While Saint Louis County police chief Thomas Jackson leans back in his leather chair, raises his feet onto his desk and crosses his ankles, reveling in his “boo-yah” moment, which was regarded by many as a tacky, smear campaign against slain, unarmed teen Michael “Mike” Brown, Lesley McSpadden involuntarily becomes a member of a grieving group of mothers who’ve buried their children like Sybrina Fulton, Lucia McBath, Brenda Muhammad and so many others.
To Jackson: You’re not that smart, or strategic. You’ve proven just what Americans have been thinking. You have little to no regard for the citizens in your county if their skin color is darker than yours. While there may be evidence that Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, allegedly committed a “strong-arm robbery” – unlike an armed robbery which requires a weapon – at a convenience store, you still have provided little justification or failed to present a simple theory for his execution style murder.
As we retrace the steps of Darren Wilson, 28, the officer named in Brown’s shooting, and the unarmed teen’s timeline of events on Saturday, August 9, 2014 (below), his death remains incomprehensible:
- 11:48am – Officer Darren Wilson and an ambulance crew were at an unrelated call about a sick person
- 11:51am – A 911 call comes in about a ‘strong- armed’ robbery at a nearby convenience store
- 11:52am – Police radio dispatch gives a description of two robbery suspects who assaulted a clerk and stole Swisher Sweet cigars. The clerk says the suspects were walking toward the QuickTrip gas station
- 12:01pm – Officer Wilson encounters Michael Brown walking in the middle of the street in the 2900 block of Canfield Drive. The officer shoots Brown dead following an altercation
- 12:04pm – A second officer arrives on scene and the ambulance from the sick call arrives to give Brown medical attention. He is declared dead at the scene
- 12:05pm – A supervisor arrives at the scene of the shooting
So what if Brown was confident and walked with his chest out. He had every right to do so; he was on his way to college to start his new life. In one week, McSpadden’s dream of seeing her son step into manhood has turned into a nightmare. The last memory of her son is his lifeless, bullet ridden body lying prostrate on Canfield Drive.
And Jackson, you have the nerve to stomp all over this woman as she agonizes with your innuendo. While Wilson hides out from media and civil rights protestors. The system-wide rage that white cops have against black men must come to an end. But it has to be addressed and owned to be changed. Ferguson police, and law enforcement around the country, need to acknowledge that they overreact and there’s deep-rooted racial tension stirring inside when it comes to confronting black men accused of breaking the law. Statistics proved it; the FBI revealed that from 2005 to 2012, white cops killed two black men a week on average.
It’s time to take accountability. Ferguson police need to apologize for their brutality.
