From someone elses wall: I wasnt sure if this needed explaining, but it might. Tonights announcement was not a verdict of not guilty. This wasnt a statement that Wilson was justified, or that Mike Brown posed a legitimate threat or anything like that. The point of an indictment is to determine whether there is probable cause for a criminal investigation and trial. In this particular case, that means something really specific and sort of unique. Because a lot of the facts of this case are already known. We have known for the past 106 days that the teenager who was killed was unarmed and not a suspect of any crime. We know who killed him and how. Ballistics evidence seems to support the eyewitness testimony that he was kneeling at the time he was shot. The grand jury was not investigating these things and determining whether Wilson was guilty of a crime when he shot an unarmed, kneeling teenager for no identifiable reason. They werent even determining whether shooting an unarmed, kneeling teenager for no identifiable reason IS a crime. They were determining whether shooting an unarmed, kneeling teenager for no identifiable reason MIGHT be criminal. They were determining whether this was an action that might warrent a bit of investigation, perhaps some scrutiny. And they decided no, it doesnt. That, not only is it not a crime to shoot an unarmed, kneeling, black teenager for no identifiable reason, but there isnt even any reason to think it might be. Now, over the past few years, Ive been moving in the direction of accepting more flaws in people, and not being so quick to declare one side right. This is not like that. There are not multiple, valid view-points on this. There is a degree of racism I will accept in my friends and family. A degree if homophobia. A degree of ableism. This is way beyond that degree. I NEVER say this, but I will about this. If you agree with todays announcement--if you can look at a situation where an unarmed teenager was shot, likely while kneeling and surrendering, for no identifiable reason, and agree that there isnt any reason to consider the possibility that that MIGHT be a criminal act Then you are not my friend. My addition: So therefore, unfriend me. Yes, I am serious. No, I dont want to talk about it. Just unfriend me. [Note: This is more eloquently stated than my post of last night. Because of its privacy setting, I wasnt sure everyone who reads my wall would see it, so Ive cut and pasted it from the original post I saw. But because I dont know the original posters motivation for having that privacy setting, I also will not name her. If she recognizes her words, I trust she will tag herself or let me know she doesnt mind being tagged, and then I will edit this to give her richly deserved credit by name.]
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 23:21:44 +0000