About the Ferguson Decision

Well we have witnessed yet another incident of the racist way in which justice is administered in this nation. People of color are arrested on a massive scale for petty crimes and sentenced to long prison terms. Meanwhile, the white officer who was charged to protect that community shot an unarmed black teenager and was allowed to go free without even so much as a trial. There is a popular phrase used in the media and legal circles that a prosecutor could "try a sandwich" because of the influence that they have over the evidence that is presented to grand juries. The simple fact that the grand jury chose not to bring the case to trial shows that the prosecutor either ignored his basic power to sway the grand jury to any particular side or actively tried to argue in favor of the officer's actions. It is almost unheard of for a grand jury to be given such an independent hand to investigate. The duty of the prosecutor is to work as an advocate in favor of prosecution no matter who the subject of the trial would be. The St. Louis County Prosecutor has vacated this basic requirement of his office. Say what you want about the guilt or innocence of Office Wilson, the case deserved to go to trial where we could see the judicial process in action. Instead we saw the Prosecutor use the Grand Jury as the de facto trial where the innocence or guilt of Officer Wilson was decided in secret, away from the public eye, and without the proper due process of law.

In the wake of this horrible injustice we are confronted with the fact that people of color are valued as being of lower worth than white lives in our society. Hundreds of innocent minorities are shot dead by police with no recourse for the victims' families. We have seen that the police of this country know they can act with impunity against anyone who raises their voice in protest to police brutality. Peaceful protests of all kinds have been met with tear gas and riot gear. How can we have a peaceful dialog when protests are met with violence and repression? John F Kennedy once said that "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." We are seeing a build up to that violent revolution because EVERY DAY people who seek change are met with violence. EVERY DAY those working to improve the system from within are met with resistance from entrenched corruption. EVERY DAY we see that in our so-called democracy people are confronted by the reality of our police state. A day of reckoning is coming where those in power will no longer be able to use violence as a means to repress us. We have tried the peaceful route and it has shown to be a fruitless endeavor. If we continue to have our needs ignored and our rights squashed, the powers that be should not be surprised when the peaceful demonstrations turn into a violent uprising. I am not a supporter of violence but when you prevent people from having any peaceful recourse for their grievances, the only remaining option for them to have their voices heard is through rebellion.