The Plight of Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson

The Plight of Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson

By Gary A. House

Michael Brown.  Officer Darren Wilson.

There is not too much that can be said about these guys from Ferguson, Missouri that has not already been said.

The media and social media have sensationalized this story about a black teen-ager and a white police officer so much that we may never know the truth.

I am not here to judge Michael Brown or Officer Darren Wilson.  I do not know all that happened just like you do not know.

I have read every article that I could find on this subject.  I have not read the grand jury report.

Michael Brown reminds me of another black teen-ager Michael Oher, who now plays for the Tennessee Titans.  When Oher was a teen-ager, he was basically on his own.  His mother was strung out on drugs and alcohol.  Oher was a good kid.  One night Leigh Anne Tuohy, who was white, came across Oher on the street and asked him if he had a place to stay.  Oher was going to stay in the gym that night.   Tuohy along with her husband Sean brought Oher back to their home for the night.  Oher moved in with the Tuohy’s.  I am certain friends of the Tuohy’s were judgmental of a large black teen-ager living in the white Tuohy’s house along with the Tuohy’s teen-age daughter and young son.

That did not matter to the Tuohy’s.  There were obviously color blind and saw Oher simply as just Big Mike.  Oher with the Tuohy’s encouragement later earned a college scholarship and now plays professional football.

I am in no way comparing Michael Brown and Michael Oher.  I know neither of them.  The path Oher could have ended up on without the Tuohy’s intervention shows that with the right influences Brown could have been a productive citizen in society.  I do not know whether Brown’s mother and stepfather provided the influences Brown needed or not. They very well may have.

I am not certain Brown robbed that convenience store, beat Officer Wilson in his car, reached for his gun, refused to get out of the street, and charged at Officer Wilson like a football player.  I guess none of us will know for sure. 

We have to rely on the grand jury looking at the evidence and doing its job correctly.  Personally, I have witnessed some cases in court where the judge/judges, in my mind, ruled the wrong way.  I am not saying the grand jury that was made up of citizens made the right or wrong decision.  But they reviewed the evidence and I did not.

I am sure we all have run into the small minority of law enforcement officers who are arrogant and power hungry even on routine traffic stops.  I do not know if Officer Wilson falls into that small category or not.  However, I believe that Officer Wilson used his handgun for the first time in the line of duty and he was not a rookie cop.  That tells me that he was not a rogue officer who goes around firing at anything that is black and is moving.

I am sure Officer Wilson is tore up about taking the life of another human being.  Whether he shot Brown twelve times, I do not know.   I do know Brown was a very large teen-ager.  If Brown was coming at Officer Wilson, it could have taken multiple shots to bring him down.  Once Brown reached the 8 to 10 foot distance from Officer Wilson, he entered the kill zone.  If he entered the kill zone, Officer Wilson would have shot to kill as he was trained to do.  I have not studied any of the forensic data and do not know if he was in the kill zone.

I know events like this happen fast with a lot of stimuli in the environment.  That causes memories to be fuzzy, with things remembered differently than they occurred.   That is true for the witnesses and the police officer.

It is a shame that a life was taken.  Lives are taken every day that should never be. 

I do not believe that white police officers feel they have the right to shoot black citizens without cause like I do not believe that black police officers feel they have the right to shoot white citizens without cause.  The fact is people of all races kill people of all races including their own, which must stop. 

We do need more black and Hispanic officers on our police forces.  The problem at least in my home county is the large majority of law enforcement graduates are white.  We have very little minorities to choose from.  I do not know but I bet Ferguson, Missouri is in the same boat.

My point to this blog is that we are Americans first.  Race should not matter.  We need to treat everyone with respect.

Perhaps we should follow the lead of Leigh Anne Tuohy and her family and become color blind. 

Only when we all become color blind will there be forgiveness in our hearts, racism goes out the door, and we will be accepted into heaven.