The Obligatory Blog Post About Michael Brown

This is the obligatory blog post about the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department on any charges related to his shooting of Michael Brown. It is obligatory because the author feels he has to write about it for himself, not for anyone else.

In the obligatory blog post about Michael Brown, the author rages about the injustice of the grand jury's decision. He expresses sympathy for the rioters without saying that he himself has never been in a riot. The author gives some sociology of the act of rioting as justifiable protest. He questions the decision to make the announcement at night. He quotes terrible things conservatives said about the decision and the protests after, just as a way to make you, the reader, angrier. However, the author adds that he has more sympathy for Michael Brown's family and friends because, of course, he does.

In the obligatory blog post about Michael Brown, the author demonstrates that he has spent time reading the testimony given to the grand jury. He points out inconsistencies that appear damning, like that Wilson told a detective that he didn't grab for his mace because he couldn't get to it, but Wilson told the grand jury that he didn't go for his mace because he was afraid it would spray back at him. The author talks about the dehumanizing way that Wilson described Michael Brown, as a "demon" or "grunting," how Michael Brown's size was brought up numerous times, as if the 6'4" 210 lb. Wilson was facing a giant. The author wonders how Wilson could have gone through the thinking he claims he did while he says he was being beaten by Michael Brown. The author bemoans the potential for cops to lie, giving examples of when it has happened before. He informs you that the best way to figure out who is lying is through a trial, not a grand jury proceeding.

In the obligatory blog post about Michael Brown, the author expands his focus to include many different subjects, like the statistics on grand jury indictments in cases where the police have shot someone versus the statistics on crimes in general. He delves into other cases as points of comparison, like Eric Garner or Kajieme Powell, both killed by cops. The author then quotes Wilson's testimony on how the neighborhood where he shot Michael Brown is "antipolice," and asks if the police are killing people, why would it not be anti?

In the obligatory blog post about Michael Brown, the author talks about racism in the United States, how the unbridled id of the internet allows it to flame like the cars burnt last night in Ferguson. He brings up Fox "news" as an example of the mainstreaming of hate, and then he transitions to the other news networks, demonstrating how their anticipation of the violence that would follow a failure to indict was a kind of bloodsport for ratings. The author gives cursory comments on how President Obama's words last night could have been much stronger.

The obligatory blog post about Michael Brown ends with a call to action and a call to fight. Against what or against whom, the author fails to note.

The author publishes the obligatory blog post about Michael Brown. He posts it with a heavy heart, although he is unsure why, a feeling of impotence overwhelming him. Later on he realizes that it's because, no matter how much he sympathizes with the protesters and with the Browns, he, being white, will never know what they feel. He knows he will never understand what it is like to look at the police and wonder if they are going to make him a target. He will never know that fear, the fear that Michael Brown no doubt had in the back of his mind, followed by the useless yet constant belief that if you resist, if you don't submit to their power, if you fight back, you might win, even though, time and again, we are shown that you won't.