Michael Brown

Imagine walking home one night as a teenager, and suddenly you find yourself running for your life from the people in uniform who took a sworn oath to serve and protect. Imagine being shot at by police officer just because you are black and because you look like a threat. Put yourself in those shoes and ask yourself is that how you would want to live your life. As the years went by, police brutality has become more of a global issue than ever before. With each passing day, innocent and unarmed African American males and females of all ages are gunned down for no reason by police officers, which often leads to no justice. The reasoning behind all of these killing by police officers remains unknown. Is it fair to say that they are killing African Americans because they are racist, or do you think it is something else?

Michael Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed on Aug. 9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were leaving Ferguson Market and Liquor late that night. A surveillance video in the store showed Mr. Brown stealing a pack of cigarillos before exiting the store. Soon after, they began to walk along West Florissant Avenue and then in the middle of the street on Canfield Drive. Officer Darren Wilson is dispatched and arrives alone in his police vehicle not too long after the young men leave the store. The officer then proceeds to following Brown and Johnson and soon finds them walking down the side of the road. Speaking through his window, Officer Dorian tells the two men to move to the sidewalk and sees that Mr. Brown fits the description of a suspect in a convenience store theft. Officer Wilson makes a call to the dispatcher about the two men and then he positions his S.U.V. to block the two men as well as traffic. Soon after, there was a verbal altercation between Officer Wilson and Mr. Brown, who is standing at the window of the vehicle. Officer Wilson then fires two shots from inside the vehicle, with one grazing Mr. Brown’s thumb, and the other missing him. The two young men turn and begin to run east as Officer Wilson begins to pursue them on foot. Michael Brown stops running and then turns toward Officer Wilson, who also stops. Witnesses say that Brown raised his hands over this head, showing that he was surrendering to Wilson, but the officer then shot ten shots at Brown, thus killing him.

The speculation between whether Brown surrendered to Wilson remains a mystery. All that remains clear, is that another African American male was gunned down by a police officer when no real threat was present. Brown was 18-years old and was also unarmed when he was murdered in cold blood. Some witnesses said Mr. Brown never moved toward Officer Wilson when he was shot and killed while other witnesses said the shots were fired when Brown moved toward Officer Wilson. The St. Louis County prosecutor said the most credible witnesses stated that Brown charged toward the officer. Officer Wilson also said that Mr. Brown attacked him, making “a grunting, like aggravated sound.” Officer Wilson fired 12 shots in total, including two from the car and 10 more at Brown after the foot chase, where he sustained at least six more wounds, including multiple shots to the top of his head. Michael Brown’s body was about 153 feet east of Officer Wilson’s car. Brown’s blood was about 25 feet east of his body, which validates the evidence provided by witnesses that Brown continued to move closer to the officer after he was hit. A St. Louis County grand jury, made up of nine whites jurors and three blacks, decided in November not to indict Officer Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown. For the jury to be able to indict Officer Wilson, nine of the 12 grand jurors would have had to agree.

Following Brown’s death, the jury’s decision not to indict officer Wilson sparked a wave of anger among those who had gathered outside the Ferguson Police Department and throughout the entire country. As the night and following days wore on, the situation grew more intense. Buildings were set on fire, and looting was reported in several businesses, just like the Rodney King case. As news of the decision spread, protesters surged forward, and riots ensued all throughout Ferguson. The sound of gunfire could be heard through all the violence and police officers even used tear gas and smoke to stun protestors that were throwing rocks and breaking windows of parked police vehicles. As well as a police vehicle being set on fire, over a dozen buildings were set on fire around the city, many of which were located not too far from Ferguson Market and Liquor, the store Michael Brown was in before Officer Wilson killed him.

Even in death, the situation involving Michael Brown and Officer Wilson still lingers in the world today. His death, however, was not in vein. Protests began throughout the country and sparked countless movements in hopes of bringing police brutality to an end. It will never be okay for a police officer to take the life of an innocent young man, and hopefully through the lose of Michael Brown, we can see a world where young African American men are not killed simply due to the color of their skin.