Ferguson: The Untold Story

Read Time:4 Minute, 33 Second

Right now Ferguson, Missouri is a city in need of leadership on both sides of the shooting issue, because no one is willing to do two things: top and take a deep breath and let an open, thorough, competent investigation take place; stop and put into play the fear and emotions of two individuals not yet taken into perspective.  As we all know, or at least we of any intelligence should understand, that black citizens believe they are under fire these days simply because they are black.

AP_FERGUSON8_140811_DG_16x9_992

Discount this if you will,  but think about the following facts, not beliefs, facts: It has been a mere sixty years since blacks were given the right to an equal education in the 1950’s, and that has been fought every single step of the way by the white establishment. During the period of time leading up to that the vast majority of black citizens were barely able to read and write and were far behind their white counterparts. The parents could not help their children with home work because it was well beyond their capabilities. Beginning in the fifties, how many generations was it going to take to overcome the two hundred years of denied education while in slavery?

White citizens, at least a substantial number of them, have fought tooth and nail to keep their precious white children from going to school with black children. In the South, with which I am more familiar, the top ranked schools in many counties and cities are religious based or all white schools. In some cases where redistricting has sought to balance the racial balance in schools, white families have just shifted where they lived. The latest trick among wealthy whites is to label schools as not meeting standards and allow students to transfer out of those schools into better scoring public or private school and receive a tax credit from the state.

The black unemployment rate has always exceeded the white unemployment rate by at least 10 % and the jobs available were marginal at best. Absent the comparatively few who slipped out of the Jim Crow system this has been the plight of most blacks until the turn of the century.  This was generally due to the poor education.  Also, consider it has been a mere fifty years since blacks were to be treated equally at voting places but are still under attack today. Consider that it has taken an act of congress to assure them equal access to housing and non-discrimination in the work place. Now, with these few things laid out I will step into the second part of the this. The human side.

A few who read and contribute to this blog have been in this situation, so I ask their forgiveness.  I portray this as a way of viewing the Brown vs Wilson issue. I know that police officers like Mike and many others have faced more danger than I have.  Even though you have specialized training and several years of experience dealing with people, eight encounters are with ordinary people who, for the most part respect and comply even if reluctantly. Then there is that less than 0.5 percent of the when there in nothing in the manual or training to tell you what to do.  That’s when it gets scary.

A cop will have scary moments and moments of indecision. You are confronted with a person, in this case a young man who may be on something, or maybe he has decided that he has had enough and his life does not mean much anymore. He may have watched his mother and/or father do back breaking work all of their lives and have nothing to show for it. Whatever the reason, there you are trying to get him to comply with a lawful request of a police officer, even if it is “just get out of the middle of the street.” And, there he is, bigger and younger than you apparently saying “fuck you I don’t have to listen to you.” When the officer learns that this man fits the description of a strong armed robber (robbery without a weapon), his mind starts clicking off his options.

Broad daylight, but there are only the two of you. You have both lost focus on everything but each other. The young man thinks he knows that if unarmed, you aren’t allowed to use deadly force.  So he thinks “hell, I can take this bitch.” Remember he’s focused on one thing, “if I can blow him off, I’m free.” The officer is thinking along the same lines: “this is a bad guy. I’m a police officer and my job is to take him into custody. I will be seen as weak if I back down, or back upDuring this whole period the adrenaline is building in both of them. The fear and bravado building in both. They are determined to carry out their plans to the exclusion of anything and everything. Their hearts are pounding as their eyes lock on each other. The classic good guy – bad guy end up in the street, facing off against each other. With the fear ever mounting, one of them moving, the other making a decision. As yet we are not sure who did what, when or why, and until cooler heads prevail we may never know.

Bottom line: all the prognosticators need to shut up until the investigation is complete.

About Post Author

Bill Formby

Bill Formby, aka William A. Formby, PhD, aka Lazersedge is a former Marine and a former police officer. He is a retired University Educator who considers himself a moderate pragmatic progressive liberal, meaning that he thinks practically liberal, acts practically liberal, and he is not going to change in the near future. But, if he does he will be sure to let you know.
Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of

2 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
9 years ago

Excellent old bean. Everyone does indeed need to shut up and allow the truth to come out.

I have a nasty feeling the truth may not be altogether palatable but, until the facts are finally confirmed we need to wait and see.

Bill Formby
Reply to  Norman Rampart
9 years ago

We can only hope the truth will eventually come out.

Previous post Does Ferguson Mean Clive Bundy Was Right?
Next post Tragedy: Less Elephants Born Than Are Killed
2
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x