The 'thugification' of black young men is probably the new slur of the age--the new n word. Even our most gruesome murderers are not supposed to be shot on site. A police officer killed a man. The focus should be on him, but what I have noticed is that whenever we're talking about whether or not he did it, we're trying to discredit the victim. The racism and social political climate is evident that we can't talk about this case where a cop shot a young man. The issues of power and race are linked together because of a history. This doesn't come out of nowhere.
The burden of proof does lie on the accusarer, not the defence, so I understand they need to establish whether or not the guilt is there. However, when there is a murder case regardless of the occupation of the accused, I would assume that the evidence would not be based on the perceived character of the victim, but by the events that transpired. The fact that this was six shots, that it was reported that the victim had his hands up--that's everything for the court to decide. What is not for us to decide was whether he 'deserved' it or not, because he didn't. We don't give power to our cops to arbitrarily decide who deserves to die or not. That should not be ever, at all in our dialogue of this discussion. It is whether or not the officer in question is guilty.
The people of Ferguson are angry at what they perceive to be a miscarriage of justice. The community is angry, and the more I see discussions like this that vilify Micheal Brown, the more I believe that they have every right to be--because as a white woman I don't know what it is like to live in a climate where you feel at odds with the police; the people that I feel are here to protect me. When I see a police officer, I feel safe. I can also believe that these grievances are legitimate, because I've seen something of this vein before.
Women face issues like this when it comes to rape. The sexual history, from what she was wearing, doing at the time, and all centred around how she may have given any indication that she was on board with what happened to her. If this can happen to women; if there can be a climate where I feel unsafe walking at night or being told by my parents when and where to go--the dangers of leaving a drink unattended, I can certainly imagine that maybe the people of Ferguson, that black men and women have similar dialogues in regards to their relationship with the police. Because of this, I believe that it is imperative that we are critical and open to understanding what is going on in this community. That's on the side of protests and social justice dialogue.