Vinson: Ferguson Mo. and price of land

By MIKE VINSON

I wrote about the Michael Brown shooting death in my August 23, 2014 column, titled "Mess in Ferguson: 'Revelation before REVOLUTION." However, as usual, I'll provide a short recap to ensure all readers are up to speed:

On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown, African-American, was shot to death by Darren Wilson, 28, white, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of Saint Louis.

Brown, a large young man, had stolen a box of cigars from a convenience store in Ferguson. Wilson was patrolling in the area, crossed paths with Brown, and they had a confrontation, which resulted in Wilson shooting Brown six times.

With race relations between residents, mostly black, and law enforcement, mostly white, already on a short fuse, Brown's death caused the Ferguson community to go off like a "bomb": looting, burning, breaking, assaulting, as well as several reported deaths, resultant of the collective chaos. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a "state of emergency," and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder became involved. (NOTE: Due to Brown's death, rioting broke out in many other areas of the nation.)

At the core of the Ferguson civil fiasco were these two questions: Did Brown instigate the shooting by physically aggressing Wilson, putting Wilson in fear of his life? Or did Wilson act "too hastily" and pump six rounds into Brown, senselessly ending the young man's life?

Needless to say, investigators and prosecutors commenced sifting through the evidence "to separate fact from fiction" and get to the truth.

Nov. 24, 2014, around 8:30 p.m., a news bulletin interrupted regular TV shows: The bulletin aired to announce, live, to the nation the verdict in the Aug. 9, 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. On the news bulletin, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, white, told a national audience Ferguson policeman Wilson "would not face charges for fatally shooting" Michael Brown.

As mentioned, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, black, weighed in on the shooting death of Michael Brown, and charges were not brought against Officer Darren Wilson. This indicates to me Wilson didn't go to the crime scene with the intention of killing a black man. Instead, he got caught up in a situation and acted in self-defense.

A major reason for me believing Wilson acted in self-defense is some original "eyewitnesses" claimed Wilson shot Brown in the back as Brown attempted to flee from Wilson. However, after all evidence was gathered and examined, Prosecutor McCulloch said the same evidence forensically supported the fact Brown had been shot only in the front, not in the back.

Sadly enough, I wager the looting, demonstrating, and civil unrest will continue in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as all across the country, for some time to come.

Though some protesters are genuinely upset (particularly Michael Brown's family and friends), I think it is high time we examine what, I feel, is at the very core of racial problems such as the ongoing one in Ferguson, Missouri: Plain and simple, some blacks hate all whites, and some whites hate all blacks . . . regardless the facts!

These "race-haters," as I call them - black and white, from the East Coast to the West Coast, and all places in-between - spend a majority of their existence just waiting for an excuse to go off on another race. From my perspective, it has nothing to do with how fairly or wrongly their particular race is treated by another race. Rather, it has everything to do with them having an excuse to vent their own viral hatred!

Of a somewhat lighter note, I heard a real estate agent say something to the effect of, If they don't settle down, the price of land in Ferguson, Missouri will be down to nothin' . . . won't be able to give it away.

Apply the real estate agent's sentiment to America as a whole. Scary, isn't it?