It was not long before the execution of another black man by cop is his fault again
Time’s Joe Klein wrote a rather shocking piece titled “Beyond a Simple Solution for Ferguson.” I knew it would not be long before an attempt to humanize Darren Wilson, the White police officer that executed an unarmed Black man, Michael Brown, would be attempted. That this attempt would come from ‘Liberal’ Joe Klein is rather shocking.
It is evident that Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson knew what he was doing by releasing an unrelated shoplifting incident by Michael Brown. It was the segue that would be used to dehumanize Michael Brown as cause was given for his execution. In other words, he had it coming.
Joe Klein said the following.
At first, it seemed a perfect metaphor for 400 years of oppression: a white police officer shoots an unarmed black teenager multiple times. He is shot with his hands up, it is reported, at least once in the back. The young man is a “gentle giant” with no adult criminal record. He seems guilty of nothing more than walking while black, albeit down the middle of the street. …
Then more facts emerge, and other eyewitnesses allegedly describe a more aggressive Michael Brown–more like the fellow in the video. An autopsy, requested by Brown’s parents, shows six bullet wounds; the kill shot is into the top of the victim’s head–which raises another possibility, that the officer, Darren Wilson, fired in self-defense.
Joe Klein is not relying on new emerging facts. He is relying on a reinterpretation of facts. Melissa Harris-Perry provides the perfect deconstruction of his poorly written and researched piece. Jesse Williams have also provided the proper narrative here and here.
Sadly, Joe Klein’s piece likely laid the foundation necessary to acquit Darren Wilson of guilt in the minds of many. Can he not see what he has done with the pen? He has provided prejudice an out.