It would have been really easy to pass the buck. Yes, it would have been far easier to let a later set of citizens bear the burden of decision — especially given the boiling cauldron of controversy surrounding them.
But this wasn’t any old jury. This was a Grand Jury. A truly Grand Jury.
The Grand Jurors knew very well that an indictment would cool the irrational ire of the mobs. They also knew that not indicting would result in riot and recrimination. Above all, they knew that the impartial administration of justice, based on the facts of the case, trumped any and all other considerations.
After considering the circumstances and hearing all the evidence, the Grand Jury made the truly grand decision to not indict Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown.
There should have never been any doubt what the decision would be, given the facts of the case.
- Michael Brown was high on drugs at the time of his death. The autopsy found marijuana in Brown’s blood. Some argue that his drug use was irrelevant. Absolute hogwash. Drugs alter behavior. They impair judgment. They are inextricably linked to irrational acts of all kinds, such as Brown’s reckless, aggressive behavior when confronted by Officer Wilson.
- Michael Brown robbed a store just prior to the confrontation with Officer Wilson. He was caught on camera assaulting the store clerk, and absconded with a box of cigars.
- Michael Brown and a buddy were walking down the middle of the road. That’s why Officer Wilson first took notice of Brown, when he told them to get out of the road and walk on the sidewalk. Then Officer Wilson got word of the robbery, and realized that Brown was a prime suspect, since he fit the description and had cigars in his hand.
- Michael Brown assaulted Officer Wilson. When Wilson attempted to get out of his patrol car to confront Brown, his door was shoved closed on him, Brown punched him in the face through the open window, and Brown attempted to wrestle his gun from him. Wilson managed to free his gun and fire a shot, which led Brown to turn and start walking off.
- When Office Wilson pursued Brown, ordering him to stop, Brown instead turned and headed toward Wilson, who, along with other eye-witnesses, described Brown’s approach as a threatening charge. Officer Wilson shot Brown in self-defense.
No rational person can claim that in a similar set of circumstances they would behave much differently than Officer Wilson.
As a police officer, Wilson had an obligation to tell the hoodlums to get out of the street, and then to confront them when he realized Brown was a robbery suspect. There is no evidence that Officer Wilson was racial-profiling when he confronted Brown. He was simply doing his job. There is zero evidence that anything Wilson did was racially motivated. A black Officer would have done the same thing.
The only racism related to the incident is the racism of those who condemn Wilson because he is white and Brown was black. If the officer had been black, or Brown had been white, or if Wilson was black and Brown was white, the incident wouldn’t have registered even the tiniest blip on the protesters’ discriminatory racism radar. And it would have registered barely a blip on the media’s biased scale of newsworthiness.
Speaking of racism and unbalanced responses to the incident, in typical fashion Obama’s handling of the situation was nothing near grand. Instead of shaming and condemning the hoodlums that were abusing the incident to wreak havoc, Obama further incited them, expressing empathy for them by emphasizing how he could “understand” their anger. Really? He could understand anger and rioting over a police officer who was clearly compelled by a thug to use deadly force? Apparently, what Obama still cannot understand is that Officer Wilson was innocent until proven guilty, that the criminal justice system and due process of the law need to be allowed to function free from mob violence and race-baiting, and that it is his job as POTUS to stand up for the rule of law, not to coddle and encourage mob rule.
Adding injury to idiocy, the evening the Grand Jury announced its decision, the National Guard was nowhere to be found, giving the moronic mob license to loot and destroy public and private property. No doubt the order to “stand down” came from the top, with typical disregard for the innocent victims of terrorists. The proper response, given prior peace-less protests, would have been to deploy the National Guard, armed with tear gas, rubber bullets and high pressure hoses.
In just about every way imaginable the Ferguson fallout is an American embarrassment. However, amidst the race-baiting pundits and politicians, mob mayhem, and biased and distorted media coverage, there is one encouraging bright spot: A truly Grand Jury’s color-blind assessment of the facts, and its subsequent refusal to appease mobocracy with an indictment.