Ferguson for Thanksgiving

It was almost sadistic to release the grand jury's findings just before Thanksgiving. For many of us, Thanksgiving will be something to get through rather than something to enjoy because that elephant will be in the room with us. The divide on this issue is not between black and white but between people who are essentially decent and people who are not. The most disturbing aspect of the situation is how accurately one can predict which side of that divide someone wearing a badge is on knowing nothing more about them than that they are wearing a badge.

The officers threatened with termination unless they removed the "I am Darren Wilson" bracelets they had previously worn, on duty, in Ferguson, while working crowd control at protests triggered by Mike Brown's murder, were not "bad apples"; they were good cops as cops themselves define that term. Their only fault was being honest about who they were and what their values were in a way and in a situation where doing so was less than useful to Darrin Wilson and all the other fine people who were doing their best to see that Wilson got away with murder the way cops normally do. When Darren Wilson says that he was just doing his job, more cops believe him than not and further judge anyone who does not believe him as having issues with authority, wanting an excuse to do some looting or being otherwise motivated by something much less respectable than a simple desire for justice. 

2+2=4. What happened to Mike Brown was murder, a hate crime and the most heinous possible example of causing death while violating civil rights under color of law. The second statement is as true and obvious as the first. The horror of what happened in Ferguson goes well beyond what Darren Wilson did. The full horror of Ferguson is the personal, gut reaction of almost every other cop in America to what he did; most cops would agree with Darren Wilson that he was just doing his job.

Darren Wilson would not stand out in any way in a large room containing a random sample of cops. Most cops are Darren Wilson. Michael Brown is dead not because of a bad apple but because he encountered a cop who defined doing his job about the way most cops do. This is how policing is done now. What passes for "law enforcement" makes a mockery of the claim that America is a democracy characterized by the rule of law and respect for the rights of citizens; anyone who could make that claim with a straight face is either in denial or has no idea what cops do all day to earn their pay.