When in Ferguson.......

     Really torn about the goings on in Ferguson, Mo. It would be easier to sympathize with demonstrators if their demonstrations didn't, so frequently, spawn gangs of looters. Spare me the "economically disadvantaged.... etc! Looting is simply another word for stealing, which is taking something that belongs to someone else, which in Ferguson is at the root of the entire issue. In the absence of dash cam video, there are only two persons who can attest to exactly what happened, and they tell pretty much diametrically opposite stories.

     From personal experience as the sole white member of a six piece band in Baltimore in the early 1960s, there is one very valuable life lesson I learned. Even if you are blameless and law abiding (we were),  when confronted by someone with a badge, nightstick and gun, keep your hands in sight and do as you're told.

     Without doubt, there are law enforcement persons who shouldn't be cops, most of them are screened out before they get that far (George Zimmerman?).  Some however, make life miserable for their force and their "victims" by exorcizing their personal demons against those who happen to cross their path at the wrong time. While time generally winnows these bad apples from the force, some stay too long. Unlike those in Ferguson who know exactly as much (very little) as I in Florida know, which is essentially everybody except one witness and the policeman, I am wise enough to believe that neither side of this story is categorically true.

    An additional problem here, as in Sanford, Florida in the Zimmerman-Martin case , is that further investigation shows that poor behavior on both sides elevated what should have been a non-violent situation into a fatal incident. While it is certainly true in the Trayvon Martin case that Zimmerman was an over eager, frustrated cop wannabee with a weapon he had been advised not to carry and pursuing after being told not to, that alone didn't cause Martin's death.  Trayvon Martin died because he  acted aggressively in a situation where such actions were ill advised.

     Arguably, the same might be said of the situation in Ferguson. Regardless of whether the policeman who shot the young man knew or didn't know that he was confronting a guy who had recently strong arm robbed a cigar store, the fact remains that the young man knew it. This was more than likely a factor in how he responded to the policeman, regardless of the cop's reason for confronting him. If Michael Brown, who up to now has been held up as a model kid, headed for college, really was a strong arm thief,  as security cam footage seems to make apparent,  his judgment in other things comes into question. If Darren Wilson, the cop, is a racist and overly aggressive to boot, that creates an almost perfect storm of crossed purposes. The same poor judgment which allowed  Brown to rationalize the cigar theft  may well have led to his death.

     Referring back to my earlier thesis: When confronted by a person with a badge, nightstick and gun, do as he says.  He may be wrong, he may be a bigot, he may be trampling all over your civil rights, but in that moment isn't the time to be right, if being right means being shot to death.  I drive a golf cart in our community. There are times when drivers in cars cut me off even though I have the right of way. Common sense tells me to be watchful, even expect them to do so but, first and foremost, that I can be right and be dead or I can yield and live to address such iniquities in another way.  

    In this, as in many of these lamentable instances, supporters tend to portray the antagonists as saints. Being authorized  a gun and badge should be accompanied by a  sense of restraint,  fairness and most important of all, respect for procedures. It would seem that this didn't happen in Ferguson.  Realizing that, as a guy who just robbed a store, whether or not the officer knows it, one would hope that a mature person would have the sense to realize that he was in the wrong, and not attempt to exacerbate the situation.  

      If wrong has been done in Ferguson, as it surely has been, (because death by firearm other than in self defense in fear for one's life is wrong by definition)  then at this point it is a civil/legal matter. "Civil" has been absent from all discussions to this point.  Those who call for the blood of the police are as misguided as the cop who shot an unarmed teenager.  We decry tribal blood feuds elsewhere, yet this seems to me to have some of those aspects.  Poor judgment on both sides led to the current mess. Parents are grieving and persons not involved have fanned the flames, making a bad situation worse. 

    My standard answer in these situations when someone asks "How could it be worse?" is  "Al Sharpton or the Westboro Baptist "Church" could show up!" It is a character flaw of our society that allows opportunistic windbags like Al Sharpton, Rush Limbaugh, Keith Boykin, Sean  Hannity, and others to exploit tragedies like this in furtherance of their own agendas. Rarely if ever do their comments serve any useful purpose, rather they serve to further polarize our society. It would seem that neither antagonist in this current crisis was as morally correct or sensible as the situation required. Unfortunately for the one, the other had a badge and a gun. Race may have been a factor, but all the necessary factors were already there, regardless of ethnicity. Leave it up to media and sycophants to hype the racial aspect, leave it up to opportunistic looters to make their verbal garbage  smell like reason.