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Eugene Robinson: Being black in America means not being allowed to make mistakes
Mercury News ^ | 08/26/2014 | Eugene Robinson

Posted on 08/26/2014 1:21:15 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd

WASHINGTON -- To be young, male and black in America means not being allowed to make mistakes. Forgetting this, as we've seen so many times, can be fatal.

The case of Michael Brown, who was laid to rest Monday, is anomalous only in that it is so extreme: an unarmed black teenager riddled with bullets by a white police officer in a community plagued by racial tension.

African-Americans make up 67 percent of the population of Ferguson, Mo., but there are just four black officers on the 53-member police force -- which responded to peaceful demonstrations by rolling out military-surplus armored vehicles and firing tear gas. It is easy to understand how Brown and his peers might see the police not as public servants but as troops in an army of occupation.

And yes, Brown made mistakes. He was walking in the middle of the street rather than on the sidewalk, according to witnesses, and he was carrying a box of cigars that he apparently took from a convenience store. Neither is a capital offense.

When Officer Darren Wilson stopped him, did Brown respond with puffed-up attitude? For a young black man, that is a transgression punishable by death.

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: ferguson; michaelbrown; vicky
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To: Hugin

Got him an airgun!!


101 posted on 08/26/2014 3:57:30 PM PDT by refermech
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To: Responsibility2nd

I’m sitting here watching Judge Judy. In two different cases, a white persons property was damaged by a black person. One was a man’s garage door which was hit by the black dude’s children (there were witnesses that saw and heard the entire thing)on a 4 wheeler. Witnesses even saw the dad, who was nearby, come running up, jump on the four wheeler and said, “lets get out of here!” Other one was a black woman hit a white man’s car, she admitted it to police. When both were losing the cases, what were the defenses? They were racist!


102 posted on 08/26/2014 4:30:13 PM PDT by tuffydoodle (Shut up voices, or I'll poke you with a Q-Tip again.)
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To: spodefly

Being black in America means you get to loot and destroy property whenever you get your feelings hurt.

Being black in America means you don’t have to be accountable to yourself or anyone else

Being black in America means you can blame whitey for everything that has gone wrong in your life.


103 posted on 08/26/2014 5:52:02 PM PDT by Engedi
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To: Ingtar
"puffed up" ??? is that what they're calling it now..."puffed up"????

sorry Eugene....being a young black man in America means you get to act cruel, caustic,belligerent,belittling,sacriligeous,and criminal without consequences except in the rare cases where a cop has just had his head bashed in by you....

we can't question the dirty dripping pants around their arses....we can't question their stinking immoral rap crap...we can't question their breeding practices...oh,no...we can't question that.....

sounds like an easy ride to me....

your typical white kid has to work twice as hard and twice as long to get thru hs and into college....won't be offered any job training or college scholarships because he's white, and would never get away with the crap pulled by that particular minority group...

104 posted on 08/26/2014 6:01:32 PM PDT by cherry
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To: ExTxMarine

the racial makeup of Ferguson has changed dramatically in the last 15 yrs so blacks are in the majority.....let them try to unseat a govt employee (cops) from their pensions and benefits....it ain’t happening....


105 posted on 08/26/2014 6:05:57 PM PDT by cherry
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To: Sans-Culotte

Nailed it.


106 posted on 08/26/2014 6:18:09 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: Responsibility2nd

Peaceful demonstrations???! Laughing at this liar.


107 posted on 08/26/2014 7:09:38 PM PDT by Shimmer1 (Nothing says you are sad that someone died like looting local places of business!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

It certainly means never having to take personal responsibility for your mistakes.....


108 posted on 08/26/2014 9:03:23 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Responsibility2nd

Robinson made a mistake.


109 posted on 08/26/2014 9:04:52 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: refermech

Steal away.


110 posted on 08/26/2014 9:08:11 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

“Gibsmedat”


111 posted on 08/26/2014 11:11:00 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: Paladin2
"Don’t attack a police officer?" That's it, essentially.

You're right Paladin - it's not rocket science...

112 posted on 08/27/2014 6:41:47 AM PDT by GOPJ (CanÂ’t the black community hold their outrage 'til they've got someone who's not a total asshole?San)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Michael Brown had no police record. By all accounts, he had no history of violence. He had finished high school and was going to continue his education. All of this was hidden, apparently, by the color of his skin.

"By all accounts' Brown didn't have a history of violence? Gimme a break - the world SAW HIM BEING VIOLENT toward the clerk.

What's meant here is that he wasn't convicted in a court of law for being violent. As if that's the standard...

And as far as the 'no police record' I suspect that's a technicality' too. Maybe Eugene Robinson can get permission from Brown's parents to release the truth about the 'gentle giant' to the world. Did Brown have stuff on his record that was removed? Having a crime removed is NOT the same as having a clean record ... Eugene knows this... I assume...

113 posted on 08/27/2014 7:18:08 AM PDT by GOPJ (CanÂ’t the black community hold their outrage 'til they've got someone who's not a total asshole?San)
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To: GOPJ
And as far as the 'no police record' I suspect that's a technicality' too. Maybe Eugene Robinson can get permission from Brown's parents to release the truth about the 'gentle giant' to the world. Did Brown have stuff on his record that was removed? Having a crime removed is NOT the same as having a clean record ... Eugene knows this... I assume...

He'd just turned 18. Whatever juvenile record he had prior to that was was sealed then. Somebody should ask the author how privileged information came into his possession.

114 posted on 08/27/2014 7:27:32 AM PDT by tacticalogic
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