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Protest
Aren't they about a week or so late to the party?
The Civil Rights Ice Bucket Challenge!
It takes time but even your nana ends up doing it after everyone else does it.
Two pretty obvious reasons
1) groups that want to see the topic stay part of the public conversation will likely continue to protest regularly;
2) most of these folks just got back to Boston after the holiday break. So it was an effective time to get a decent crowd together.
Got Back to Boston?
They are Boston High School students. Where did they go? Omaha?
My guess
Is 80% of the people at these protests are the same that were at the Occupy protests, the climate change protests, the IMF protests, etc.
Did they throw their diapers through the Starbucks window?
Lock arms and roll their strollers to the police line? They're high school and junior high students. I don't think they are veterans of leftist insurrection, yet.
And I run the local VLI Club headquarters, so's I'd know. *pulls on garrison cap, opens beer*
Protests have happened every single day since
Not in the slightest. Protests have happened nationwide every single day since the no true bill was returned by the grand jury last week.
Maybe they're protesting the hammer murder
of Zemir Begic, beaten to death by four teenagers in a St. Louis attack that was totally not racially motivated.
http://heavy.com/news/2014/12/zemir-begic-bosnian-killed-murdered-hammer...
"Two of the alleged assailants were caught and taken into juvenile custody, while police began searching for two others, a 16-year-old black male and a 15-year-old Hispanic. One of those suspects, age 17, has turned himself in, while the other two in custody are 15 and 16. Homicide detectives are planning to pursue charges against the suspects, with a fourth suspect still unknown as of now. Despite Dzananovic’s description of at least five teens, police say there are only four suspects. "
http://www.anorak.co.uk/411276/news/the-murder-of-zemir-begic-racism-and...
"Was Zemir Begic a random target?
Maybe not:
Seldin Dzananovic, 24, said the teens with the hammers approached him farther north on Gravois about an hour before the attack on Begic. He said he was able to fight them off, suffering only cuts to his hands and neck."
Guess what?
Right there in the link: Homicide detectives are planning to pursue charges against the suspects
If the DA then goes on national TV to explain why he's punting away a trial, then let's talk.
Well
Did this guy rob Hope Depot, assault an employee then attack the three men with hammers? If not, the two aren't a relative comparison.
So, I guess the grand jury...
...is racist because the evidence apparently didn't roll the way you wanted it to. Too bad. I bet these little hammer wielding (and I bet not a union carpenter or machinist among them) monsters get indicted.
Oh, grand juries sometimes do roll with the defendant. See ODB of the Wu-Tang clan:
Wiki: "On January 14, 1999[14] shortly before the Amadou Diallo incident, two officers from the Street Crimes Unit fired eight shots at ODB (Russell Jones) and accused him of firing at them after they stopped his car in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Mr. Jones was cleared by a grand jury and insists that the officers had been scared by his cellular phone. No weapons or shell casings (besides those of the officers) were found in the vehicle or near the scene.[15]"
What is wrong with you people?
This isn't an issue of a trial determining that the shooting was justified, or that stealing cigars is wrong. This is an issue of a prosecutor deciding that an unarmed teenager being shot by a police officer DID NOT EVEN WARRANT A TRIAL.
About that prosecutor:
"McCulloch's father was a police officer killed in a shootout with an African-American suspect. His brother, uncle and cousin served with the St. Louis Police Department, and his mother worked there for 20 years as a clerk. Newsweek noted McCulloch's "long history of siding with the police." For the sake of impartiality, McCulloch should have let a special prosecutor take over the case.
The grand jury only needed to find "probable cause" to charge Wilson. That's one of the lowest legal standards in our justice system, below "beyond a reasonable doubt" (required for a criminal conviction) and "preponderance of the evidence" (the standard in a civil trial). The fact that McCulloch did not get an indictment for a killing that shocked the nation raises questions about whether he really wanted an indictment."
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/24/opinion/reyes-ferguson-grand-jury/index.ht...
"A St. Louis County grand jury on Monday decided not to indict Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson in the August killing of teenager Michael Brown. The decision wasn’t a surprise — leaks from the grand jury had led most observers to conclude an indictment was unlikely — but it was unusual. Grand juries nearly always decide to indict.
Or at least, they nearly always do so in cases that don’t involve police officers.
Former New York state Chief Judge Sol Wachtler famously remarked that a prosecutor could persuade a grand jury to “indict a ham sandwich.” The data suggests he was barely exaggerating: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases in 2010, the most recent year for which we have data. Grand juries declined to return an indictment in 11 of them.
