Ferguson

The verdict is out and the grand jury did not indict Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson for any crimes related to the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The reaction to the verdict in my opinion has been awful. There have been various  fires throughout the city and multiple looting of businesses. One of the businesses that was burned burned was a local meat packaging store, and I ask what these business owners have done.

I believe whether or not officer Darren Wilson was justified in his action against Mike Brown, there is a major problem with police brutality and minorities. I believe that is our duty as AMERICANS to bring as much attention to issue and show the world that we will brutal police tactics will not be tolerated in our country, but violence is not the answer. Small business owners have suffered because of all the turmoil and chaos of these actions, these protestors are hurting the community even more, rather than working on any solution. Fast food chains like McDonald's have been looted and even liquor stores, is this the image we want everyone to see?

When we react like this, it only scares away those who do not quite understand. Personally Ferguson represents more than just one incident, but rather a representation of violent police tactics against minorities, let’s examine Chicago. The Huffing on post states “that black and Latino targets were involved in 92 percent of the Chicago Police Department's uses of stun guns from 2009 to 2011. Throughout the first half of 2014, black targets have been involved in 78 percent of the department's stun gun uses” (a link to the article is pasted below”. The Huffington also noted that among 10,149 complaints of excessive force, illegal searches, racial abuse or false arrest filed by residents between 2002 and 2004, only 124  1.2 percent  were sustained, and only 19 cases led to a penalty of suspension of at least a week or worse, according to the document.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/chicago-police-brutality-report-united-nations-_n_6030664.html