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The Ferguson Collapse: Evidence discredits the racism narrative
National Review ^ | 10/25/2013 | The Editors

Posted on 10/25/2014 4:53:37 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The “Freedom Summer” of 2014 started with a bang but appears to be ending with a whimper. Before the investigation had even begun, the progressive narrative of the death of Michael Brown had crystallized: A white police officer murdered a young, unarmed black man trying to surrender with his hands up — the latest example of the systemic racism that renders black Americans de facto second-class citizens.

But that story has all but collapsed. Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Brown in early August, recently told investigators that he was pinned in his vehicle and feared for his life when Brown reached for his gun. FBI forensic analysis has confirmed that, as Wilson claims, two shots were fired in the car, and Brown’s blood was found in the vehicle, on Wilson’s clothing, and on the gun.

The Washington Post reports that “seven or eight African American eyewitnesses have provided testimony consistent with Wilson’s account” that he fatally shot Brown when the young man moved toward him in the street. And, according to the official court autopsy report, Brown probably did not have his hands raised in the “Hands up, don’t shoot” position that has become the defining meme of the protests in Ferguson, Mo. An eyewitness who claims to have seen the shooting from beginning to end further corroborated Wilson’s account in an anonymous interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The forensic and eyewitness evidence seems to be coalescing around a particular account — or, at the very least, suggests that Wilson did not murder Brown in cold blood. Alas, St. Louis County grand jurors face heavy pressure to issue an indictment. There’s a real fear that the protesters who have taken to disrupting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, brawling with St. Louis Rams fans, and burning the American flag will, in the event that the grand jury refuses to indict, demonstrate their devotion to justice by enkindling a variety of local establishments.

But the jurors should not be cowed by that threat. What happens next in Ferguson may well be, to quote Al Sharpton, a “defining moment,” though not in the way he, other progressives, and Ferguson protesters mean. To their minds, the case required little scrutiny: Michael Brown was a new Emmett Till; Ferguson, a new Selma. But that determination was made well in advance of a careful sifting of available evidence — evidence that shows that the events of August 9 do not lend themselves to a convenient racial parable. If the grand jury, having heard and weighed the available evidence, believes that Darren Wilson is not criminally culpable for his actions, they should not indict him. The judicial system cannot be used to assuage imagined racial grievances.

Michael Brown’s death, unfortunate though it was, is not part of an ongoing civil-rights struggle. The racial antipathies that animated the South in the 1960s are largely vanished — an extraordinary accomplishment that is rarely, if ever, acknowledged by those who point to present-day bigotry. Moreover, the racist justice system that some Ferguson residents decry is nowhere to be seen. The results of a police investigation, closely observed by a suspicious community and national media, have been brought before a grand jury (also under the scrutiny of a nation), which has, by all accounts, slowly and deliberately considered the available evidence. There is no indication that the system has worked otherwise than normally.

Unfortunately, racial demagoguery, too, is pretty normal in America.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: ferguson; michaelbrown; missouri
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1 posted on 10/25/2014 4:53:37 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

White folks aren’t supposed to fear for their lives at the hands of black psychopaths. Whites are supposed to meekly surrender.


2 posted on 10/25/2014 4:56:41 PM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Hero of BENGHAZI, holder, sharptongue, Jackson flying into ferguson to apologize to the cops


3 posted on 10/25/2014 4:56:42 PM PDT by morphing libertarian
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To: SeekAndFind

The sad thing is that I stated the truth at the very beginning, and lost some very important customers. Lots of money involved too.

I guess self-employed, struggling widows should keep their mouths shut.


4 posted on 10/25/2014 4:57:01 PM PDT by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Shameful it has been guilty until proven innocent.


5 posted on 10/25/2014 4:57:19 PM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: SeekAndFind

Another made up narrative from the not so good folks who brought you the Benghazi Video, and You Can Keep Plan if You Want To.


6 posted on 10/25/2014 4:57:42 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ferguson is part of the ongoing struggle to free the blunts.


7 posted on 10/25/2014 5:02:38 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: left that other site
Good evening, ML!

*HUGS*

The sad thing would be if, believing the Truth, you kept silent. In that case you would have money, but not integrity. Having borne Witness, you have integrity, which counts for much more than material wealth.

God Bless you!


"Dia shábháil ar fad anseo!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

8 posted on 10/25/2014 5:03:48 PM PDT by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in Battle!)
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To: ConorMacNessa

Amen, my dear FRiend. Thank You for your kind encouragement!

((((HUGS))))

And you ARE Right, of course! :-)


9 posted on 10/25/2014 5:06:44 PM PDT by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ambulance chaser Krump will have none of that “evidence” mumbo-jumbo. “But we have eye witness accounts!” is his first and last rebuttal.

Excuse me, Mr. Attorney Hack, but could you please stop pretending that a “tie” does not lead directly to “reasonable doubt” and either an acquittal or a no-bill, and you and your race-mongers would have to pack up your tent and set off for the next “victim”.


10 posted on 10/25/2014 5:07:17 PM PDT by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: Paladin2

I’m wondering if the “authorities “ are not passing out free blunts laced with something else to keep those people in the streets this long. I’ve not been following this case closely but I honestly cannot see how anyone would continue to support what has been shown to be so bogus of a case if they weren’t drugged.


11 posted on 10/25/2014 5:07:35 PM PDT by uncitizen (Buckle up! We're on the Facism Fast Track!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Keys to Ferguson is:

It is Not New Evidence! It has been know by many in the legal groups, you know those same individuals trying to start blood shed with Lies, They Knew this ALL the way through and yet they LIED an Many who Willfully Believed the Lies!!! Too Many now a days Accept Lies!

Seek the Truth for it Shall Set You FREE!!!


12 posted on 10/25/2014 5:07:55 PM PDT by jafojeffsurf (Return to the Constitution)
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To: SeekAndFind

When it comes to white cops shooting black men, it ain’t over til the fat, race-hustling, fake preacher sings!


13 posted on 10/25/2014 5:09:06 PM PDT by workerbee (The President of the United States is PUBLIC ENEMY #1)
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To: jiggyboy

the lawyer scum is not racist, he is greedy opportunist hoping to squeeze some buck out of somebody that wants him to just go away.


14 posted on 10/25/2014 5:10:02 PM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: SeekAndFind
"There’s a real fear that the protesters who have taken to disrupting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, brawling with St. Louis Rams fans, and burning the American flag will, in the event that the grand jury refuses to indict, demonstrate their devotion to justice by enkindling a variety of local establishments."

And if that happens, will Obama's DOJ intervene? Hell, no.
15 posted on 10/25/2014 5:20:41 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

“Shameful it has been guilty until proven innocent.”


Yep,exactly like the Duke fiasco with the press being the leader in the premise of guilt.

I despise the mainstream media and have eliminated it from my life.

.


16 posted on 10/25/2014 5:20:52 PM PDT by Mears
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: morphing libertarian

Riots in the planning stage.
Glad I don’t live there.


18 posted on 10/25/2014 6:18:27 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past
Shameful it has been guilty until proven innocent.

They will still riot. The truth is not important to them.

19 posted on 10/25/2014 6:32:36 PM PDT by Mark17 (MAs & PAs Broke busted, disgusted, liberals can't be trusted, throw the bastards into the sea)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past
Shameful it has been guilty until proven innocent.

They will still riot. The truth is not important to them.

20 posted on 10/25/2014 6:34:13 PM PDT by Mark17 (MAs & PAs Broke busted, disgusted, liberals can't be trusted, throw the bastards into the sea)
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