BY COOPER HAYES
Saturday August 9 was just another sunny day in Ferguson, Missouri until the early afternoon, when an armed police officer discharged his weapon six times to shoot and kill an unarmed eighteen-year-old, Michael Brown.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting are still under question due to many dissenting accounts of what occurred. One thing remains unquestionable: an unarmed teenager was shot multiple times and that is a tragedy.
No amount of circumstantial evidence brought forward by the police or violent rioting led by the protestors can change the fact that at its core, this is a tragedy.
The biggest problem was not the there are police brutality issues or that people rioted. The biggest problem is that the American public lost sight of what made the story news. National focus was directed at police brutality and the aftermath of the riots– leading many to forget that a teenager lost his life.
The protestors are criticized for rioting and causing damage to over a dozen businesses. The destruction of neighboring businesses did nothing to help resolve the conflict. It only tainted the focus of the protests, casting a bad light on the majority even if only a minority were involved.
The police force has been criticized for a number of reasons. First and foremost for killing Michael Brown. Citizen’s then begun to raise questions about the militarization of police after they donned assault weapons and tactical gear.Their reputation was further damaged when the Police Chief Thomas Jackson released the name of the officer responsible for the shooting along with information regarding a robbery that occurred before the shooting. While in his speech he didn’t connect the robbery and the shooting, information released to press have Brown listed as a suspect. Brown’s family called this so-called coincidence “ an attempt to assassinate the character of their son.” (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s44se5)
Both sides are at fault. Both sides have been using this event to perpetuate their own interests at the cost of a dead teen’s identity.
The worst part is that this story is already out of the news and the majority of the nation has moved on. People no longer care or our attention spans have allowed for a small city near St. Louis to permanently leave our thoughts, leaving no resolution for the problems that have been illuminated.
