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AIBU?

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Original poster

Aibu too not understand the reaction of the Ferguson Michael Brown in the USA

534 replies

Natashathemum · 26/11/2014 18:32

My Dh thinks that it is a disgusting example of racial inequality in America. But i think having read a lot of articles/news that the police officer was only protecting himself. Although it is unfortunate that someone so young died.

However Dh feels strongly it is disgusting racism. He called me blind and crazy (lighthearted). Aibu for thinking this.

OP posts:
Norfolkandchance1234 · 26/11/2014 23:15

America is a country with a gun culture so if anyone of any age who looks like an adult or teenager is waving a gun around like that they know they are likely to be shot by the police so know not to be doing this. Yes he was only 12 but I'm guessing he didn't look 12 when he was brandishing his gun in a public place which he would have known not to do. Kids as young as 4 get taught how to use a gun these kids know how not to behave with it.

YinmeetsYang · 26/11/2014 23:33

Norfolkandchance1234

Ohio is an open carry state so carrying a gun is not a crime. The person who called the police reported "a guy with a pistol, and it's probably fake … but he's pointing it everybody." The surveillance footage shows the police arriving at the scene and shooting the child immediately. He was a 12 year old boy playing with a toy gun in a park you beast.

noblegiraffe · 26/11/2014 23:39

And yet those white people who not only waved real guns around, but actually killed many people with them weren't killed by police.

honeysucklejasmine · 26/11/2014 23:53

I guess it depends on how much faith you place in the justice system. A jury found no reason to charge, after hearing the actual evidence first hand rather than from news reports or twitter. We know their outcome, we have to trust it was the right one. Otherwise what's the point in having a legal system?

I don't know how many of the jury voted in which way, and the race of each of them. But nonetheless they reached their decision.

The question is what is our alternative? Is it really riots and mob justice? If we have laws and justice systems, surely we have to take the verdict and accept it?

And I don't think it is fair to say that is police officers can't take the heat they should quit. In the US they don't know if they are going home that evening or not. Police officers are killed, every single day. They have a split second to make a judgement call and we have months and years to rip it apart.

None of us were there. None of us were on the jury. We must either accept rule of the justice system, or campaign peacefully to have it changed. There is nothing else that can be done.

Norfolkandchance1234 · 27/11/2014 00:05

Yingandyang - don't call me beast you total ignoramus.

The person reporting it as you quote says 'a guy with a pistol is waving it around'. He did not say it was a 12 year old boy. And he was not carrying it in his pocket or bag, it was in his hand which is completely different to just carrying a gun. In a country with a gun culture if you are waving it around at people you will get shot. That is a fact. Shot dead not so great I'll admit.

I can no longer be bothered to give facts on this thread with such ridiculous comments by people who haven't got a clue about gun laws in America.

And to be so naive to think he was just a 12 year old boy playing with a toy gun for fun knowing the laws over there is plain ignorant. No he shouldn't have got shot but he knew better than to 'play' with a gun.

Im off this thread, say what you like but I won't be reading it.

Agapanthusbluewhite · 27/11/2014 00:20

If we had the same gun laws over here in the UK would our 12 year olds be waving guns about in public places for fun, knowing they could be shot on sight for doing so.

Would you want to be a policeman knowing you have a huge chance of being shot as everyone has access to a gun.

Would you want policemen around to protect you from those who are trigger happy. Would you then expect that mistakes can be made.

It is not simple. I am just so relieved we do not have guns over here and that I am not a policeman over there.

grannytomine · 27/11/2014 00:20

AndHarry I am a white woman married to a black man. A woman walking down the street does not suffer the same sort of treatment as black men.

EmilyGilmore · 27/11/2014 00:26

My opinion is that it's surely not that hard to avoid being shot by the police.

Setting fire to your own town, burning and looting your neighbours' businesses and making a martyr out of a thug does not help the cause.

honeycrest · 27/11/2014 00:41

The gun that the 12 year old, Tamar Rice, was carrying wasn't exactly a toy gun. It was a replica BB or airsoft gun. From a distance it was indistinguishable from a real gun because the bright orange tab that is normally on these guns had been removed. This is what he was carrying around

Not that I think he should have been fatally shot within seconds but it wasn't an obvious toy gun like people seem to think.

Aibu too not understand the reaction of the Ferguson Michael Brown in the USA
LeSaor · 27/11/2014 00:52

" it follows that black communities should run themselves. Good luck to them. I'm sure white cops will breathe a sigh of relief."

Your racism is showing.

OP if you genuinely can't see what's wrong with firing 12 shots into someone, even if they did supposedly steal some candy (later claimed to be false anyway), even if they were "walking in the road" then you're an evil fucking person, sorry. Somebody on this thread thinks that he deserved to die/it was his fault because he was walking in the road. You actually agree with disgusting people like that? You agree with Katie Hopkins? Good luck to you, then.

lostoldlogin · 27/11/2014 01:42

Well said LeSaor. I just do not know where to start with some of the ignorance, racism and naivety on this thread.

