They Don't Know

The rioting in Ferguson, Missouri has changed from anger about the shooting of a young black man by the police into anger in general.  As the days have moved on, the crazies have moved in.  What we are seeing now is all of the professional race baiters trying to blow up the situation at a point where we still do not know what happened that night with the police.  Some things have become clearer.  We know that Brown had just come from robbing a convenience store, even though he was originally portrayed as a total innocent.  Despite continuous early coverage how Brown was shot in the back, that too turned out to be false.  The autopsy shows he was shot in the front and that he was shot from a distance of more than a few feet.  That result does not tell us whether Brown was charging the office when shot or if he was standing there with his hands up.  There are witnesses, apparently many witnesses.  According to reports, most of the witnesses support the police officer's account of what happened, but those are just reports.  They could be as inaccurate as the other early reports of what happened.  The truth is that the media does not know what really happened so many are reporting their political beliefs instead of the facts.  On some outlets, all that matters is that Brown is African American.  The logic goes like this:  all blacks are victims of American society; Brown was black; therefore, Brown was a victim.  Since so much of the media often reports the news with an ideological slant, the "Brown as victim" rubric portrays him as innocent and the police as evil oppressors.  It's not that simple.  You know that; I know that; only the left wing media seems unable to grasp that reality.

The left wing media does not get all the blame here, however.  Why is it that we have not heard the statement of the police officer involved?  Why is it that we have not heard statements from the witnesses.  I don't expect the authorities to release this stuff in every instant right away, but this is different.  We have seen days and days of rioting.  One antidote to the riots would be the TRUTH.  If it turns out that Brown was rushing the police officer, then some in the crowd will be angry and will not believe it.  Nevertheless, many others will accept the truth and end the rioting.  If it turns out that the policeman was at fault, then acknowledgment of that fact would also go a long way towards ending the riots.  The one thing guaranteed to prolong the upset is withholding the truth.  That stupid move lets the professional race baiters use the situation to further inflame feelings.  Someone like Al Sharpton can rant and rave if he wants, but the truth will set us all free.  This situation has been mishandled by Missouri's governor; he should have expedited the release of the relevant facts.