Thoughts on Michael Brown

From Emmett Till and Medgar Evers to Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, the defining young black men of their generations are known for dying too young and for no good reason.  Every community has their story of a young black man, who, if not dead under suspicious circumstances received railroaded justice.  A young man known as Cheetah White comes to mind.  I couldn't begin to tell you the facts of that case, only that justice was swift and Cheetah went to prison.  It was my first time ever seeing a protest march (as a spectator.)

The thread that run through all of these is that we don't value young the same as we value other members of society.  Each case plays out the same way with whites convinced of guilt and blacks convinced of innocence and devolves into blacks protesting and whites saying, "See, destroy your own community...."  And then some old white guy like Rudy Giuliani makes some horribly insensitive remarks.  This has to stop.

For this to work justice must be blind.  A prosecutor must seek an indictment.  The bar is low -- probable cause.  If you can't get that, you're not trying very hard.  Michael is denied his day in court.  The black community has no reason to trust the justice system, so they have to protest -- it's their only chance at justice.