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    Why White People Should Care About What Happens In Ferguson

    Here are 21 reasons (and counting) why white people need to stop claiming this doesn't matter to them because they're white. You're wrong; here's why.

    Why White People Should Care About What Happens In Ferguson

    (This article was first accepted by the Breaking Brown website.)

    If I hear one more person claim the people of Ferguson are "just playing the race card," I am going to scream. If one more person tells me to calm down because Ferguson "doesn't affect me," I am going to scream. The truth, of course, is that we've all been screaming for ten days… or for hundreds of years.

    WHITE PEOPLE—THIS AFFECTS YOU. White people—I care because I, as an American citizen, CANNOT afford not to. White people—you cannot afford not to care either. Here are some reasons why white people need to educate themselves about, and get involved with, what is going on in Ferguson. Each of these points affects you—your community, your government, your media, your country, your life. Your continued silence on each of these issues implies your continued compliance with them.

    1.)The basics: an UNARMED TEENAGER was shot six times by a police officer. This is a problem no matter what color or nationality or sex or religion or sexual orientation or what-have-you the teenager was. This would also be a problem no matter the age of the person, but the fact the victim was eighteen and starting college within a week adds a particular type of horror to the situation.

    2.)Some people are saying we should care because "it could be you/your child." This isn't strictly true. White people don't get gunned down for no reason in broad daylight by law enforcement. Black people, however, hear this kind of story about people who look like them all the time. FOUR UNARMED BLACK MEN (that we KNOW OF) HAVE BEEN KILLED BY POLICE OFFICERS IN THE LAST MONTH (Google Eric Garner, John Crawford III, and Ezell Ford; I'll wait). Black people of all genders are murdered or assaulted by law enforcement figures by the HUNDREDS each year; they are treated far rougher and often sentenced far more harshly than white people who are suspected of committing the same crime .

    3.)The fact that you are basically immune to the type of terror many Black people face every day is exactly why you should care. Those voices may not be heard, while YOUR voice has the power to make a difference about it. That is what white privilege is. It is not your fault you were born with it; it is your fault if you aren't using it for good.

    4.)White culture is one of distrusting anyone different than you. We were raised with it. Racism is not usually blatant or even intentional; it is in the way you put your hand over your wallet when a Black man passes you on the sidewalk, or the way you really mean "Black neighborhood" when you say "bad neighborhood," or the way you never question that the Black guy is never innocent on TV crime shows. You have been brainwashed into being a jerk and perpetuating the system you (even unintentionally) benefit from. Many aspects of the current struggle in Ferguson are proof of this; your silence on it is more obvious proof still.

    5.)If this was a white unarmed teenager, and the offending officer was first protected by a staunch commitment to anonymity by the police department, and later revealed but not arrested, the ENTIRE NATION would look like Ferguson looks right now. Black people are not "playing the race card"—Black people are speaking out against a systematic centuries-old oppression of which law enforcement is an intrinsic part. Families that look like Mike Brown's teach their children not to make sudden movements in front of a police officer as surely as families that look like mine teach their children not to merge without checking their blind spot.

    6.)Some people say that Mike Brown COULD have charged at the officer, COULD have intended to grab his gun . I ask those people; even if this is true, and we can't say it is, since when are police officers trained to shoot to kill aggressive teenagers? Officers are only allowed to shoot to kill if their or another innocent person's life is in danger, or if the target is fleeing the scene of a felony; neither of these are true in this case. Do you want your police officers to go unpunished for breaking this rule, for murdering someone for jaywalking? I literally jaywalk almost every day; no one has ever shot me about it.

    7.)Folks who are arguing that the shooting officer 'has no disciplinary record' of past violence or complaints against him may be unaware of what this really means. Darren Wilson HAS NO DISCIPLINARY RECORD, period, because disciplinary records are not kept on an individual basis by the Ferguson police department . Police officers are not held accountable for their own actions even when similar complaints are repeatedly filed against them, because no organized personal record of those complaints or actions is kept.

    8.)The police department's responses to this entire thing have been dishonest in a way that is nothing short of terrifying . They tried claiming Brown assaulted a police officer, even though eyewitness reports and autopsy results reveal that at LEAST the first shot was fired from INSIDE THE CAR, and others were fired while Brown had his hands in the air and was facing the officer. They tried claiming Brown robbed a store five minutes beforehand, even though the footage shows someone in an entirely different outfit and the shooting officer was unaware of the robbery at the time of the shooting . Law enforcement has blatantly lied to the public—that's you—multiple times already concerning this case. How often do they lie without being caught?

