We can and should talk about racial bias without having to worry about proving a particular set of facts about Michael Brown or his killing. And this is all the more important as facts come to light showing that Michael Brown may not have been as innocent as he was initially portrayed. Michael Brown Michael Brown Was Not a Child or a Saint The first things we heard about Michael Brown was that he was this good kid—just a child—only days away from starting college, on the right track, had never gotten in trouble and had no criminal record. His family (understandably) released cherubic pictures of him from years ago, which portray him as a sweet and innocent prepubescent boy. Michael Brown: an Unarmed Child And then we see the video of Michael Brown muscling past a convenience-store clerk, shoving him by the throat, as Brown made off with stolen cigars. Just a child? Hardly. This was a strapping young man, standing 6 feet 4 inches and weighing upwards of 290 pounds, and cutting an imposing figure (at least to convenience-store clerks). And Brown freely used his size to intimidate others and just take what he wanted from them. And yet there are those who will not acknowledge that anything in this video reflects negatively upon Brown. These are people who have a story and are sticking to it; facts be damned. If Michael Brown is the poster child for an important movement and the face of an inconvenient truth, then any aspersions cast on Brown are an attack on the movement and the truths it seeks to advance! But that need not be the case. We can acknowledge that Brown was not perfect, and still demand that the underlying issues involving race and criminal justice get the attention that they deserve. In fact, we can acknowledge that Brown was possibly even a bad guy who did bad things, and still maintain that his shooting raises some critical concerns about the way police work is done in America. But to have an honest discussion and ultimately attain a just ideal, we need to be able to acknowledge the truth and not sugar-coat it, just because we think it is critical of someone on our side.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 12:37:40 +0000
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