With Mike Brown, Jr.’s last breath, the decision to not indict the cop who killed him was inevitable
Family Dollar Store Photo by Craig Riggins |
Photo by Craig Riggins |
It was inevitable. It was inevitable the instant the last round discharged from Darren Wilson’s service weapon and struck Mike Brown, Jr. in the crown of his head, killing him instantly. It was inevitable when Mike Brown, Jr.’s dead body was left in the street uncovered in the spot where he fell dead in the sweltering August heat for four and a half hours. It was inevitable when Mike Brown’s body was taken away in an unmarked SUV instead of a St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s vehicle. It was inevitable when the Ferguson Police Department released a video that alleges that Mike Brown, Jr. was stealing a box of Swisher cigars. It was inevitable when the character of the first witnesses to go public was immediately attacked and dissected ad nausea by supporters of Darren Wilson and some media outlets. It was inevitable when the focus of the shooting death of Mike Brown, Jr. was on the looting and the torching of a gas station/convenience store that took place the day after his death. It
Armored vehicle and police sniper in Ferguson |
Missouri governor Jay Nixon |
Fear within neighborhoods in and around Ferguson was inevitable. Law enforcement could not be everywhere. Quiet, tree lined subdivisions became bases of operations and escape routes from law enforcement by looters. People were in fear in the comfort of their homes throughout the night. Gunfire was rampant in those subdivisions – mine included – and maintaining safety was a minute by minute proposition. Of all the planning and strategizing in advance of the unrest to prevent mayhem, that failed miserably, there was no mention of providing safety within the neighborhoods. Citizens were on their own. It was incompetent planning. It was HORRIFYING. It was inevitable.
It was a long week for Ferguson, the St. Louis metro, law enforcement and myself personally. Unrest was bound to happen, it did happen and, for the foreseeable future, will continue to happen. Those of us in and around Ferguson wound up in a very predictable place. A very DANGEROUS place, let me add. For so many reasons, it was predictable and inevitable. So was the reason that has ignited this massive and ongoing civil unrest.
Peace, peace.
Craig Riggins
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