Was Darren Wilson a racist who saw an opportunity to execute a young Black teen? [continue]
Ferguson, MO, had (and still has) a reputation of deep racism if you ask any of its Black citizens. Michael Brown’s death is just what got attention. This is what complicates this case even more. How do you prove this killing was racially motivated in a court of law? Attorney General Eric Holder was eventually brought in to conduct a federal investigation to figure this out. This is where more facts were presented through video, eye-witness accounts, and other evidence. From this, a decision was made that Darren Wilson was not guilty of murder or manslaughter. It was ruled as self-defense, leaving the city of Ferguson in an uproar.
After asking the questions of what happened on that fateful day, Steele also digs deep into the city of Ferguson and its make-up, from what Ferguson used to be to the downfall of the city through housing projects, welfare, drugs, and crime. Steele, a noted Black conservative, comes at this issue from the point of view of an outsider looking in. He tries to look at the root of the problem versus the actions of that day, which I agree with to a certain extent. But for the most part, I think Steele missed the boat on a few points he was trying to make. Specifically, the cover-up of the murder by then-police chief Tom Jackson.
“After asking the questions of what happened on that fateful day, Steele also digs deep into the city of Ferguson…”
Like many other Black writers at the time, I was deeply invested in this story and dug up many other facts about what happened that day. And it was known, talking to the Black residents of Ferguson that Tom Jackson failed the (Black) community at every turn. Was Darren Wilson racially motivated? Or was this just the result of a lousy procedure from a questionable police chief who had allowed his officers to conduct themselves in a way that led up to Michael Brown losing his life?
Darren Wilson’s account of what happened that day is questionable at best. He was interviewed on the nationally broadcast show, 20/20, where he told the interviewer that Brown “charged at him” (unarmed) from many feet away like a crazed rhino, and that’s why he shot the boy six times. He was found to be within his rights as an officer to kill Brown from the evidence presented, but his story will always be shaky at best.
Is What Killed Michael Brown? worth watching?
Yes. I think for those who don’t know the complete story of Michael Brown and the city of Ferguson, this will shed a lot of light on what happened that day. Also, this is the birth of “citizen journalism” and Black Lives Matter. Modern Black rights activists like Deray McKesson, Bree Newsome, Alicia Garza, and others were created from the fires of Ferguson. What Killed Michael Brown? is a history lesson as much as the ’68 Watts riots and the LA riots of ’92 were. Steele does a great job of recounting the events from an objective eye, and whether you agree with him or not, it’s hard to argue with a lot of the facts he presented.
"…was Darren Wilson a racist who saw an opportunity to execute a young Black teen?"
