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Another Unarmed Black Youth Killed? Why the Death of Mike Brown Matters, a LOT

         

By Alison Maney August 11, 2014

Another unarmed black youth was killed by law enforcement yesterday, and his community - and thousands of other Americans - aren't planning to let it go without a fight.

It's been over a year since the Trayvon Martin verdict, and unarmed black men are still being killed for basically no reason, like Michael Brown.

It's been over a year since the Trayvon Martin verdict, and unarmed black men are still being killed for basically no reason, like Michael Brown. (Fibonacci Blue / Flickr)

#MikeBrown, the 18-year-old boy's name, and #Ferguson, Missouri, the predominantly black city that Mike called home, began to trend as police brought dogs and guns to the neighborhood's candlelight vigil. Ferguson has since erupted into civil unrest.

So why are people so upset about this boy's death? Well, for many reasons.

What happened to Mike Brown?

The police and witnesses who were at the scene say very different things about the shooting.

What's clear is this: Mike Brown, an unarmed teen, was shot multiple times on Saturday while standing about 35 feet from a cop car with a friend. At least one shot came from within the car. The police have not yet released the policeman's name.

Ferguson police have stated that one of the boys pushed the cop back into the car, and that there was a struggle for the policeman's gun before the shooting.

Ferguson Police Chief Belmar said,

“The genesis of this was a physical confrontation."/blockquote>

According to eyewitnesses, however, Mike was jaywalking with his friend, Dorin Johnson, when a squad car pulled up and the cops inside yelled at the two. Johnson recalled:

"A police officer squad car pulled up. And when he pulled up, these was his exact words, he said, 'Get the f*ck on the sidewalk.' And we told the officer we was not but a minute away from our destination, and we would surely be out of the street."

One witness, Piaget Crenshaw, says she saw Brown running from the scene, his hands up in surrender, as they shot him to death.

Meanwhile, the police have tried to explain their militant presence after the shooting via social media.

Who was Michael Brown?

Mike Brown was an 18-year-old boy preparing to attend college for the first time this fall.

A former classmate of Brown's, Gerard Fuller, remembered him like this:

“Everyone else wanted to be a football player, a basketball player. He wanted to own his own business. He’d say, ‘Let’s make something out of nothing.’”

Mike graduated from Normandy High School and was admired by teachers as a "gentle giant" who never caused any trouble. Hershel Johnson, a friend of Brown's, remembers:

“We were at graduation, me and him, and we were talking. He said he wasn’t going to end up like some people on the streets. He was going to get an education. He was going to make his life a whole a lot better.”

How is the Ferguson community reacting?

Many in the Ferguson community are extremely skeptical about the validity of the police department's statement.

Hundreds gathered where the boy was shot, holding candles and protest signs. Mike's father held a sign that read, “Ferguson police just executed my unarmed son.”

The police arrived at the scene, armed with guns and dogs. The protesters began to chant, "No justice, no peace," a chant that was first incorrectly reported as "Kill the police."

The presence of SWAT teams inflamed the crowd, who had to stand with their arms up or sit on the ground.

The scene got violent. Some looted a convenience store and set fire to a gas station.

How is America reacting?

Some with outrage, some with skepticism. Some believe witness' accounts, while others believe the police. #MikeBrown and #Ferguson are trending on social media sites, and are sparking debates about racial profiling, police brutality, and accountability.

But at the very least, people are angry about the disproportionately high number of black men killed by law enforcement officials.

This sort of thing has happened before, right?

Oh, has it ever.

Probably the most famous case, the shooting of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, drew national attention when the police took a long time to investigate and to charge the shooter. The shooter, an amateur patrolman named George Zimmerman, was acquitted. The verdict sparked a heated national conversation about how, if a man can walk up and shoot a boy for "acting suspicious," there's no real penalty for murdering a black man.

But Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown are, sadly, far from alone. Here are some other high-profile cases of unarmed black youths being killed:

  • Eric Garner, age 43, was choked to death earlier this month by police in New York City.
  • Sean Bell, age 23, was shot as he sat in his car after his bachelor party in 2006.
  • Chavis Carter, age 21, was mysteriously shot in the back while sitting in a police car.
  • Wendell Allen, age 20, was shot and killed in a botched drug raid.
  • Renisha McBride, age 19, knocked on a door to seek help after being in a car accident. The resident shot her in the face, killing her. (He was just found guilty.)
  • Former college football player Jonathan Ferrell, age 24, was, like Renisha McBride, shot and killed by police in North Carolina after crashing his car and seeking help nearby.
  • Jordan Davis was a 17-year-old high school student when he was shot to death after getting into an argument in a parking lot with a white man who objected to the loud music being blasted from the car Davis was in.
  • Oscar Grant, age 22, was shot to death by transit police in Oakland, California. (The officer apparently meant to use his Taser to stun Grant, but shot him to death instead, in front of many eyewitnesses, some of whom caught the whole thing on video. The case became the basis for the movie Fruitvale Station.)
  • John Crawford, age 22, was just shot to death when police thought he was brandishing a gun in an Ohio Walmart. It was a toy gun he'd just taken off a shelf. He tried to tell police that the gun wasn't real, but they shot him to death.
  • Amadou Diallo, age 22, was shot 41 times in 1999 as he reached for his identification to show it to New York City police.

See a pattern here?

Comparatively, even armed white citizens are rarely targeted by police.

Why should I care?

Racism is far from over.

Need proof? Although black citizens make up only 13.1% of our nation's population, they're nearly 40% of our prison population. Why? Well, black men are far more likely to be targeted and, in the event of even minor crimes, prosecuted.

This, coupled with the increasing militarization of our police forces, has created an explosive combination that creates victims of innocent black men.

The events have also led to a discussion about how the media represents young black victims.

Not only does systematic racism ruin lives and limit upward mobility, it leads to a deep distrust of the system among African Americans. And it's a huge demotivator for African American youths, who feel helpless when facing a system stacked against them.

Mike Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, sums it up like this:

“Do you know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many. Because you bring them down to this type of level, where they feel like they don’t got nothing to live for anyway. ‘They’re going to try to take me out anyway.’"

What's next?

The FBI and the Justice Department are getting involved. As are some major civil rights leaders. And the hacker collective Anonymous created #OpFerguson.

Take Action!

Sign a letter asking President Obama to revisit the violent tactics police can use >>

Join the #JusticeforMike Facebook group >>

Sign a pledge to stand against gun violence >>

Images used under Creative Commons licensing.

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Alison Maney

Alison Maney is a nomadic freelance writer originally from Northern Virginia. An NYU graduate since 2013, she has been spending her time writing for everyone from PR agencies to startup companies to actual real life publications. She wastes her time watching old movies with her dog, Louie.

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