Barack Obama has said Americans must “soundly reject language” from any leader who “feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalises racist sentiments” in his first public statement since mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.
Past remarks from Obama: ” I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? ”
“Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed. ” Obama doesn’t mention though that many in these congregations left upon hearing sermons they disagreed with. They did not stay and listen to, “God-dam America”, but Obama did.
By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON POLITICO.COM
January/February 2016
Just months after his inauguration, Obama controversially claimed police had “acted stupidly” in arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct outside his own home, that nailed shut for the president the coffin of honest racial engagement. And it was curious, and hurtful, that Obama responded at times to the criticism by scolding black folk in public for making excuses he said were holding them back.
On Trayvon Martin:
You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.
There are very few African American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator. There are very few African Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.
And I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it’s inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear. The African American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws — everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.
Obama forgets to mention the Black culture of drugs, murders, broken families that are the reason for Whitey to be suspicious of many inner city Blacks.
It’s not to make excuses for that fact — although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context. They understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country, and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history. WHAT A JOKE, THESE GUYS WEREN’T BORN 200 YEARS AGO, MOST ARE YOUNG MEN, WHAT VIOLENT PAST DID THEY ENDURE? This is another way of Obama speaking with forked tongue.
Racial disparities aside, educational barriers aside, the White culture of entrepreneurship, of following the law, of pride in school, work and brotherhood apparently is not some the same in some communities. For instance Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore.
This afternoon, President Obama issued a statement on the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was fatally shot on Saturday by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri:
The death of Michael Brown is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family and his community at this very difficult time. As Attorney General Holder has indicated, the Department of Justice is investigating the situation along with local officials, and they will continue to direct resources to the case as needed. I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding. We should comfort each other and talk with one another in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. Along with our prayers, that’s what Michael and his family, and our broader American community, deserve.
Attorney General Eric Holder also released a statement yesterday on the shooting, calling for a federal investigation to supplement the inquiry by local authorities:
The shooting incident in Ferguson, Missouri this weekend deserves a fulsome review. In addition to the local investigation already underway, FBI agents from the St. Louis field office, working together with attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and US Attorney’s Office, have opened a concurrent, federal inquiry. The federal investigation will supplement, rather than supplant, the inquiry by local authorities. At every step, we will work with the local investigators, who should be prepared to complete a thorough, fair investigation in their own right. I will continue to receive regular updates on this matter in the coming days. Aggressively pursuing investigations such as this is critical for preserving trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown Jr., an 18-year-old African American man, was fatally shot by 28-year-old white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.[2] Brown was accompanied by his 22-year-old friend Dorian Johnson.[3] Wilson said that an altercation ensued when Brown attacked Wilson in his police vehicle for control of Wilson’s gun until it was fired.[4] Johnson stated that Wilson initiated a confrontation by grabbing Brown by the neck through his car window, threatening him and then shooting at him.[5] At this point, both Wilson and Johnson state that Brown and Johnson fled, with Wilson pursuing Brown shortly thereafter. Wilson stated that Brown stopped and charged him after a short pursuit. Johnson contradicted this account
, stating that Brown turned around with his hands raised after Wilson shot at his back. According to Johnson, Wilson then shot Brown multiple times until Brown fell to the ground. In the entire altercation, Wilson fired a total of twelve bullets, including twice during the struggle in the car;[6] the last was probably the fatal shot. Brown was hit a total of six times from the front.[7][8][9]
This event ignited unrest in Ferguson. Although a subsequent FBI investigation found that there was no evidence that Brown had his hands up in surrender or said “don’t shoot” before he was shot, protesters believed that he had done so, and used the slogan “Hands up, don’t shoot” in protest. Protests, both peaceful and violent, continued for more than a week in Ferguson; police established a nightly curfew. The response of area police agencies in dealing with the protests was strongly criticized by the media and politicians. There were concerns over insensitivity, tactics, and a militarized response. Missouri governor Jay Nixon ordered local police organizations to cede much of their authority to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
