Justice, Ferguson and Beyond

Judging by the on-line response to the decision of the Ferguson grand jury not to indict the officer that shot Micheal Brown, what I'm about to say may not be popular with some, but here it is anyway.

As I understand it, there were contradictory accounts of what happened from witnesses near the scene and therefore what occurred in this tragedy is not completely clear. In order to have justice, you must have actual evidence that a crime was committed that will stand up in a court of law before you can bring charges against someone. It's not clear to me that this standard has been met.

Is there a problem in this country with police militarization and with police shootings, especially with regard to minorities? Yes. Are minorities in general targeted for law enforcement and prosecution at far higher rates and more punatively than white communities and law breakers? Definitely, the evidence is overwhelming. One only need look at the fact that whites use illegal drugs at slightly higher rates than blacks, yet blacks suffer arrest and incarceration at far higher rates for such crimes and for longer terms. Do people have a right to be outraged? Absolutely, not only a right, but I would argue, a duty.

But right now emotions are running high. And to demand that the officer in Ferguson specifically, be offered up as some kind of sacrificial lamb to in some way satisfy the rightful outrage of many (myself included) at the conditions of our criminal "justice" sytem generally, without the evidence to back it up? That would just add to the injustice and the tragegy that has already occurred.

If I'm wrong about the nature of the evidence or new shit comes to light, I'll reconsider my position and if it appears that the officer committed a crime he should be prosecuted accordingly. But until then I'm going to continue my position opposing lynching.