With the release of the Justice Department report on the systemic atrocities committed by the racist Ferguson police force and Ferguson local government, it is important to look back at how the Michael Brown tragedy was originally reported by such journalistic giants as Chuck Todd and David Brooks. Here is a taste of Meet the Press from November 2014:
CHUCK TODD: That was, speaking of uncomfortable conversations to witness, that was an uncomfortable conversation. But in many ways, it exposed the prism I think that white America and black America see this.
DAVID BROOKS: Listen, we all have to have a new social compact on this. Whites especially have to acknowledge the legacy of racism and have to go the extra yard to show respect, understand how differently whites and blacks see some of these police issues. And whites can't just say, "Does this look right to me?" But, "Does this look trustworthy in the African American community?"
That has to be the standard. At the same time, we have to understand that we're no longer in the civil rights era. This is not a question of good versus evil, right versus wrong. Racial inequality has become entangled in all sorts of domestic problems of disappearing jobs, family structure, and this is mostly a question of good-intentioned people trying to do the best they can with very naughty social problems, which now overlap with racial problems.
CHUCK TODD: You know, Professor Ogletree, it was interesting, Pharrell Williams, who's got that song that we all love, Happy, he said something in a interview with Ebony when he said, he was talking about Michael Brown. And he said this, "It looked very bullyish. That in itself I had a problem with. Not with the kid, but with whatever happened in his life for him to arrive at a place where that behavior is okay."
Why aren't we talking about that? Are we focusing on the wrong part of this conversation? We're talking law enforcement and the relationship between the black community and the law enforcement community, when we obviously had a breakdown somewhere in Michael Brown's life.
CHARLES OGLETREE: We have to talk on both of them. Talk about Michael Brown and the police. There's no question about that. And I think that hearing this, I like the song Happy. It's in my phone at home. And you want to listen to it. It makes a lot of difference. But the reality is that Michael Brown did not have a gun.
He put his hands up. Michael Brown was trying to avoid confrontation. And I think that we need to understand why we have this data, the data is clear, that black boys are being killed by white police officers around the country, from north to south, from east to west, it doesn't end. And I think we have to make sure that we're responding to that. Making the people like Michael Brown understand it and deal with it. But also make sure that we don't have these things happen again.
CHUCK TODD: We heard Helene Cooper brought up DWB. That black men experience this, "driving while black." I have black friends who tell me it's like, "Yes, I drive in a white neighborhood, and if I'm not doing the speed limit, I'm going to get pulled over like that."
DR. BEN CARSON: That does happen.
CHUCK TODD: Has that ever happened to you?
DR. BEN CARSON: Yes. The attorney general of Missouri, last year, had a report that came out that said in the Ferguson area, blacks were seven times more likely to be stopped, and twice as more likely to be arrested.
CHUCK TODD: Whose fault is that?
CHUCK TODD: David Brooks, how does this conversation continue next week? We always say we're going to have this hard conversation, and guess what? Next week we won't.
DAVID BROOKS: Yeah, I really don't believe in the conversation about race. If we're going to be friends, we don't sit around saying, "Oh, we're such great friends, let's talk about our friendship." We don't need a conversation, we need a project. And a friendship is about something else. It's outward looking. So the project has to be about social mobility.
It's about early childhood education, all the things that failed Michael Brown. Family formation, jobs, if we have a common project about the Harlem Children's Zone, about KIPP schools, then we'll have something to do together. And that will unite us ultimately.
CHUCK TODD: Sounds like broken windows. Thank you all for this conversation.