My very brief thoughts on Ferguson, MO

Protesters face riot control forces in Ferguson, MO. See note at bottom for credit.

1 Most of those expressing an opinion - from Ferguson residents on up through Al Sharpton and President Obama (and myself) - weren't present that day when 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed.

2 None of us have seen final autopsy reports, either (except maybe the President).

3 Threatening violence, inventing injustice, or demanding a certain outcome before the grand jury makes a decision is tantamount to holding the justice system hostage.

4 Most of the violence that comes out of this (if any) will be only remotely related to Michael Brown or officer Darren Wilson. It will be driven by opportunity to express frustration with a system that has disenfranchised entire segments of society and allowed them no role to correct it.

That system is agnostic, and can just as easily subjugate any color on the human roulette wheel with a little spin and enough money riding on it.

If you take sides based on color, you're just helping to spin the wheel. And those determined to hate will continue as surely as gamblers will gamble.

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Picture credit: Democratic People's Republic of Korea blog > .

Google translation of that page: "On Tuesday, the DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman, responding to a reporter's question KCNA, said the serious situation of racial discrimination in the United States, which recently attracts international attention. Recently in the city of Ferguson Missouri US one black teenager was shot dead by police, sparking mass protests of the local population. However, these shares were ruthlessly suppressed by the police, who, aiming at protesters weapon used against them, tear gas and other non-lethal weapons. In this situation, in other American cities, was shot dead a policeman another black."

Clarence Translation: Let's just all be grateful we live in North Korea, folks. You could have been born in the USA.

[2014-11-23]

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