Wilson’s case was heard in state court, not federal, so the numbers aren’t directly comparable. Unlike in federal court, most states, including Missouri, allow prosecutors to bring charges via a preliminary hearing in front of a judge instead of through a grand jury indictment. That means many routine cases never go before a grand jury. Still, legal experts agree that, at any level, it is extremely rare for prosecutors to fail to win an indictment.
“If the prosecutor wants an indictment and doesn’t get one, something has gone horribly wrong,” said Andrew D. Leipold, a University of Illinois law professor who has written critically about grand juries. “It just doesn’t happen.”"
Source: http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ferguson-michael-brown-indictment-dar...
See also:
Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/03/black-boys-older.aspx
Police thought 12-year-old Tamir Rice was 20 when they shot him. This isn't uncommon.
http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7297265/tamir-rice-age-police
Sorry, not buying it.
"This is an issue of a prosecutor deciding that an unarmed teenager being shot by a police officer DID NOT EVEN WARRANT A TRIAL."
Grand jury decided that, not the prosecutor. I don't care about the talking points. It was a grand jury that made that decision.
"Newsweek noted McCulloch's "long history of siding with the police." For the sake of impartiality, McCulloch should have let a special prosecutor take over the case."
Clue: Prosecutors tend to side with the police. Didn't you ever watch Law And Order (dunh dunh)? "...the police that make the busts and Jack McCoy, who will twist the law into a pretzel to make a bust stick"
"The fact that McCulloch did not get an indictment for a killing that shocked the nation raises questions about whether he really wanted an indictment.""
Just someone's opinion. The more the facts came out (facts are annoying things...), the more it seemed that the gentle giant wasn't behaving so gently.
"“If the prosecutor wants an indictment and doesn’t get one, something has gone horribly wrong,” said Andrew D. Leipold, a University of Illinois law professor who has written critically about grand juries. “It just doesn’t happen.”""
Unless its OBD. See earlier post. So I guess it does happen.
The prosecutor didn't want an
The prosecutor didn't want an indictment and only sent this to a grand jury so people wouldn't flip out. It didn't work.
Fenway Arts Academy?
Fenway High School or Boston Arts Academy? (Or was there a merger I didn't hear about)
Yeah... its Boston Arts
Yeah... its Boston Arts Academy and Fenway High School. They are in the same building.
Boston Arts Academy
Fixed, thanks for pointing that out. Also, the Dig has more on the protest.
Any protest for the Indian grocer or devastated black merchants?
Any protest for the Indian grocer who had just been forcibly robbed by Michael Brown, the black merchants whose businesses were looted and burned in his name or the totally exonerated police officer who survived a life and death struggle to retain his weapon and is now unemployed as both he and his pregnant wife face death threats? What a farce.
please provide data supporting this contention
We all know that he was arrested, tried, and convicted for this by a civilized society ... oh, wait, we actually don't even know if it was Michael Brown in that store. Also, he was shot and killed before the robbery was even reported. Nevermind.
You are free to explain why it is okay that he was executed without trial for walking in the street, though.
Executed
Please provide your sources.
Yes, extra-judicially executed
The police's job is to deliver a suspect into custody for a trial. Instead, this officer decided on his own that the suspect deserved the death penalty, without benefit of any due process whatsoever.
We actually don't know that
We don't actually know what this officer decided.
Bear in mind that "Deciding that the situation warrants deadly force" and "deciding that the suspect deserves to die" are two entirely orthogonal things.
Actually
The officer decided that he shouldn't let the deceased walk in the middle of the street. After that, we know Brown confronted the officer, reached into his vehicle, hit the officer, and the officer fired. Brown's DNA was found inside the vehicle, a bullet was found inside the vehicle (proven i was fired while Wilson was inside, not as Brown was running away with his hands up), and Wilson had contusions on his face and the back of his neck.
Please...
Do not try to distract us with your facts. Also, didn't the other guy admit that they were the guys in the store?
If the only shots Darren
If the only shots Darren Wilson had fired were the two that happened when Darren Wilson reached through the window, we wouldn't be having this conversation today. One of those bullets lodged in the car door, the other hit Michael Brown's arm. After Wilson fired those shots, Brown ran away.
But they weren't the only shots fired. Brown was hit by eight bullets. All except one was fired from a distance of at least 35 feet (according to the Wilson testimony) up to 100 +/-feet (according to some eyewitness testimony).
One shot in Brown's arm would not be an absurd response to someone reaching aggressively through a cop car window. It's the remaining seven bullets that demand a better explanation.
Is the video, AP and Brown's accomplice good enough, Swrly?
