Apparently the shooting of an unarmed young black man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a northern suburb of St. Louis, is so important to warrant a statement from a golfing and vacationing President Obama and a visit and an investigation by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice. Multiple investigations are still taking place so all of the facts are not in and there are multiple conflicting eyewitness testimonies. What we do know is that Michael Brown was stopped while walking in the middle of the street after committing a strong arm robbery at a neighborhood convenience store for which the police were called. He was stopped in the middle of the street by Officer Darren Wilson in his patrol car and this led to the shooting. Brown who was unarmed was shot six times by Wilson. There was some sort of scuffle immediately preceding the shooting and Wilson sustained a significant facial injury, an orbital floor fracture. That is all we know for certain.
As word of the shooting spread in the community, residents of Ferguson hit the streets protesting the shooting. The protests quickly turned into looting and burning of local stores that the county police could not handle. Governor Jay Nixon (D) called in the highway patrol and eventually the National Guard for crowd control and to stop the looting. Race baiter Al Sharpton showed up and seemed to fan the flames and clearly countered the efforts by Capt. Ron Johnson of the highway patrol and one who grew up in the community, to quiet the rioting and bring calm and reason to the situation. Hundred of protestors and looters were arrested and most live in other communities in the St. Louis area, but some came from as far away as California and New York. The looters attempted to spread the violence outside of Ferguson, but this was quickly quelled. Eventually President Obama called Brown's family and sent Holder to investigate. With so much conflicting eyewitness descriptions, the county prosecutor rightly convened a grand jury to gather evidence and determine if there is enough to warrant an indictment.
On August 11 a similar incident occurred outside a convenience store near Salt Lake City. In this case, a black police officer (the local media described the officer as not white) shot and killed an unarmed 20 year old white man. The officer thought he had a weapon as the police had received a 911 call from the store of a possible gun. The victim, Dillon Taylor, had a criminal past, an outstanding warrant, and failed to get down on the sidewalk to be handcuffed when ordered to do so. The whole incident was recorded by a video camera worn by the officer. The Salt Lake City police have not released the name of the officer or the video. Taylor's family is demanding an investigation and he arrest of the police officer. In Salt Lake City there were no demonstrations or rioting and looting. Representatives from the KKK or other racist organizations did not show up to protest and stir up trouble. Taylor's family was not called by President Obama and Eric Holder is not going to Utah. This incident will be resolved after the investigation.
President Obama, as his his practice, politicized the tragedy in Ferguson. Though Brown was shot with the officer's side arm, this suddenly became a debate on the militarization of the police. Does Obama think that a police officer possessing a side arm constitutes militarization? There are neighborhoods in Chicago that are so dangerous that a swat team is necessary for routine police business. The problem is not guns owned by the police or licensed gun owners, it is guns owned by criminals who are unlicensed. Somehow this very simple fact escapes the thinking of the Democrats and the left.
After the investigation, hopefully reason will prevail. If arrest and trial of either police officer is warranted, a fair trial will be held and the result of the trial should be accepted by the community. Sadly, President Obama, liberals, and their media whores have again tied themselves to the wrong pony, just as they did with Trayvon Martin. Don't get me wrong, neither Brown or Martin deserved to die, but neither were choirboys. Both decided to fight with a smaller person with a gun, and both lost. Martin could have just kept on walking and Brown could have moved over to the sidewalk as ordered by Officer Wilson. If Obama, liberals, and mainstream media need a cause, they should use the many innocent youths murdered in Chicago as collateral damage in the gang wars. Instead most remain just a name in a short column in the local newspaper or a ten second sound bite on a local television station.