It seems that with some people, whatever atrocity is committed against a young black man by the police or otherwise, they find a way to excuse it via their own racist fear. What facts do people need to get the message across about why black families are justifiably angry? "Officer" Wilson could have carried a taser, couldn't he....but he chose not to.... "because they aren't the most comfortable things" (see his own testimony)

To the person who wrote that "it follows that black communities should run themselves. Good luck to them. I'm sure white cops will breathe a sigh of relief" I have reported your post for its racist and offensive nature.

To any of you who are struggling to understand the ripples of horror that this verdict sends through the black community - yet again - try reading this.

thegrio.com/2014/11/24/ferguson-grand-jury-decision-black-boys/

Google "the talk black sons" and watch article after article come up on how parents of black boys have to, at some point in our sons' lives, and we are talking pre-teen, by the way...and age that most of us on mumsnet would allow our child to play a violent video game they have to be given information about the threat to them of institutional violence.

They have to be told that unlike their white friends they do not have the luxury that their white peers have of expected to be treated fairly by the police. That if a police officer stops them, they must keep their hands away from their pockets, make no sudden movements, not run away, be deferent despite their innocence, yes sir, no sir and do exactly as they are told - even if they know full well that the only reason they are being stopped is the colour of their skin. Because not only is there a long history of black boys getting murdered (yes, murdered) by the police......they get away with it.

"Unfortunate" is missing the last bus home. An innocent boy being murdered is a horrible tragedy. OP.....you should listen to your DH.

lostoldlogin · 27/11/2014 01:44

apologies for some of the repetition and poor grammar in my post....I was somewhat heated.

lostoldlogin · 27/11/2014 01:51

sorry.....it should also have read "wouldn't allow our child to play a violent video game, obviously.

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/11/2014 01:53
on being treated like a human being.
lostoldlogin · 27/11/2014 02:06

thank you for posting that MrsTerryPratchett.

Javon Johnson's poem "Cuz he's black" is another must watch

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/11/2014 02:19

lost that's tragic.

Bulbasaur · 27/11/2014 02:43

My opinion is that it's surely not that hard to avoid being shot by the police.

Then your opinion is naive.

My husband who is a dark dude, not black was pulled over for speeding. His window was broken and couldn't roll down so he had to open the door. The officer put his hand on his gun and screamed at him to get back in the car. He wasn't even in the car. The white man he pulled over (it was a speed trap), got out the officer had no problem. Talked to him, took his ID was smiling and laughing with him.

Don't tell me that it's easy to avoid being shot. Because it's fucking easy to GET shot because you have a darker skin color.

You have luxury, yes the fucking luxury of being white. You will never have a cop point a gun at you because they're getting trigger happy. You will never be seen as a threat for simply being you. You will never have to reach very slowly and explain to the officer that you are only going into your glove compartment to get your registration. You will never have to do any of that unless you choose to. If you slip on any of those, you will not find yourself at death's door.

So don't sit there and act like every black kid that's gotten murdered by the police deserved it. The majority of our criminals in jail are white. So if it is so easy to avoid getting shot, why are the majority people killed by the police black? By logic police would have run into more dangerous white people than black people, yet the death toll of black men is far higher than the death toll for white men.

How dare you say that it's easy to avoid getting shot. How dare you.

Bulbasaur · 27/11/2014 02:46

He wasn't even in the car

Wasn't even out of the car. He was still in the car.

My brain combined the sentences.

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/11/2014 05:58

My opinion is that it's surely not that hard to avoid being shot by the police. Except that I've been a mouthy idiot to Police when a teenager. I've done stuff I shouldn't and I've been a protester. Teenagers are not fully developed adults. They should be allowed to make mistakes, question authority and live to tell the tale.

MrSheen · 27/11/2014 07:53

My opinion is that it's surely not that hard to avoid being shot by the police

What would you have done in this situation? The police told him to get his license, then shot him for doing it.

Dawndonnaagain · 27/11/2014 08:33

Rodney King.
Treyvon Martin.
Michael Brown.
Tamir Rice.

I'd be terrified were I black and had children living in the USA.

scatteroflight · 27/11/2014 09:03

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DoctorTwo · 27/11/2014 09:17

Police have released video of Temir Rice being shot. The time delay between the patrol car stopping and the officer pulling the trigger is 1.5-2 seconds. That's not even enough time to shout an instruction to drop the gun, let alone for the boy to comply.

UncleT · 27/11/2014 09:20

Addressing a point made very early in the thread that the Police manage to control white people without shooting them so why not black people - why do you think that white people don't sometimes suffer similar events? It's simply not true to say that, there have been many such incidents. It hasn't normally resulted in riots like this, but that's a different discussion.

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