Some know this phrase from Tosh.O and some think it is one of the funnier parts of the show. However, this is no laughing matter when peoples lives are in danger. Michael Brown, an African American male, was walking down the middle of the street when he was shot and killed. To be revealed later to the officer that shot Brown, Darren Wilson, he was involved in a robbery earlier that day. During the robbery Brown stole approximately $50 in cigars and then left the store. You would think that the reason Brown was shot and killed was because he pulled a weapon on the police or he resisted arrest with assaulting an officer. The actual reason for the shots being fired (according to the police chief of Ferguson) is that he was walking down the middle of the street and blocking traffic. Also, he stated that the robbery had nothing to do with the initial contact between Wilson, a six year veteran on the force, and Brown, an 18 year old African American Male.
So from the information shared with you do you find this racist and or a hate crime? Why or why not?
Replies
Good topic choice! I think your summary could have been organized a bit better and be sure to reply more frequently to student comments.
This seems like a biased post. You give only a shard of information. Eye witness reports varies a great deal on the subject, and range from him kicking the officer's door closed and assaulting the officer through the window to the officer being too close to open the door and hitting the teens with the door while trying to open it. From their both stories have Brown running away from the officer.
The 'friend' that was with Brown said that the officer started to shoot at the boys, and hit Brown in the back as he was running away and Brown "Calmy turned around and put his hands in the air". The hard to believe part of this is that he stopped and put his hands in the air. When you get hurt, it is a basic human reaction to grab at the wound. People do this to just getting pinched, imagine what you would do to a piece of lead travelling faster than sound ripping through your abdomen.
The other stories have Brown running away, and with the police officer shooting at his legs (Which is unlikely for two reasons. Shooting a leg is a hollywood myth. It is impractical and dangerous, as legs are often moving too fast for a successful shot and have too many important arteries and a shot in the wrong location can cause a very quick death.) and when he tripped they hit him in the back. Some say that he was running away, turned around and ran at the cop. Brown them got himself shot for running at a cop.
If you are going to ask for opinions, then give the whole story, not a fraction that suits the way only one side thinks. By the way, the officer had stopped and told then to get out of the road. They mumbled back to him and brushed him off. He started to drive away when the call came in about the shooting and with the suspect's description matching the boy he had just seen, he turned around. Then the descriptions of the event start to differ.
You make some good points. There is lot we still don't know for sure based on what witnesses have seen. We will have to wait and see what happens.
I am not for certain but I believe that this is a hate crime but the part were he robbed a store and was walking in the middle of the road may or may not be true from what I heard it hasn't been proven yet. Furthermore there has been multiple of these kind of shootings usually with white shooters and black victims. Such as the Travon Martin case and another case like it in Florida.
I find this a bit racist, but it could go either way. If Michael Brown was causing major harm to the traffic and did not listen to the police, then I understand why he might have shot him. If he was not "blocking traffic" then there was absolutely no reason to shoot him. Michael might have had a weapon out trying to hurt the people, then that would be a reason to shoot him if he did not listen to the orders given. If it was a white guy the police might have given the guy more time to stop what he was doing, and then eventually arrest him.
With the information given to me I think think that this is a racist crime, because why would you kill a man for blocking traffic? I think it is a racist crime because if it was a white male they probably not have shot at him.
I believe that this could go to both sides. The police officer was doing his job and keeping himself out of danger. That is their job and when Michael pulled the weapon, it caused the officer to be in danger. On the other hand, I think that the officer wouldn't have shot him as willingly as he did if the man would have been white. I think that it automatically made the officer think that he was in a gang because of his race. That was wrong on his part.
I find this racist. I think that it is racist because if it was a white person they would have taken him into the jail, but no not with the African American they have to shoot him instead of taking him in...
I find this to be both racist and a hate crime, because if the police officer didn't know of the earlier robbery done by Brown and all he was doing was blocking traffic, he had no apparent reason to shot him because he was not endangering anyone and he was shot six times which is way more then needed on anyone.
In my opinion I think that this was a racist/hate crime. This is because without any knowledge there is know real reason to pull a firearm on someone for simply crossing the street. In the paragraph above, all it states is that he saw Michael Brown crossing the street. The reaction what uncalled for and simply cruel for the circumstances in situation.
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