Like thousands of people across the country and all over the world, I've been obsessed with the case against Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Mike Brown for the past 108 days. Two weeks from starting college, one block away from his grandmother's apartment, Mike was so close to a better future. Yet, as we now know all too well, he never made it that extra block home.
I'm deeply and profoundly disappointed and honestly lack the words to explain my emotions right now. It's a frustration in which a man doesn't feel much like writing. It's an exhaustion in which one has hoped just one too many times for justice, only for it to escape in the fleeting fashion that is sadly familiar in cases of young black men killed by police officers all over this country.
I had hoped officers would be found guilty when they were found beating Rodney King senseless. It was on video. We all saw it. They were acquitted.
I had hoped officers would be found guilty when they fired 41 shots at an unarmed Amadou Diallo standing in his doorstep. They were acquitted.
I had hoped the officers who fired 50 shots into Sean Bell's car as he left his bachelor party would be found guilty. They were acquitted.
I had hoped the officers who shot and killed football star Kendrec McDade—after they lied about him shooting at them first—would at least go to court, but the grand jury said they were justified.
I had hoped the officers who chased Ramarley Graham into his home and killed him would at least be tried, but they weren't
I had hoped the officers who shot and killed John Crawford in Wal-Mart would be cited somehow, but the grand jury found they were justified.
Now, here we are, with a young man who ran over half a football field away, after a confrontation with Officer Darren Wilson, only to be shot over and over again.
I had hoped Wilson would at least face these charges in an open court of law, but it will not happen.
As I am tempted to linger on the disappointment a little longer than I should, I just think of Mike Brown's family and how my frustration is but a corner of a shadow of the despair they must be experiencing.
These deaths and these gravely tragic outcomes are far too common in our country. Something has to give.
Feel free to express your feelings and frustrations with me below.
Your Friend,
Shaun