    9.)The fact that the police department and some media outlets have been trying to tarnish Brown's name with vague propaganda about his character is important. Some individual officers, including Marc Catron in Kansas City, have gone so far as to circulate faked photographs of Brown with a gun. Your police and media are trying to tell you that murder is justifiable based on their personal judgments of character. Do you want to live in a country in which you could be shot because a random stranger with a badge decided you weren't a nice person that day?

    10.)This senseless character defamation has also been applied to individual officers; Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson has been accused by various media outlets (including CNN) of flashing "gang signs" in photographs with Ferguson community members. This "gang sign" is in fact a regularly used greeting by members of Kappa Alpha Psi, a Divine Nine fraternity of which Johnson is a member . We are living in a country in which a white police officer can kill an unarmed teenager and face no consequences, but a Black police officer can face demands for his resignation for belonging to a fraternity. If you believe racism is not at play you are not paying attention.

    11.)Police officers did not arrive on scene in uniform to maintain order and peace among the protestors, or between them and car or pedestrian traffic; they arrived on scene in riot gear, and then military gear, to inspire fear and incite chaos . Your law enforcement responded to a peaceful civilian gathering with the mindset of controlling and overpowering, rather than serving and protecting, the citizens of this country.

    12.)The police are responding to the protests with a military-like force reminiscent of—some even argue more severe than—the presence of our troops overseas at actual war . The cops have this equipment because of a federal program designed to funnel excess military equipment into local police departments. There is no training sent along with the equipment, and police departments are only allowed to keep the equipment if they use it within a year . In short your local law enforcement is not just encouraged, but practically required, to use military equipment against local citizens WITHOUT TRAINING.

    13.)Some people are crying out about the lootings of area stores as justification for increased police presence. Refocusing this case to be on the lootings committed by a few, rather than on the protesting of hundreds and the murder of one, is placing more importance on physical property than on human life .

    14.) Police officers have been caught on tape baiting protestors into violence by shouting things like "You fucking animals, bring it," and issuing death threats to reporters and protestors alike . The police sworn to protect the public from violence are inciting and encouraging it and nothing has been done to condemn or stop them.

    15.)Early on, Ferguson was declared a no-fly zone, which kept media helicopters away from the scene. This was so that you and I could not find out more about what was happening. THE NO FLY ZONE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO REMAIN IN PLACE ANOTHER WEEK . Your government is intentionally trying to keep you ill-informed about what is going on around you. Think about that.

    16.)Reporters who are on scene in person have been bullied, tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets, and arrested by police for reporting the facts to the general public . Your media is being intentionally silenced; your country's law enforcement is intentionally trying to keep the truth from you.

    17.)As of August 19th, the solution to the media situation has been to round up all reporters into a pen and label it a First Amendment Area. This entire country is supposed to be an "area" protected by, and protective of, the First Amendment, but Ferguson shows that authority can pick and choose when to uphold this even in public spaces.

    18.)It is also interesting to note that this holding pen has still suffered multiple assaults from police weaponry. Even journalists are denied access to this 'safe' space; Tim Pool, after being hit with tear gas and rubber bullets, was told by a police officer that his press badge "doesn't mean shit" when he attempted to reenter the 'free speech zone.' Other journalists report narrowly missing being hit by speeding police vehicles barreling through crowds ' This is reminiscent of other situations where the police have disregarded their own rules, such as trying to enforce the curfew two hours early one night. The police are not respecting their own safe areas or following their own rules; there is no balance of power in play here, only abuse of it.

    19.) As of August 20th, the 'free speech area' has been shut down, and only "credentialed" journalists will be allowed into the new area . Journalists must vacate the scene or face arrest; this directly violates our right to free press.

    20.) As of August 20th, police and National Guard troops have been forcing their way into homes door-to-door across Ferguson, presumably looking for individuals who have 'fired shots at authorities .' This is a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment, which guards citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires warrants that describe what the police are looking for. This sets a precedent that allows police officers to disregard your Fourth Amendment rights.

    21.)When the rights to free speech and free press are taken away from American citizens, it will not mean, "except for you." When the right to assemble is taken away from American citizens, it will not mean, "except for you." When the right to privacy is taken away from American citizens, it will not mean, "except for you." American rights are literally at stake in this case, and you cannot afford to stand by and let this happen regardless of your personal connections to Ferguson.