(AP) Attorney: Dorian Johnson admits he was with Michael Brown at store robbery.
As for starting my own protest for the real victims, I'll pass. With the death threats to Officer Wilson, his immediate family and his police family nationwide, I wouldn't feel safe. I have sent a generous donation to the Officer Wilson fund at the Fraternal Order of Police.
There was no robbery...
... despite FoxNoise assertions to the contrary.
The friend attempted to lift the box of cigarillos; the store owner said, "hey, pay for those"; Brown gave him the money he had, grabbed those cigs more than he could pay for from his friend, and threw them on the counter while hustling the asshole friend out of the store.
A customer called the police; when they contacted the owner, he told them he'd been paid for what left the store.
Wow
Way to distort facts. I guess assaulting someone is the new way to exchange money for a good.
Mike Brown did not give the
Mike Brown did not give the clerk any money, nor did he have any money on him that day FlyingToaster. He stole the Cigarillos.
Please see Page 32 of yDorian Johnson`s testimony to the grand jury where he admits this fact under oath.
Some people aren't "open
Some people aren't "open minded" or "tolerant" enough to comprehend facts. Lets not forget 6 black eye witnesses corrobated the Hero officers' story, and the entire process was monitored by Atty. General Eric Holder. But ya it's the systematic oppression !
Clearly he deserved to be
Clearly he deserved to be shot to death in the street then. What's that old saying? Eye for an eye, life for a cigarillo?
What would you have done?
6' 3" man tries to take your gun. Flees then turns and starts back after you? What should the cop have done? Hand to hand with a guy twice his size?
BTW- how many of those protesters even know who Dawnn jaffier is? That's what they should be protesting and I bet not 5 of them even know her name.
You're a little fuzzy on some
You're a little fuzzy on some of the facts. Mike Brown and Darren Wilson were about the same size for one. Brown was not charging at Wilson when he was shot for a second. However, if I was in the situation that you described I would have used proper police protocol and used a tazer or pepper spray. Barring that (since Wilson has stated that he's opposed to tazers for some reason) I would shoot to disable (not to kill). Shooting a suspect twice in the head is shooting to kill.
Here are some common misconceptions debunked (with sources!):
http://www.filmsforaction.org/lawrence/news/ku-journalism-major-shreds-c...
Can't read those sources on my phone
I'll get to them tomorrow. Bottom line if an officer discharges a gun you don't shoot to disable. You also don't shoot for the head. And if you can hit a moving target in the head from 150 feet away on purpose you are a trick shot artist.
I don't know about you but if anybody started shooting at me cop or not I'd be on the ground face down after the first shot. Why was he still standing in a surrender position if he not only had been shot at but hit multiple times? Can't imagine an human doing that. Neither of us were there and there was apparently lots of conflicting evidence but that scenario defies common sense.
Oh and I was able to read the dailykos article. Kinda hard to take a reading comprehension challenged college student seriously. Read her "source" and if you don't share her affliction you'll see what I mean.
Read those sources for yourself.....
Most of them debunk each other anyway.
And you don't know what you would have done, since you (or the law student in this article) have never had to use force in your life. And police protocol never calls for shooting to "disable".
Ever been punched in the face in a car? Or the side of the head? How many punches could you take before you were knocked unconscious and someone could grab your gun and then shoot you with it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jjW3DlzaRw
Here is a video of an unarmed black man.
I know you may be bias, Pete
but in Wilson's own words he talks about why he stopped Michael Brown. Apparently Brown and his friend were walking down the street and for some reason that irked Officer Wilson. So the alleged altercation occurred with the officer, not knowing as of yet if Brown committed any robbery attempt, decided to "harass" him and his friend. Some folks seem to be forgetting (or choose to ignore) about this fact.
Second, there are pictures of Wilson on the Internet, posted by him or his attorney, I believe, that show him at the hospital, not too long after the attack. For a man allegedly forcibly and repeatedly punched by a 6'3", 300 pound "demon", his face looked very pretty.
Third, Michael Brown's body was left festering on the road for 4.5 hours. Unless all the folks who pick up dead bodies were out of town at some convention, this is inexcusable.
Fourth, and aside from all of this, what went down in Ferguson is born, most likely, from some very tense race relations, over years and years and years and years. This is crux of the unfortunate incident and should not be ignored.
Biased but also experienced and educated in this situation.
But what you say may be true.
1. Is there something wrong with telling people to get out of the middle of the street? And at some point didn't Wilson say he recognized the stolen goods in browns possession?
