We are all wrong on Ferguson

[kdmorris]

54. How can you claim to be in fear for your life

when you chased and killed a teenager? Darren Wilson could have stayed in his car. He didn't have to get out and go all Wild West.

Darien Johnson said that Michael Brown said he didn't have a gun. He was running away from the officer (and just because no bullets hit Michael Brown from behind does NOT mean that no bullets were fired while he was running away).

I get so sick of this "he wasn't an angel" crap. It goes right along with the "he was a good kid" crap. It doesn't matter whether he was an angel or had just stolen 6 cigarillos from the store. THE PUNISHMENT IS NOT DEATH FOR THAT CRIME.

Plain and simple, whether he was a good kid or an angel or a thief or a criminal - he didn't deserve to die. That is injustice. And that is the wrong that started this. There are no "both sides" to this... let's focus on the facts.

Now, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice... how can this writer not include those incidents in this as well. Neither of these were quick deaths. In one, they suffocated the man by strangling him and in the other, they pulled up along side a 12 year old and shot him within 2 seconds of encountering him and then did NOTHING to provide medical aid. He died the next day.

This article just shows how the author doesn't get it. My two sons and one of my grandsons are white. The other grandson is of mixed race but to the world, he's black. If the 4 of them did EXACTLY THE SAME THING, my youngest grandson is 20X more likely to be killed for it.

We need to make sure they have the tools to be better police (more body cameras and fewer tanks is a good start) but we also need to work so that our officers (as well as our neighbors, families and colleagues) don’t fear black men simply because they are black

I agree with the last part of this sentence. I don't think the first part really does any good. Both the Tamir Rice and Eric Garner incidents were caught on tape but both of them are likely to walk with no repercussions.

It's fairly simple - stop shooting black men for the same thing you'd let a white man walk for. That will make police officers a lot better.