You know… a lot of people are complaining about the protests/ looting there. What are you supposed to do when the government, and the law itself, have let you down? America was founded on disobedience to an unfair government. The British colonial policies that set off the revolutionary war were all perfectly legal, based on their laws… that doesn’t mean they were right.
Now we’ve ruled that Michael Brown’s killing was legal and reasonable. Imagine if an unarmed 18-year-old from your community was killed by a police officer, who wasn’t held accountable in any way. That’s a much bigger wrong than colonial taxes… but we overthrew an entire government over taxes. That sort of independence and rebelliousness is something that Americans are proud of; we consider it part of our national character. It’s happening again now.
It’s easy to distance yourself from something if you can’t imagine it happening to you. A lot of people talk about the stuff Mike Brown is said to have done that day. Like, the Ferguson police department claimed that he shoplifted, or that he had weed in his system. Those stories were leaked after the killing but before the investigation. Everyone I grew up with has done stuff like that. I literally know a guy who threw up on a cop, while being questioned about underage drinking.
People are acting like Brown was a dangerous criminal; he was just a normal kid. Everyone is so disturbingly okay with the fact that he was killed. I get where the protesters are coming from.