Injustice in Ferguson; ‘It’s An Understandable Reaction’

Looters rule the streets while cars and businesses burn.  Criminals repudiate with violence our American values, our justice system, and our sense of decency and decorum.  Weak, pathetic politicians spur the criminals on with tacit approval, if not outright inflammatory suggestions.  President Obama said in one sentence that we are a nation of laws, and then in a second sentence suggested that people were angry, and their reaction was understandable. How’s that, Mr. Obama?  If the process was just, then the outcome was just.  Why are people understandably angry at a just outcome?  Does that understandable anger permit lawlessness?

A police car is set on fire after a group of protesters vandalize the vehicle after the announcement of the grand jury decision Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. A grand jury has decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed, black 18-year-old whose fatal shooting sparked sometimes violent protests. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge said “this decision seems to underscore an unwritten rule that black lives hold no value; that you may kill black men in this country without consequences or repercussions.”  Dear fire, here’s some gasoline, love Marcia.  Is this what passes for leadership in America today?  The race-hustlers are not merely in the streets, looting and setting fires; they are in elected office, where the fires they set to the rule of law cause far greater damage.  Any serious person who looked critically at these facts could not conclude that this grand jury did not do an honest job.  Yet, people like Mr. Obama and Ms. Fudge repudiate our system of justice and spit in the faces of the jurors who saw, evaluated, and considered all the evidence.

The criminal justice system is designed for grand juries to consider the law to a particular set of facts and then make an honest determination as to whether or not probable cause exists to support a charge.  That work is done, and there is no evidence that the system was flawed, incorrect, racist, rigged or lacking any known evidence.  To insist that justice was not done, that anger is understandable, and that there is an unwritten rule that blacks’ lives have no value from this outcome is to repudiate our American system of justice, and indeed, those Americans who found this justice.  That is willful ignorance.

The political system is designed for Americans to change the laws that citizens apply to these types of cases.  That system is dependent upon the rule of reason to build and create rules of law in a civil society.  Peaceful protest and even outspoken advocacy are the hallmarks of those changes.  Violence, riots, insults, and false characterizations of evidence and the justice system pay no dividends in the civil society.

Decent, law abiding Americans of every color and creed look upon the fires and looting and they see criminals.  They see lawlessness. They hear the racist attacks and unfounded hyperbole of race-hustlers, and their worst suspicions are confirmed.  We are a country that is devolving as a result of racial animus, victomology, and tolerance, in some corners of the political spectrum, for anarchy and violence.   For millions, we see rioters and looters as criminals and fools.  Their leaders we consider an embarrassment.  We see their conduct as unacceptable, improper, and indeed, anti-American.  False cries for justice in the name of violence undermine any credible argument protestors may have.  For, if the Michael Brown shooting represents a notion of injustice – when a black, thug criminal, who assaults an officer, dies after that assault – then complaints of a history of such “injustice” seems frail, weak, and likely, dishonest.  In short, if that community has legitimate complaints, America can’t possibly be compelled to think they are valid if those complaining think this shooting was unjustified.  Mr. Brown’s life of drugs and crime was tragic; his early death resulting from that lifestyle was sadly predictable.

There is an injustice going on in Ferguson today – and it is spreading to other communities too.  The injustice is called crime, and decent Americans recognize and recoil from it.  “It’s an understandable reaction.”  When they see rioters and looters, they see blacks.  When they see people cursing on TV, pushing reporters, hurling rocks and epithets, they see blacks.  When they see cars burning and TV crews running from gun-shots, they see blacks.  When they see businesses burning and lives going up in smoke, they see blacks running from the scene.  They do not see Dr. King and peaceful non-violent protests. They see young kids from broken homes, ignoring their churches and their leaders’ pleas for peace.  In one night, young black rioters did more to stoke the fires of racism and the belief of omnipresent black crime than any white racist could have done.  That’s the injustice of Ferguson today, and “it’s an understandable reaction.”

Richard Kelsey is an Assistant Dean at George Mason Law School.  A former Virginia state court law clerk and commercial litigator, Dean Kelsey was also the CEO of a technology company.  He teaches legal writing and pre-trial practice.  He is a regular commentator on legal and political issues in print, and on radio and TV. His Twitter handle is @richkelsey.