Ferguson

I was glad to see that Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson was put in charge in Ferguson to quell the anger. He did exactly the right thing. Marching with protesters, hugging people..it was such a blessing to see after all the disrespect shown to, well, everyone. I can understand Ferguson residents’ reluctance to trust the police department when eye witness statements weren’t taken and then they escalate the agitation by releasing the store video that allegedly shows Michael Brown in an unflattering light, all the while ignoring the requests by the family to see it first. DOJ asked that they not release it and Governor Nixon isn’t happy about it at all and has suggested that the unrest that’s currently happening might not be had they listened. And it would have been a good idea to let Captain Johnson know that the store video had been released. Nice of them to throw that into the mix without telling him. The police chief seems confused during press conferences. And now we hear that the police officer who killed Michael didn’t know he was a suspect in the store robbery. Apparently he contacted him about jaywalking. This young man died for jaywalking? How is this even possible?

It sure feels as if we live in a shoot first, ask questions later country now. Open carry, stand your ground, militarizing our police force with weapons that used to be reserved for the battlefield. Did the Defense Department think they wouldn’t use the equipment and weaponry on the citizenry? Are they that stupid? Now I read that Congress is reconsidering that action. Of course when the NRA finds this out, many in Congress will cave and bow prostrate to their benefactor.

I have to laugh when I think about the Tea Party wanting to “take their country back”. Is THIS what they meant? A country brimming with racism, and where entitlement rules the day? How will any of THAT move us forward? Does taking their country back involve shutting the government down? Does it involve giving up their Social Security and Medicare? Why would anyone let the Sarah Palins of this world set the tone or establish the narrative?

But that’s where we find ourselves these days. Letting the lowest common denominator set the standard. Too many of us have become expendable when no one actually is. Michael Brown would have begun college had he not been gunned down. Who knows what he would have become. And now, his parents have to deal with a police department run amok and grief that will never end. All for what?

Racism is ugly. It’s nasty. It’s embarrassing. It’s destructive. And it’s beneath all of us. And it’s time our children stop dying for it.