A grand jury was called and given extensive evidence from Robert McCulloch, the St. Louis County Prosecutor. On November 24, 2014, McCulloch announced the St. Louis County grand jury had decided not to indict Wilson.[10] On March 4, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice reported the conclusion of its own investigation and cleared Wilson of civil rights violations in the shooting. It found forensic evidence supported the officer’s account, that witnesses who corroborated the officer’s account were credible, and that witnesses who had incriminated him were not credible, with some admitting they had not directly seen the events.[11][12] The U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense.[13][14]
Morning[edit]
Surveillance video which was publicly released in the 2017 documentary film Stranger Fruit shows Michael Brown walking into Ferguson Market and Liquor at 1:13 a.m., twelve hours before he entered the store for the final time. The footage shows Brown handing a young clerk a brown package, believed by the filmmaker to be marijuana, and then receiving an unpurchased package of cigarillos from the store. After the video was rediscovered and made public in 2017, some, including Brown’s family, said they believed Brown had left the package there for safekeeping and later returned to retrieve it. The store owner disputed this through an attorney who dismissed claims that the store traded him “cigarillos for pot.” The lawyer claimed “[t]he reason he [Brown] gave it back is he was walking out the door with unpaid merchandise and they [the staff] wanted it back.”[26] The store’s attorney said the video had been in the hands of Brown’s family and law
enforcement since the initial investigation, and said the video had been edited to remove the portion where the store clerk returned Brown’s package to him.[27] Following this, on March 13, 2017, unedited footage from the store was released by the St. Louis county prosecutor to try to settle questions.[28]
Incident[edit]
At 11:47 a.m., Wilson responded to a call about a baby with breathing problems and drove to Glenark Drive, east of Canfield Drive.[29] About three minutes later and several blocks away, Brown was recorded on camera stealing a box of Swisher cigars and forcefully shoving a Ferguson Market clerk. Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, left the market at about 11:54 a.m.[30] At 11:53, a police dispatcher reported “stealing in progress” at the Ferguson Market and described the suspect as a black male wearing a white T-shirt running toward QuikTrip. The suspect was reported as having stolen a box of Swisher cigars.[29]At 11:57, the dispatch described the suspect as wearing a red St. Louis Cardinals hat, a white T-shirt, yellow socks, and khaki shorts, and that he was accompanied by another male.[29] At 12:00 p.m., Wilson reported he was back in service and radioed units 25 and 22 to ask if they needed his assistance in searching for the suspects.[29] Seven seconds later, an unidentified officer said the suspects had disappeared.[29] Wilson called for backup
at 12:02, saying “[Unit] 21. Put me on Canfield with two. And send me another car.”[29]
Initially, reports of what happened next differed widely among sources and witnesses, particularly with regards to whether Brown was coming towards Wilson when the shots were actually fired. At noon on August 9, Wilson drove up to Brown and Johnson as they were walking in the middle of Canfield Drive and ordered them to move off the street. Wilson continued driving past the two men, but then backed up and stopped close to them.[31][9][32][33] A struggle took place between Brown and Wilson after the former reached through the window of the police SUV, a Chevrolet Tahoe.[34] Wilson’s gun was fired twice during the struggle from inside the vehicle, with one bullet hitting Brown’s right hand.[34][22] Brown and Johnson fled and Johnson hid behind a car.[35] Wilson got out of the vehicle and pursued Brown.[36] At some point, Wilson fired his gun again, while facing Brown, and hit him with at least 6 shots.[9] Brown was unarmed and died on the street.[34][37] Less than 90 seconds passed from the time Wilson encountered Brown to the time of Brown’s death.[38][39]
An unidentified officer arrived on the scene and, 73 seconds after Wilson’s call, asked where the second suspect was. Thirty-one seconds later, a supervisor was requested by Unit 25. At 12:07 p.m., an officer on scene radioed to dispatch for more units.[29] Also at 12:07, the St. Louis County police were notified and county officers began arriving on scene at around 12:15 p.m. The St. Louis County detectives were notified at 12:43 p.m. and arrived about 1:30 p.m., with the forensic investigator arriving at about 2:30 p.m.[40]
Police dispatched a dozen units to the scene by 1:00 p.m. with another dozen, including two canine units, by 2:00 p.m. Gunshots were recorded in Ferguson police logs at 2:11 p.m., and by the ambulance dispatch again at 2:14 p.m., which led to the response of 20 units from eight different municipal forces in the next 20 minutes. As the situation deteriorated, the police commanders had investigators seek cover and detectives assisted in crowd control. At 2:45, four canine units arrived on scene, and the SWAT team arrived at 3:20 p.m.[41] The medical examiner began his examination at around 3:30 p.m. and concluded about half an hour later, with the body being cleared to be taken to the morgue.[41][42] At 4:37 p.m., Brown’s body was signed in by workers at the morgue.[41]
So we all know that Michael Brown was a two bit Punk strutting his stuff. We know that many so-called witnesses lied to protect the guilty. In the end this tough kid was not to tough. But again Obama parsed words carefully so not to inflame the honest law abiding every day Patriots of the United States. Right now they are not to united, but divided due to the rhetoric from biased racist politicians such as Obama, Holder, de Blasio, Cuomo, the liberal media etc. Anyway, you get the picture.
