that...at all. If you're upset then take to the street and protest peacefully. Why would you protest a crime by committing crimes of your own? However, out of the looting and the riots came one of the brightest moments of this whole mess: a group of young black boys stood in front of a store and protected it from looters. That moment took my breath away, and I'm not going to lie, it redeemed my faith in our youth a little. These young people saw that the police were standing down and were not going to stop the looting, so they took matters in to their own hands and stood up for their community and for what was right.

How do we solve this? The solution is simple: arrest the officer who shot and killed Mike Brown. Take this battle off the streets and send it to the courts where it belongs.