Lie — The Ferguson Shooting was racist

The killing

While walking down the street on the 9^th of August, 2014, black teenager Michael Brown was confronted and attacked by white police officer Darren Wilson, who weighed 210 pounds and was 6 foot 4 inches tall. Unarmed, defenceless, and with hands raised in the air, Wilson was shot to death while trying to surrender.

Wilson had blocked Brown's path with his car and then opened his door, slamming it into Brown. He then grabbed Brown by the head through the window, pulled his gun, and shot him. Brown freed himself from Wilson's grip and ran away, but Wilson shot him again, this time in the back.

Injured, but still standing, Brown turned, raised his arms, and said I don't have a gun. Stop shooting!. Wilson responded by firing several more shots at close range, killing him.

Several years after the incident, people still remember this as the basic story of what happened that day.

The coverup

Despite many dozens of witnesses to the killing, the police department denied any fault, deflecting blame by accusing Brown of having robbed a convenience store just before the incident. A grand jury and a later FBI investigation exonerated officer Wilson of any wrongdoing.

Many people, of all races, protested the killing and coverup, giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Nearly three years later, in 2017, a documentary film, Stranger Fruit included excerpts from a suppressed surveillance video showing Brown dealing peaceably in the convenience store he was accused of robbing. At the time, Brown had been arranging to make a trade with the clerk, and when he returned the next morning he was simply picking up his merchandise, not committing robbery. The prosecutors had not presented the video as evidence for fear that it would help their case, which they of course wanted to lose. Again, many people, of all races, protested the killing and coverup, demanding justice for Brown.

The testimony

At the grand jury and at the FBI investigation, most witnesses lied. Many later admitted that they hadn't actually seen anything or even been there; they were simply repeating stories that they had heard. Some said that even though they hadn't witnessed anything, they decided to testify because this was a very important historical event and they wanted to be a part of it.

Others that actually did witness the event said that they had been threatened and harassed to prevent them from telling the truth. Immediately following the incident, two black women that were gathering evidence against Wilson asked one witness (#102) to record a statement about the killing. When he told them the truth, they hurled racial slurs against him, calling the light-skinned African American a white motherfucker for not supporting the lie they wanted to prove.

Even before the perjury and witness tampering were publicly admitted, the grand jury judge explicitly remarked about the two types of witnesses he had heard, those he felt were timidly telling the truth and those he felt were brazenly lying.

The coverup

There was no coverup. The video was not suppressed to hide the truth; it was not presented because it was irrelevant. When seen in its entirety, the suppressed video shows Brown attempting to trade what looks like a package of marijuana for some cigarillos, the clerk refusing to make the deal, and Brown leaving with his original package.

The truth

Brown was not an innocent customer. He was not shot in the back. He did not attempt to surrender. He did not raise his hands or say "Stop shooting!".

Having been unsuccessful at trading drugs for cigars, Brown returned to the convenience store the next morning, assaulted a clerk, and stole a box of cigars. The robbery was reported to police with a description of Brown (and accomplice Dorian Johnson). Officer Wilson spotted the two suspects walking down the middle of the road and pulled over to talk to them.

Brown was no skinny teenager but as tall as Wilson and more than eighty pounds heavier. He swore at Wilson, then reached through the window and attacked the officer, punching him in the face. When Wilson drew his gun, Brown grabbed his arm and tried to shoot Wilson. Brown continued to punch and swear at Wilson, who eventually managed to fire his weapon, hitting Brown in the hand.

Brown fled, but not far. Wilson got out of the car and told him to stop and get down on the ground. Instead the nearly three hundred pound Brown charged at him like a bull.

Wilson fired several shots and again commanded him to stop, but Brown continued. Wilson retreated and fired several more times, the final and fatal shot entering the top of Brown's skull.

The evidence

The testimony of credible witnesses fully supported the officer's initial statement of what happened, as did the forensic evidence:

• Brown and Johnson closely matched the description of the robbery suspects, and they were walking down the middle of the road. They were not stopped for being black.
• Wilson's face was bruised from Brown's attack in the car.
• The shell casings from Wilson's gun were found mostly near or behind Brown's final position; Wilson had not chased Brown while shooting, but had been moving backward.
• Blood stains on the street were more than 20 feet behind Brown's body, indicating that he had moved toward Wilson after being shot.
• The final bullet entered the top of Brown's head, indicating that he was in a head-down charging position when shot.