Paul Craig Roberts (A Short Comment)

Events in Ferguson unfolded as most aware Americans thought they would. A white prosecutor guided a grand jury to the decision that the white policeman who shot and killed a young black male had just cause and committed no crime.

The black majority but politically powerless community in Ferguson consists of Americans who are constantly harassed and abused by police. The black community responded predictably to the exoneration of the white policeman. The results were riots, looting, and the destruction of property.

This response hardened the whites in their view that black people are criminally inclined and a threat to the safety of the lives and properties of whites. The issue has been cast as white-black racism. Actually, the situation is far more serious than racism.

I can remember times when police in America were reliable. They had themselves under control and saw their role as helpful to citizens and investigators of crimes. They took care not to bring charges against innocent people and to kill citizens without cause. Police would put their lives on line in order to avoid making a mistake in the use of their power.

Those times are gone forever. The police have been militarized, especially after 9/11, but even before. Police are taught to regard the public, especially any suspect or traffic offender as a potential threat to the police. The new rule taught to police is to apply violence to the suspect or offender in order to protect the police officer, and to question suspects only after they are safely secured, it they are still alive after being beaten, tasered, or shot.

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Stephen Lendman

Killer Darren Wilson attends a city council meeting in Ferguson...

Monday's grand jury exoneration of Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson didn't surprise. Injustice triumphed.

A previous article called justice in America a four-letter word. Killer cops mock it. Nearly always with impunity. A badge lets them brutalize and kill. Blacks, Latinos, ethnic minorities and Muslims suffer most. They're targets of choice.

Police violence occurs multiple times daily across America. In big cities. Small ones. Urban areas. Rural ones. Militarized police make their own rules. Operating extrajudicially. Killing with impunity.

On August 9, officer Darren Wilson murdered 18-year-old Michael Brown. In cold blood. Without probable cause. Brown was unarmed. Posed no threat. Had no criminal record. An independent autopsy showed he was shot six times.

Ferguson police lied. Claiming Brown's shooting followed an altercation he initiated. Saying he tried to grab officer Wilson's gun. He wasn't close enough to do it. No powder burns on his hands, arms or body proved it. Forensic evidence showed Brown was either walking away from officer Wilson or had his hands raised in a "don't shoot" position. Eyewitnesses confirmed the same thing.

At the time, ACLU staff attorney Nusrat Choudhury said killing Brown raised disturbing questions about how often police brutalize unarmed black and Latino men in America. "(F)ar too often," she stressed. Rarely ever are cops held accountable. More on this below.

Obama failed to express outrage. Ignored systemic police violence and brutality in America. Nearly always with impunity. Saying "we are a nation built on the rule of law. (W)e need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make." "There are Americans who agree with it, and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed…"

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