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After the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri the feeling of same old, same old crept in. A young man gunned down who, according to witness statements, could have been the victim of racist brutality. People began to take to the streets and the web in protest. But even within twenty four hours of the shooting, people began to get uninterested, and the story began to die. Until The Anonymous Messengers stepped in.With their threats to the St. Louis County Police Department to release the name of the officer responsible, and to the community in support many found hope. It's not as if President Obama, The St. Louis County, or even CNN talked the story. For the citizens of St. Louis County enough was enough, and the anger soon sparked in a riot the night of the shooting. Many protesters involved in the riot or not were soon surrounded by tanks, tear gas, and maced. As a retaliation to the assault on protesters, twenty four hours hadn't passed before personal information belonging to the St. Louis County Police Department was released on The Anonymous Messenger Twitter account. For instance, now the world knows the chief of police has a confederate flag hanging in his home thanks to the Twitter photo. Each time a piece of information was released, the threat was re-instated to release the name of the cop responsible for the shooting. The Anonymous Messengers became the only major source of news constantly at work in Ferguson from the beginning. When logging onto The Anonymous Messenger's main Twitter account by 10:00am EST this morning, one would have found a tweet stating that the cop responsible for shooting Michael Brown had been discovered by the group. The name of a police officer working for Ferguson had his name, his photo, his past addresses, and even his social security number released. Within minutes, the reporters of CNN tried to find out if the report was true. St. Louis County held a press conference within hours, stating that the cop who was identified was not the one involved in the shooting. Soon after this, Twitter took down the tweet, and the account.Was The Anonymous Messenger wrong for posting the information about the officer? In light of recent events I have to say yes. After the trials Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis many of the public now believe the justice system to be a failure, and take matters into their own hands. I do believe had the officer's name been announced quickly following the shooting, along with other important information relating to the case, the community would not be in unrest. Since this has not happened, you have riots and groups like The Anonymous Messenger reporting on what they can find. The group is trying to find an answer, and reports what answers they find whether or not theses answers have based facts.I will say something positive about the group; they keep issues that should be at the forefront of all American's minds ...well at the forefront of American's minds. By hacking and reporting information, whether false or true, they are taking action. A little bit more than the average American that posts an upset photo on Instagram, say a prayer, and go along with their day. The Anonymous Messengers may be jumping the gun and creating civil uproar..but with the world we have created for ourselves how could they not? We, as a people, accept excuses from people in positions of government that should be held responsible for their actions. We accept these excuses reported to us on news stations as the status quo. At least they are working and fighting until they find an answer. False or not, I can respect a group of people who fight for their civil liberties versus a group that expects the people to just do what they are told.
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