{"id":7019,"date":"2014-11-29T18:30:01","date_gmt":"2014-11-29T18:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/?p=7019"},"modified":"2014-11-30T22:18:44","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T22:18:44","slug":"emotions-and-statistics-from-ferguson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/emotions-and-statistics-from-ferguson\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotions and Statistics from Ferguson"},"content":{"rendered":"
The usual suspects right and left are respectively railing that police are always justified in using force in ghettoes or they\u2019re never justified in so doing especially if the alleged criminal descended from slaves. There\u2019s no need to refute Al Sharpton, race baiter and riotous agitator extraordinaire, or columnist Leonard Pitts, a self-proclaimed introvert who\u2019s spent twenty years working at home so the real world won\u2019t frighten or force him to admit inner cities are cauldrons of racism and violence, or Rudy Giuliani who forever appears gratified by the spontaneous breaking of black heads. To these and other luminaries who distort tragic events I simply say: congratulations on having such large and mindless groups of followers.<\/p>\n
\tLet\u2019s start with some essential (balanced) statistics provided by the Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press. Perhaps if Rudy Giuliani had more time than during a loud televised argument, the former New York mayor and prosecutor would have provided vital context to his correct assertion that ninety-three percent of murdered blacks are killed by other blacks. He could\u2019ve done so by noting that eighty-four percent of murdered whites are killed by other whites. People generally terminate those at hand. Giuliani also could have strengthened his argument, that blacks are statistically more dangerous than whites, by noting fourteen percent of white victims are murdered by blacks, yet only seven percent of black victims are murdered by whites, and there are thirty-four murderous black offenders per one hundred thousand citizens compared to about four and a half per hundred thousand whites. He also could\u2019ve stressed that white police kill more white suspects than black suspects, though a higher percentage of dead suspects are black. <\/p>\n
\tWhether or not they acknowledge it, most commentators, and indeed most citizens, are consciously or at least intuitively aware of the trends noted above. Officer Darren Wilson understood there was danger in Ferguson, Missouri, and eighteen-year old Michael Brown believed he could, with impunity, commit a strong-arm robbery and then walk down the middle of the street \u2013 why wasn\u2019t he trying to be less conspicuous? \u2013 and refuse to move to the sidewalk when the officer, politely or crudely, ordered him to do so.<\/p>\n
\tWhat evidently no one knows, given contradictory and utterly confusing testimony offered by eyewitnesses before the grand jury, is who started the physical altercation between Darren Wilson and Michael Brown and what then followed. Here is a sampling of \u201cwitness interviews from the Michael Brown shooting investigation\u201d<\/a> published by the PBS Newshour.<\/p>\n 1.\tDid Michael Brown charge the police car or the police officer? Seven witnesses said yes and five no. Point two suggests one of two painful possibilities. Either Michael Brown \u201creached into\u2026the police car,\u201d trying to seize the officer\u2019s gun, as Darren Wilson claimed, or Brown was struggling to prevent Wilson from firing at him close range. Point eight is also disturbing: sixteen people testified that Officer Wilson continued firing on a man who was trying to surrender. I began this column believing the grand jury was correct. Now, after hours of study, I think a trial may have been called for. There would not have been a conviction in a trial with so many contradictions, and the resulting riots may have been worse, but citizens would have continued to ask themselves: why do confrontations like this so often happen in the United States? <\/p>\n
\n2.\tDid he reach into or otherwise directly interact with police car? Twelve yes and three no.
\n3.\tDid Darren Wilson fire his gun repeatedly at Michael Brown while Brown was down? Six yes and six no.
\n4.\tDid Michael Brown put his hands at his waist? Five yes and two no.
\n5.\tDid Michael Brown face Darren Wilson when fired upon? Seventeen yes and two no.
\n6.\tWas Michael Brown running away from Darren Wilson when fired upon? Fifteen yes and five no.
\n7.\tWas Michael Brown kneeling when fired upon? Seven yes and six no.
\n8.\tDid Michael Brown put his hands up when fired upon? Sixteen yes and two no.<\/p>\n