Here is my essay:
On August 9, 2014, an unspeakable tragedy befell Ferguson, Missouri, that the residents would likely never forget. Michael Brown, an unarmed eighteen year old African American man and his African Americn friend, Dorian Johnson, were jaywalking when they were told by a white police officer, named Darren Wilson, to get on the sidewalk. According to police reports, as Brown refused and words were then exchanged between Wilson and Brown, the latter allegedly punched the Ferguson officer and went for the gun Wilson carried. Brown and Johnson then fled when a shot was fired with Wilson in pursuit of the two African American men. Brown then stopped "about 30 feet away and put his hands in the air, shouting 'Don't shoot!'". Unfortunately, officer Darren Wilson shot anyway, regardless of Brown's pleas because "Brown had lowered his arms and moved toward [Wilson]" and "fearing that [Brown] was going to attack him, [Wilson] decided to use deadly force." Brown was killed and an autopsy report revealed that "Brown was shot six times, including twice in the head." Although, according to Brown's friend and eyewitness, Dorian Johnson, the scene played out differently. Apparently, Wilson pulled up to the two men and said, "Get the f*** on the sidewalk" to which Dorian responded that they were close to their destination so they would be off the street soon. At that, Wilson drove forward, leaving the two men, then abruptly backed up, positioning his police automobile so that it almost hit the two men. In his interview, Dorian stated, "We were so close, almost inches away, that when he tried to open his door aggressively, the door ricocheted both off me and Big Mike's body and closed back on the officer." Wilson then apparently snatched at Brown through the window in his police car and had Brown in a chokehold, which Brown tried to escape, without ever reaching for Wilson's gun or assaulting Wilson in any way. As this struggle progressed, Wilson drew his gun and fired, hitting Brown, who then freed himself and turned to flee with Dorian. Wilson then exited the vehicle and fired rounds at the fleeing pair. At that, Brown turned around and stated, "I don't have a gun. Stop shooting!" Wilson responded to Brown's plea by filling Brown's body with lead, killing him.
Weeks after the shooting that killed Brown, these two sides to the story emerged instigating unrest in this suburb of St. Louis. Due to racial tensions between the primarily black community and primarily white city government and police force, "protests, vandalism, lootings and other forms of social unrest continued for more than a week." Race relations in the United States today are a little less unsteady than they were decades ago, as Americans are moving towards the ideal America that Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed about. In truth, there was slavery back then, but there is still slavery in American today. Slavery be definition is "a person who has lost self-control and is dominated by something or someone." Though the slavery today is not physical, many white people have been merciless in their attempts to degrade and dominate over African Americans. And even though people should be graded on he "content of their character" and The Declaration of Independence states that "All men are created with certain unalienable rights. Among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness", in America, today, it is shown that those words are still not true because many people just can not seem to overlook differences. "Fifty years after the Civil Rights Act, we still have two societies, separate and unequal. Young black men grow up being stopped and frisked by cops for no reason at all, attend 'inferior schools', and cope with a bleak job market, low wages, and a criminal justice system that treats them more harshly thank whites." Many areas in the United States still believe in prejudice and are too stubborn to change their ways so that America as a whole can't move forward.
This is why the amount of respect that many towns and cities give police officers has dwindled so quickly. Except in the most heinous cases of offenses and wrongdoings from police officers, most juries tend to side with the police officers because they are police officers and perhaps in part due to race. This gives police officers a lot of leniency, while it strips the opposing side of rights. Juries are not supposed to be and not allowed to be biased because if a black man can not be treated and looked at as an equal next to a white man in court, there is no point for that court to exist because one person has an upper hand. People's respect toward authority figures, particularly police, has diminished considerably because many people involved in the Ferguson case- mainly the black community- and anyone else who can relate are all looking for a city government and a police force with people who know "the appropriate use of force" and are motivated "to ensure fair and equal treatment for everyone who comes into contact with the police." In this situation though, respect to authority figures factors in because Brown and Dorian perhaps would not have been jaywalking at the beginning if they respected police officers who they knew and believed would lay down the law. And for the last few moments in his life, Brown respected the police officer, out of fear perhaps, but the officer then killed him, whether out of fear or anger has yet to be uncovered. When Brown "stopped about 30 feet away and put his hands in the air, shouting, 'Don't shoot' [he] was gunned down by a pursuing Wilson anyway." The way that Brown thought Wilson would stop firing at them meant that he trusted Wilson to not shoot an unarmed man. Clearly, Brown's judgment was wrong but that thought did stem from respect. And while it remains to be seen if Wilson shot Brown out of anger or fear, this incident has made many people decrease their respect toward the police.
In this situation, an excessive amount of force and perhaps a bit of racism was indeed used. For example, autopsy reports showed that Brown was shot a total of six times, including twice in the head. That is an excessive and ridiculous amount of lead to shoot into an unarmed person, regardless of age or race. It has yet to be determined if Wilson shot Brown due to race, but allegedly, Wilson was afraid that the young African American was going to try to attack him, so Wilson claimed to have shot Brown out of self-defense. But still, Wilson must have wanted to make absolute sure that Brown was dead, hence the excessive number of shots he fired at Brown.
These incidents happen quite frequently and often times, a lot more than anyone would like, because this is where America has tried to fix itself and failed. Racism played as big a part back then as it does today because the power people receive from dominating over someone, to own someone is all too appealing for many Americans to resist. People need to realize that it's not right and that blacks are equal to whites. In this specific situation, Wilson surely felt that Brown was lower than he was, or maybe he envied Brown, and shot him, even when Brown had his hands in the air to indicate his surrender. And as often as people are gunned down like this, the people in America always fail to learn from these occurrences. To move even one step closer to Dr. King's dream of equal rights for all, it takes a nation and everyone in that nation to move forward and make a choice to come together, not as black people and white people, or slaves and slave drivers, or African American and Caucasian, but as people striving toward one goal.
So uh, yeah that's my essay. Also, keep in mind that this is just my opinion, so I hope that everyone understands that. But thanks again for all the help!