2. Were they clean punches? Does the side of the head swell like your face would? Was it photographed the next day when swelling usually occures? (Domestic violence victims are encouraged to be photographed the next day to show this swelling)
3. I'm not an expert on homicide crime scenes, but more often than not some sort of medical examiner is the only one who can authorize the movement of a dead body, especially in a homicide where forensic services are needed.
4. You are probably right, but does it excuse someone from robbing a store and punching a cop (allegedly?)
When that cyclist collided
When that cyclist collided with a truck on Comm ave in front of BU last year, his body was out uncovered for several hours. It's a thing that happens sometimes. Of all the myriad things to be upset at in this case, whether or not the body was immediately covered seems like something pretty irrelevant.
Yeh, but in either case,
there was no excuse for a dead body being left uncovered, for all the public to see, for several hours.
"Mike Brown and Darren Wilson
"Mike Brown and Darren Wilson were about the same size for one."
LOL ok
Darren Wilson stated in his
Darren Wilson stated in his grand jury testimony that he is 6'4" 210lbs. They were the same size.
Brown was 6'4 292 lbs.
Brown was 6'4 292 lbs.
Hardly the same size.
Exactly
Tom Brady is 6'4". Vince Wilfork is 6'2". They get in a fight. What do you think happens?
Comparison to NFL players.
Wilson's is close in size to the punter Gostkowski(6'1", 215lbs) and Tom Brady (6'4" 225lbs). Brown was closer in size to guards Dont'a Hightower (6'3", 270lbs) and Dan Connolly (6'4" 305lbs). That may give you a better visual as to their size difference.
"You're a little fuzzy on
"You're a little fuzzy on some of the facts"
He said.
"Mike Brown and Darren Wilson were about the same size for one"
He said.
Pot, meet kettle.
Dawn Jaffier
Killed by gunshot, a week after Ferguson, during the Carribean Festival in Boston. Collateral urban damage. Over and over and over again.
And the response from Sharpton, Deval, and all the other professional race hustlers? Crickets, please. When the phone doesn't ring, you'll know it's them. No CNN, no outrage.
And the suspected shooter?
In jail, awaiting trial? Or the beneficiary of a DA going on national TV to say a trial isn't worth his time, and free at home collecting donations?
No
But, do us all a favor - walk up to a cop, punch him in the face and try to take his gun. Let us know what happens once you're done.
Eye for eye has nothing to do
Eye for eye has nothing to do with this. It was a life or death struggle, according to the heroic Officer, forensic evidence, and corroborated by 6 eye witnesses(black FYI)
"oh, wait, we actually don't
"oh, wait, we actually don't even know if it was Michael Brown in that store"
Hmm, should I believe Swirly or my lying eyes.
Give me a break Swirl.
Nobody's stopping you from protesting
Bring all your friends.
Forget the Grand Jury
Judge Swirly has weighed in.
There you go again...
There you go again, thinking that the protests are about Officer Wilson shooting Michael Brown. You're really missing the forest for the trees, here.
Didn't the Indian grocer go home to his family, alive?
Didn't one of the black merchants get 200K in charity to rebuild? After she leaves her family? And you know, keeps on BEING ALIVE?
It's not a farce, it's a fucking tragedy. And I include Wilson and his family in that assessment.
But, as others have pointed out, it's not just about Brown or Wilson.
It's all the Browns, and all the Wilsons. I think something has to give and we, as a society, have to stop tolerating the constant shootings of young kids, most of them black.
And I say this as someone who hasn't seen much criminal intent or malfeasance on Wilson's part.
The Indian grocer committed
The Indian grocer committed NO CRIME. DO YOU GET IT?
yikes
all those people you claimed did not lose a life. Its clear that people like you will never "get it".
Or Deandre Joshua who was
Or Deandre Joshua who was murdered and set on fire during the riots. No one seems to have noticed this, probably because no one reported on it. Because most of the protesters are peaceful! Except the ones murdering people and setting them on fire I guess.
Where would boston be without
Where would boston be without its fearless protestors?
Beautiful weather for a walk
A shame to stay inside on such a warm and relatively sunny day. Oh, and people on Twitter seemed to get somewhat of a flash mob going, though that too is getting old.
Brainwashed lemmings...
They have no idea why they're out there. They've just been taught their entire lives that this country is rotten to the core, and that they need to hate what they think this country is everyday of their lives. Get back to class, kids.
I went shopping at the Pru on
I went shopping at the Pru on Black Friday and there were a ton of people on Boylston protesting, advocating "no spending on Black Friday" as a response. I went across the street to Walgreens and there were kids buying their posterboard signs there. So much for staying true to your word.